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5 Ways to Avoid Your Digital Transformation Journey Ending in Disaster

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Opeyemi Olaniran, business group director, Cloud & Enterprise, Microsoft Nigeria writes on Five ways to avoid your digital transformation journey ending in disaster

Going on a road trip with family and friends can be amazing. While it might have the potential to end in disaster if not thought through, with a little help from technology, planning and leadership you can expect a great adventure. And it’s the same when it comes to digitally transforming your company.

Your bags are packed, the kids are armed with tablets pre-loaded with movies and games, your GPS is charged, and you’ve packed your coffee-cup power inverter, portable satellite antennae, speed-trap detector, and made a checklist of your stops using mapping software.

In the digital-era you wouldn’t think twice about using technology to make your road trip a success. So why would you treat your business any differently?

Today there are only two types of organisations; the disrupter and the disrupted.

The disrupters were born in the digital age and include Airbnb, Uber and LinkedIn. The disrupted are those that are trying to keep up.

Disrupters do not rely on physical assets, but rather technology. You could think of them as young road trippers with nothing but a backpack and a phone, which is all they need to conquer the world.

Uber for example relies on cars but does not own them, instead it owns the technology. Meanwhile, the disrupted are weighed down by physical assets and human capital that does not scale easily. For example a family travelling in a big bulky caravan will be limited in terms of where they can go.

However, digitally transforming does not mean you have to dump all your assets. A few changes can make all the difference, like connecting a solar panel to the roof of your caravan to supply hot water no matter where you are.

Here are 5 ways we can apply road tripping lessons to our business.

Build A Solid Roadmap
A successful road trip means avoiding obstacles like traffic and roadworks. This requires a plotted route, advanced warning of where the threats are, and good leadership. It’s hard to convince your family that you’re missing the turn-off to the theme park unless you have informed data proving that there’s a roadblock there.

It’s the same in your organisation. You need a roadmap for digital transformation, and data to inform your decisions.

Leadership is key, and 23% of the largest 300 companies in the world have at least one digital director. But digital transformation should not stem from one digital officer, and it should not be viewed as a back-office function for achieving efficiencies. It must become a culture that flows from top managers to all levels of the organisation, not just the IT department.

Change It Up
The world is changing. Ten years ago you would never have dreamed of staying in a stranger’s house on a road trip. But disrupters like Airbnb have changed consumer habits. The disrupted now need to adapt to fulfilling customers’ changing needs.

Just as when choosing accommodation, you do your research to ensure you don’t wind up somewhere far from what you expected, enterprises must use data-driven insights to know exactly what their customers want.

For example, Virgin Atlantic, which partnered with Windows 10 to create “Ida”, an interactive digital adventure app, allowing customers to take an immersive tour of the ‘Upper Class’ experience, through a tablet powered by a virtual reality headset. This was in response to data that showed a lack of interaction between sales staff and business customers.

Intelligence plays a critical role in understanding massive amounts of data about customer behaviour to recognise patterns of sentiment.

Take Risks
Some of the best road trips are those that take risks – going somewhere completely new and unchartered.

Companies that want to compete against start-ups need to behave like start-ups, taking risks and embracing failure.

In the Middle East and Africa, a burgeoning innovation culture means that disrupters are used to doing this.

While more established businesses are often held back by old technology infrastructures because they were never digital from the start. A skills shortage can also be attributed to slow digital transformation, with 70% of companies saying they lack the required ICT skills to adapt.

Employees
On any road trip, your passengers are not going to be happy if your car breaks down, or the GPS fails and you get lost, or the aircon doesn’t work.

Companies that don’t shift to the newest way of doing things are likely to lose staff. Employees, particularly millennials, want companies that offer the best digital opportunities, and businesses will have to up their game to retain and attract them. In turn, young talent will spur innovation and help change the culture of the organisation.

Employees can also be empowered by using intelligence to learn how everyone in the company uses their time and help maximise the impact of the workforce.

Dual Role of The IT Department
If you’re the leader of your road trip, you’re also the navigator, motivator, mechanic and technology expert. The best drivers have many roles and rely on tech to accomplish these.

In an organisation, technology should similarly be part of each business function. At Microsoft, our own IT system plays dual roles within the company.

It helps the company digitally transform while managing applications, infrastructure and security, and serves the role of customer advocate by testing new products and providing feedback. Our leaders continue to raise expectations around the role that IT can play by aligning digital services into 15 cross-company service offerings.

These types of results aren’t discovered by simply spending more on IT. Executives should be integrating IT into their departments, creating a singular roadmap with mutually supportive objectives.

 

 


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Wema Bank Launches Second FGN-ALAT Digital ‘Skillnovation’ Cohort

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Wema Bank has launched the second cohort for the FGN-ALAT Digital Skillnovation Programme in partnership with the Federal Government to train and equip two million young people and 1 million MSMEs across Nigeria with relevant digital skills.

Since the launch of the first cohort in 2023, over 300,000 youths and business owners have leveraged the platform as a launchpad for their business and career success.

This cohort featured 100% virtual learning sessions through which participants from the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were provided with self-paced online learning experiences.

As cohort 2 begins in the second quarter of 2024, the FGN-ALAT digital programme is officially transitioning to physical training sessions and the curriculum will cover key digital skills including software engineering, product management, business analysis, cloud computing and product design, among others.

This phase of the programme will be executed via FGN-ALAT digital hubs, which will be set up in the different states across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria to ensure that every Nigerian can access the programme’s full benefits regardless of their location.

These hubs will be equipped with training and incubation facilities ideal for digital-driven learning, giving participants the opportunity to acquire marketable and transferrable digital skills and gain a competitive edge in the global digital ecosystem.

The FGN-ALAT digital hubs will be set up in phases and trainings will commence accordingly, starting with Borno  and Anambra State.

Wema Bank’s Executive Director of Retail and Digital Business, Tunde Mabawonku, emphasised the pivotal role of the programme in bridging the gaps in Nigeria’s macroeconomic landscape towards national development.

“We are unwavering in our commitment to supporting MSMEs and with the FGN-ALAT Digital Skillnovation Programme, it’s all about the bigger picture—which is why we have partnered with the Federal Government to augment the scale of this programme’s impact.

“By tailoring this programme to suit the needs of both entrepreneurial minded and professionally inclined Nigerians, we are not just arming SMEs for more efficient business management and growth, we are also equipping Nigeria’s workforce for increased productivity and the ripple effect will not only create more viable employment opportunities for Nigerians towards reduced unemployment and underemployment rates, but further drive economic growth and national development, boosting Nigeria’s position on the global playing field.

“The digital evolution is moving sporadically and by empowering our youth and MSMEs with in-demand digital skills, we are ensuring that Nigeria is not left behind as the world evolves.

“Beyond the intellectual resources and other non-monetary opportunities, we are going a step further to provide financial support for these participants in form of millions of naira in equity capital, soft loans and grants, to enable them put their learnings to practice and build sustainable streams of income that could help them become employers in their own right.

“I encourage you to take the big step forward in achieving your business and career goals by joining the programme. All you have to do is visit the website to register. This programme is completely free and there’s more than enough room for you. Your success is Nigeria’s success and as your unique journey unravels, our promise remains certain,” he said.

Referring to the programme as an eye-opener for all, Mariam Isah, a beneficiary of Cohort 1, said, “It’s almost unbelievable all I’ve learnt in one month virtual training.

“I started this training simply looking for a way forward for my business but I have unlocked secrets that are life changing not just in my business but in all aspects of life. I am so grateful for this rare opportunity, and I can’t wait to be a part of the cohort 2.”


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StarNews, Global Black Economic Forum Launch Business Competition In Partnership with MTN & USAID

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Africa’s leading video streaming platform, StarNews Mobile and the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), have announced a call for applications for the launch of their Business Competition in Lagos, Nigeria.

Held in partnership with MTN and United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID), the initiative will empower Nigeria’s most promising businesses that are classified as Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with invaluable investment and partnership opportunities from the USA.

Held over 10 weeks between April 8th to June 14th, hosted exclusively on the StarNews Biz Channel on the StarNews platform, this competition offers a platform for emerging entrepreneurs to showcase their ventures and gain national visibility.

With subscribers voting for their favourite candidates, the top 20 contestants will seize the spotlight and make their mark on the business landscape.

The StarNews Business Competition in partnership with GBEF delivers a unique opportunity for thriving Nigerian SMEs to access mentoring, funding, partnerships and socio-economic development tools through the Global Black Economic Forum.

With the prospect of securing cash prizes through StarNews worth up to NGN5,000,000, getting access to StarNews’s network of investors and the opportunity to gain national visibility by having their business on the StarNews web platform.

The top three winners will also receive coaching from GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence and become part of GBEF’s ecosystem of global leaders committed to social and economic justice across the Black Diaspora.

Previous speakers at GBEF convenings from the entertainment sector include Wyclef Jean (Haitian Musician & Activist), Debra Lee (Former CEO of Black Entertainment Television – BET) and Ceci Kurzman (Founder of Nexus Management Group). Applications will close on April 5th 2024.

Speaking on the competition’s launch, Guy Kamgaing, Founder and CEO at StarNews Mobile, says “The StarNews Business Competition is a passion project close to our hearts at StarNews Mobile.

It’s about discovering the most promising business entrepreneurs and creators in Nigeria, opening up global opportunities for them and providing them with the resources and tools to achieve their goals.

By partnering with MTN, USAID and GBEF, we want to be a platform of empowerment for these SMEs by helping them give back to the communities that are supporting them.”

According to the US Embassy and Consulate for Nigeria, over 80% of Nigerian startups are incorporated in the United States and more than 60% of venture capital funding in Nigerian startups accounted for by the US.

In 2023 alone, Nigerian startups raised a total of $398mn however, this signalled a 66% funding decline compared to 2022 due to the global economic downturn, reinforcing the massive need for a fresh injection of capital and business support for Nigeria’s emerging SMEs.

Alphonso David, President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum notes that, “Our partnership with StarNews Mobile is a critical resource as we continue to build the collective strength of entrepreneurship across the Diaspora.

“Building a sustainable ecosystem of Black entrepreneurs in the United States and across the African continent is essential to create a future that makes economic opportunity and economic freedom a reality for all.”

A sister company to ESSENCE, GBEF advances its work by convening global summits and conferences, bringing together world leaders, business leaders, entrepreneurs, celebrities and civic leaders to address the most challenging problems facing our communities.

GBEF’s Academy for Advancing Excellence facilitates workforce and leadership development strategy, addressing the talent pipeline & employee lifecycle, providing leadership development & coaching, and conducting institutional assessments & research.

GBEF also develops and implements economic and social justice policy recommendations with partners ranging from civil and human rights organisations to government entities and corporations that advocate for economic opportunity, social justice, and health equity through thought leadership, advocacy and litigation.

Launched in 2017, StarNews Mobile empowers African content creators with the unique opportunity to monetize their work through a subscription model, boasting over 4 million subscribers and a thriving community of more than 120 content creators.

With a strong presence across six countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Côte D’Ivoire, Congo, Benin and Ghana, the platform has also established key partnerships with major telecom operators such as MTN and Orange.

To-date, StarNews Mobile has secured over $8mn in funding with its most recent raise – a $3mn pre-Series A funding round in October 2023 – led by Janngo Capital with participation from French football players Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé and Mike Maignan.

 


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Companies Invest More than $100,000 Yearly to Upskill their Cybersecurity Teams – Study Reveals

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Over 70% of businesses pay more than USD $100,000 for additional training annually to keep skills of their cybersecurity employees up to date, a recent global Kaspersky study has revealed.

However, the surveyed companies also highlighted that there was a lack of relevant courses covering new challenging spheres in the educational market and stated that training does not always bring them the expected result.

In its recent study ‘The portrait of the modern Information Security professional’, Kaspersky examined the topic of the global cybersecurity staff shortage, analysing the exact reasons businesses lack cybersecurity experts, and identifying the ways they evaluate and upskill their cybersecurity workforce¹.

According to the research, companies are investing significant amounts in upskilling their cybersecurity teams: 43% of organisations globally say they usually spend between $100,000 and $200,000 per year on information security courses, while 31% even invest over $200,000 for training programs. The remaining 26% state they usually pay less than $100,000 for educational initiatives².

However, cybersecurity practitioners also note that the educational market is struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing industry and fail to deliver the necessary training programs on time.

Survey results for the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa (META) region shows that the scarcity of courses covering new challenging spheres (48%) was the main problem for those searching for cybersecurity training.

50% of respondents from the META region also stated that trainees tend to forget what they learned because they had no opportunity to apply newly acquired knowledge, therefore the courses were useless to them.

The need for special training pre-requisites such as coding and advanced mathematics, which were not specified at the pre-registration stage were also problematic for 37% of practitioners from the META region.

“With a constantly evolving threat landscape, businesses should continually improve the skills of their cybersecurity personnel in order to be well prepared for sophisticated cyberattacks.

“Developing high-profile specialists within the company and building internal expertise can be an effective strategy for organisations that aim to retain existing employees and allow them to grow professionally, instead of constantly hunting for new candidates and checking their professional backgrounds and practical skills.

“For organisations served by Managed Service Providers it is also important to maintain a pretty high level of expertise internally and use the same language when discussing the scope of services and Service Level Agreement with them,” comments Veniamin Levtsov, VP, Center of Corporate Business Expertise at Kaspersky.


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