Connect with us

E-Business

The Role of the Cloud in Your Digital Transformation Journey from SAP’s Perspective

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Businesses acknowledge they are buried under mountains of inefficiencies and missed opportunities.

CEOs understand that digital is an opportunity or a threat. So,the question is not about awareness, but how to unleash the power of digital transformation while finding a balance between maintaining a healthy business and current infrastructure, and innovating without disruption.

The mandate from business to IT has shifted. For decades, a CIO’s chief responsibility was to reduce costs and keep the lights on just enough to run mission-critical processes.  Now, CIOs and IT departments are tasked with driving business innovation. To stay competitive in a digital economy, it is no longer sufficient to have a system landscape whose primary role is to keep records.

SAP

Most organizations invest a great deal to maintain and customise their IT landscapes to meet their unique business needs.

Today, nearly every organisation has some level of cloud presence, typically for customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM), or procurement.

The question we hear most often from customers is not how to make their first foray into the cloud, but rather how to design a comprehensive enterprise cloud strategy that:

  • Protects existing investments
  • Accelerates innovation
  • Keeps an organization’s unique business processes intact

Moving to the cloud does not mean breaking off some parts of the business in a piecemeal fashion or taking a rip-and-replace approach.

Cloud is one of the key drivers of digital transformation.  Cloud has disrupted the traditional IT model by drastically reducing time to market and TCO for innovative solutions.  With its ease of use and ubiquitous access, cloud has democratised the decisions about software purchasing, access, and usage.

Cloud computing offers immense opportunity for companies to improve their business operations, regardless of sector.

Modern cloud offerings reduce IT infrastructure complexity and free up resources that can be better applied to driving innovation.

And with security topping the list of concerns among business and IT leaders, cloud providers today invest talent and energy into ensuring their offerings are able to meet even the most stringent security requirements.

According to the IDC, cloud spending is expected to surge by 25% to reach more than $100bn, with cloud data centres expected to double in number.

In a separate study, analysts found that an astonishing $237bn in profits were lost by the top 200 global companies alone, mainly due to the hidden costs of complexity.

Despite these clear signs, cloud migration of key business applications is still met with reservations and, often, resistance.

IT leaders list concerns such as possible downtime, security, potential loss of control over key business processes, and cost.

Managing increasing complexity

As technologies like artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, AR, VR, and the Internet of Things become mainstream, enterprise IT systems and the digital processes they drive are getting more complex every day.

Companies need to find new ways to reduce complexity while ensuring that their IT systems are flexible enough to adapt to the requirements of a shifting technology and business landscape.

Many organizations choose to migrate some or all their mission critical applications to the cloud to increase flexibility.

To do this efficiently, it is critical to understand some of the key success factors for a cloud model. The high ground in any mission-critical application cloud solution comes down to four promises:

  1. A comprehensive, end-to-end SLA approach that avoids unproductive time-wasting by disparate service providers.
  2. Integration across your application landscape.
  3. Access to industry and engineering experts and best practices to support ad hoc and ongoing needs.
  4. Ability to leverage new skills and resources across infrastructure, technical management and cross vendor application management.

SAP’s cloud offerings provide companies with the global expertise and local knowledge needed to free up internal resources and shift focus away from IT management – i.e. ensuring systems are up and running – and to innovation, the driving force of all successful businesses in today’s digital economy. The benefits of this are clear:

The cost benefit of cloud

Running business applications in the cloud means less maintenance, especially in comparison to on-premise solutions, as many subscription models include company-specific maintenance and support in addition to hosting.

Investments to replace outdated hardware are also no longer necessary, as these are already included in the monthly fees and service agreements.

Using managed cloud services allows companies to scale the scope of applications they pay for to what they really need.

While existing on-premise solutions might have numerous functionalities that companies pay for (although they are often unnecessary), companies in the cloud only pay for what they really need and for what they use. When business requirements change, companies can flexibly adapt their services and applications in the cloud as required.

Unlocking business value

By partnering with a leading cloud provider such as SAP, companies can accelerate business processes that were previously limited by the performance of their on-premise systems.

In addition, they can swiftly replace outdated applications with new ones and make sure that different company locations with previously diverging software releases are all upgraded at the same time, reducing the overall complexity of their IT landscape.

Support is similarly simplified: by moving insulated business applications to the cloud, companies are able to work with a single provider that assumes total responsibility.

With a comprehensive, managed cloud offering such as the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, organisations can further optimise their IT landscape to future-proof their business.

This allows them to focus on the functional and business layer of their stack – driving innovation, business value, and growth – while handing off the technical aspects of system and application management to a reputable cloud partner such as SAP.

With 125 million cloud subscribers and 44 state-of-the-art data centres in 27 locations around the world, isn’t it time you spoke to SAP about how the cloud can fit into your company’s digital transformation journey?


Kindly share this post

Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

E-Business

Access Holdings, Coronation Partner Tate Modern to Spotlight Nigerian Modernism

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Access Holdings Plc and Coronation Group have partnered with Tate Modern to commemorate World Art Day with a virtual session highlighting the global significance of Nigerian modernism.

Access Holdings, Coronation Partner Tate Modern to Spotlight Nigerian Modernism

Access Holdings

The event, titled “In Conversation with Osei Bonsu: Inside Nigerian Modernism,” featured a virtual tour of the Nigerian Modernism exhibition and discussions on the evolution of modern art in Nigeria.

The session brought together staff members across both organisations, reflecting growing institutional engagement with arts and culture as a driver of societal development.

Speaking at the event, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer of Coronation Group, Ngozi Akinyele, emphasised the role of art in shaping identity and national development.

She said that beyond financial capital, cultural and intellectual capital are essential in defining a nation’s prosperity and inspiring dialogue.

Akinyele noted that both organisations were committed to democratising access to art, ensuring it is accessible to a wider audience rather than a select few.

The discussion also featured insights from Tate Modern Curator, Osei Bonsu, and art expert Daniel Wallis, who examined the development of Nigerian modernism and its global relevance.

Bonsu said Nigerian modernism represents an independent reimagining of global art, rooted in the country’s diverse cultural heritage and expressed through unique visual languages.

According to him, the movement challenges narrow, Eurocentric definitions of modernism and highlights the richness of African artistic expression.

The session further underscored the growing international recognition of Nigerian art, particularly through exhibitions at Tate Modern.

Participants also reflected on the visit of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the exhibition, described as a milestone in promoting Nigeria’s cultural heritage globally.

In his closing remarks, Chief Communications Officer of Access Holdings, Amaechi Okobi, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to advancing African narratives on the global stage.

He said the collaboration with Tate Modern aligns with broader efforts to promote dialogue, preserve cultural identity and support the creative sector.

The event reinforced a shared commitment by Access Holdings, Coronation Group and Tate Modern to elevate African art globally and ensure Nigerian cultural narratives continue to shape international conversations.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

E-Business

NDPC Issues Critical Advisory as Hackers Target Nigeria’s Key Digital Systems

Published

on

Kindly share this post

Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has issued a regulatory advisory to data controllers and processors across the country following what it described as escalating threats to Nigeria’s data security architecture.

NDPC Issues Critical Advisory as Hackers Target Nigeria’s Key Digital Systems

NDPC

In a statement signed by Babatunde Bamigboye, lead of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, the commission said its technical assessment revealed that some shadowy threat actors were engaged in coordinated operations targeting financial systems and critical digital infrastructure in Nigeria.

The commission urged public institutions to comply with the presidential directive of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which emphasises the strategic importance of data in national development.

According to the NDPC, the President had declared that “data is the new oil,” stressing the need for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to rigorously capture and safeguard information in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.

The commission therefore advised all data controllers and processors to urgently strengthen their technical and organisational measures to protect personal data and ensure compliance with the law.

It listed key measures to include the appointment of trained and certified Data Protection Officers, implementation of comprehensive privacy policies and information security standards, as well as conducting Data Privacy Impact Assessments.

Other measures recommended by the NDPC include deployment of robust identity and access controls such as Multi-Factor Authentication, adoption of zero-trust security architecture, prompt remediation of system vulnerabilities, and continuous patch management.

The commission also emphasised the need to secure cloud infrastructure, application programming interfaces (APIs), databases and access credentials, alongside real-time monitoring, logging and threat detection systems.

Further recommendations include encryption and secure credential handling, regular vulnerability assessment and penetration testing of critical systems, as well as routine backup and resilience testing.

The NDPC warned that organisations that fail to implement appropriate data protection measures in accordance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 risk legal liabilities.

It reiterated its commitment to providing regulatory support to organisations while ensuring the protection of personal data and strengthening institutional resilience across all sectors.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

E-Business

Africa’s Forex Market in 2026: Key Trends Every Trader Should Watch

Published

on

Kindly share this post

The forex market across Africa is witnessing more participants and more regulatory attention than it did just a few years ago. This growth is part of a bigger picture: Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to expand by 4.3% in 2026, while global forex turnover already hit an estimated $9.6 trillion daily in April 2025. However, there’s more to it than macroeconomic figures.

Africa's Forex Market in 2026: Key Trends Every Trader Should Watch

The trends reshaping the market are happening from within. Here are six worth paying close attention to.

1. Trading Has Moved to the Phone

The number of people accessing the market via mobile phones exceeds those accessing it via traditional bank systems. GSMA states that in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there are more than 1.1 billion registered mobile money accounts.

The International Monetary Fund states that digitalisation and increased usage of the internet are changing payment systems in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

Mobile access changes traders’ behavior. It lowers the barrier to entry and speeds up deposits and withdrawals. Therefore, brokers who can provide a quality mobile trading experience will have a huge advantage.

2. Regulators Are Watching

The market is becoming more structured and more transparent. In South Africa, the FSCA regulates market conduct for financial institutions. In Kenya, the Capital Markets Authority regulates capital markets and maintains a licensing system that includes online forex brokers.

Nigeria’s SEC has publicly warned that online retail forex trading can be subject to abuse when unregulated. It also provides tools for investors to check operators’ registrations.

As a result, in 2026, more traders are likely to favour brokers that can show clear licensing, transparent operations, and stronger investor safeguards.

3. Volatility Varies by Country

A common mistake is perceiving the African market as one entity. In reality, according to RegTech Afrika, there are 21 countries out of a total of 54 that have a chance of seeing their currencies depreciate in 2025, with some of them losing value by as much as 6% or more.

A trader watching the rand, naira, shilling, or cedi, regional headlines needs more than regional headlines. Country-level macro data, central bank moves, and the US dollar will still play a major role.

4. Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure Is Quietly Improving

Platforms like PAPSS are helping make payments across African countries faster and easier to complete in local currencies. According to official announcements of PAPSS, it has become operational in 18 countries across Africa, with its latest launch in Algeria in 2025. It has also become operational in Kenya through a partnership with KCB Group, as well as in Rwanda through a partnership with Bank of Kigali.

Step by step, Africa is becoming a more financially connected continent.

5. Execution Quality Is the New Standard

Data from the BIS shows that in April 2025, three-quarters of FX trades were intermediated by the global centers of the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Therefore, the best liquidity and best prices are still linked to global conditions.

For local markets, this raises the bar. Forex traders are becoming increasingly aware that tight spreads, while important, mean little without reliable prices and execution. Brokers like JustMarkets that can bring all of these elements together are in a much stronger position than competitors.

6. Education as a Necessity

Regulatory disclosures from major global brokers illustrate how tough it is to trade without proper knowledge. According to publicly available disclosures, between 70% and 80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

Forex traders who understand risk management and which financial news to follow have a better chance of surviving the market. Brokers who invest in education are more likely to be seen by traders as valuable partners rather than mere facilitators.
The Market Rewards the Prepared

Africa’s forex market in 2026 is shaped by volatility, stricter rules, and mobile-first trading. The traders who combine market knowledge with the right tools and the right broker will find real opportunity here, while those who don’t adapt will find the market increasingly unforgiving.


Kindly share this post
Continue Reading

Trending