General News
Why in-House R&D Often Beats Acquired Tech when it Comes to Giving Customers Great Software
By Andrew Bourne, Region Manager, Africa, Zoho Corporation
When it comes to choosing technology providers for their businesses, CTOs and IT leaders have two options. The first is adopting a ‘best-of-breed’ approach, which involves hand-picking several disparate apps and products by different vendors, each one serving a specific need effectively. The second option is to take a ‘single vendor/integrated stack’ approach, choosing one tech provider who offers a suite of pre-integrated applications that addresses multiple business requirements in one go. Customers today increasingly prefer the second option to streamline their business processes.
In a bid to cater to this demand for unified software suites, technology companies—especially those that provide best-of-breed apps, are racing to expand their capabilities. Often, they do this through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), buying up apps to satisfy customers’ growing needs. While this approach has some appeal — most notably, it allows vendors to quickly secure market share without building something from the ground up — this is inherently flawed.
By making extensive use of M&As, software vendors risk ending up with a poorly integrated “Frankenstein’s Monster”-style technology stack which falls short of the promise of application consolidation and doesn’t really add value for customers.
The trouble with M&A – Cultural and technological integration issues
M&A activity comes with an array of complications, including culture clashes, redundancies, office politics, increased attrition rates, and tech integration challenges. In fact, a 2016 Harvard Business Review article went as far to say that “M&A is a mug’s game, in which typically 70% – 90% of acquisitions are abysmal failures.”
Those failures ultimately impact the customer, by putting them in the same situation they’d be in if they were trying to work with a string of different products.
Even the biggest companies struggle when it comes to successfully integrating acquisitions. In the consumer space, users know this all too well. Take Yahoo for example. When it bought Tumblr for US$1.1-billion in 2013, it thought it had a surefire winner on its hands. Yahoo’s idea was to strengthen its social media platform services by integrating Tumblr’s blogs more tightly into its network using the former’s personalization technology and search infrastructure. Unfortunately, Yahoo never managed to properly integrate the micro-blogging social network and even stripped it of some of its most celebrated features.
Similarly, Microsoft’s difficulties with Skype are well-chronicled. Having acquired the peer-to-peer calling and messaging service for US$8.5-billion in 2011, Microsoft initially planned to integrate Skype’s telephony architecture into its user communication platform and a few other services. That integration took so long and had such flawed execution that consumer confidence took a massive hit. As a result, when the Seattle-based tech giant launched Teams in 2016, it developed its own video-calling feature in-house instead of leveraging Skype’s capabilities to ensure aesthetic consistency as well as a more streamlined fit among its enterprise collaboration solutions suite.
On observation, it is typically public companies that spend billions acquiring disparate technologies, in order to inherit massive customer bases and expand sales to satisfy investor demands for constant growth. Unfortunately, when an acquisition fails, it’s the customers who bear the brunt of incompatible integrations and broken user experiences. Rather than banking on high-profile acquisitions that hold higher odds of failure, vendors that have their customers’ best interests at heart could also consider investing in developing their own software and services.
The case for going in-house
Developing native technologies and building products in-house surely takes its sweet time. Of course, an integrated suite of business solutions that’s built on a unified tech stack can take even longer, and also religious investment across in-house R&D/innovation capacities, homegrown talent, and resource upskilling. But the investment is worth the effort. Not only does it save big money and make things simpler, it also projects trust and credibility, helping build long-lasting customer relationships.
Creating complementary applications from scratch also ensures that they contextually integrate with one another from the get-go. It also provides a consistent look and feel in performance, making its customers more likely to accept the new product. On the other end, customers too benefit from a set of applications that work in perfect unison to drive better organisational processes and improve collaboration.
When it comes to building great enterprise technology that lasts, therefore, it’s much better for vendors to build in-house than to try and buy their way to growth and expansion.
Coscharis Technologies Limited, a leading Information Technology distribution company in the Sub-Saharan African market, in collaboration with Huawei, has officially launched the innovative Huawei IdeaHub S3 interactive board into the Nigerian market.
The unveiling ceremony, which attracted top industry stakeholders, partners, and technology enthusiasts, was held at the prestigious Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, in the heart of Nigeria’s commercial hub.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Coscharis Technologies Limited, Dr. Sunday Mukoro, appreciated guests for attending and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to introducing cutting-edge technologies into the Nigerian market to accelerate the country’s technological advancement.
Dr. Mukoro described the Huawei IdeaHub S3 as a next-generation smart collaboration device equipped with advanced features designed to enhance productivity, communication, and digital collaboration across businesses, educational institutions, and organizations.
To further excite participants at the launch, he announced a special one-off 20 percent discount for early bird orders placed during the event.
Representing Huawei, Charles Chen, Huawei Nigeria eKit Manager, reiterated Huawei’s dedication to delivering world-class technology solutions tailored to modern workplace and learning environments. He emphasized that the IdeaHub S3 reflects Huawei’s continuous innovation in smart office and collaborative technologies.
The Huawei IdeaHub S3 is available in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 86-inch variants and comes loaded with several advanced features, including ergonomic design, ultra-low latency performance, 4K dual-lens camera with 5x zoom capability, and superior image quality with zero colour cast technology.
Other notable features include a 24-microphone array with up to 15-meter sound pickup range, high-fidelity stereo sound system, 4K soft light screen, intelligent tracking with auto-crop view, Acoustic Baffle 2.0 technology, ultrasonic projection, app multiplier functionality, and enhanced BYOM/BYOD collaboration capabilities.
The event climaxed with the formal unveiling of the Huawei IdeaHub S3, led by Dr. Sunday Mukoro alongside executives from Huawei and the Coscharis Huawei team, marking another milestone in the advancement of smart collaborative technology solutions in Nigeria
Nigeria has retained its position as the third-largest borrower from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional lending arm of the World Bank, despite a slight decline in its debt exposure in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the IDA’s March 2026 financial statements, Nigeria’s exposure stood at $18.5 billion as of March 31, 2026, down marginally from $18.7 billion recorded at the end of December 2025.
The $200 million decline represents a 1.1 per cent reduction over the three-month period.
However, on a year-on-year basis, Nigeria’s debt exposure increased significantly by $1.2 billion, or 6.9 per cent, from $17.3 billion recorded in March 2025.
The latest ranking places Nigeria behind Bangladesh and Pakistan among the World Bank’s largest IDA borrowers.
Data from the report showed that Bangladesh remained the largest borrower with an exposure of $22.7 billion, followed by Pakistan with $19.2 billion, while Nigeria ranked third with $18.5 billion.
Other major African borrowers include Ethiopia with $14.4 billion, Tanzania with $14.3 billion, and Kenya with $13.2 billion in outstanding exposure.
The report also revealed that the IDA’s total loans outstanding stood at $230.8 billion as of March 31, 2026, slightly below the $231.1 billion recorded at the end of December 2025, reflecting a mild moderation in the institution’s lending portfolio.
According to the IDA, loans classified under non-accrual status represented only 0.4 per cent of the total portfolio, while provisions for potential loan losses amounted to $6.3 billion, equivalent to about 2.0 per cent of underlying exposures.
Nigeria’s exposure accounted for roughly eight per cent of the IDA’s total loan portfolio and approximately 13.3 per cent of the combined exposure represented by the institution’s ten largest borrowing countries.
The IDA noted that its ten largest country exposures collectively accounted for about 60 per cent of total portfolio exposure as of March 2026, highlighting the concentration of concessional lending among a relatively small number of developing economies.
Despite the slight quarter-on-quarter decline, Nigeria’s debt profile with the World Bank continues to trend upward over the longer term.
The report showed that Nigeria’s exposure rose from $17.3 billion in March 2025 to $18.5 billion in March 2026, underscoring the country’s increasing reliance on concessional financing to support development priorities and economic reforms.
Similarly, Ethiopia’s exposure increased from $13.2 billion to $14.4 billion over the same period, while Tanzania’s exposure rose from $12.6 billion to $14.3 billion.
Bangladesh’s debt exposure climbed from $21.2 billion to $22.7 billion, while Pakistan’s increased from $18.3 billion to $19.2 billion.
Ghana also recorded an increase from $7.1 billion to $7.4 billion.
Nigeria’s position among the top borrowers reflects the scale of its infrastructure, social investment, and reform financing needs under the World Bank’s concessional lending framework.
The Federal Government is also currently engaging the World Bank for additional financing support.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has suspended plans to enforce its proposed “no pay, no service” policy against domestic airlines owing statutory charges, following consultations with operators and concerns over rising operational costs in the aviation sector.
Director-General of Civil Aviation, Chris Najomo, said the decision followed a review of prevailing challenges facing airlines, particularly the rising cost of Jet A1 aviation fuel.
The NCAA had earlier issued a memo on May 22 placing at least 11 domestic carriers on a “no pay, no service” list over outstanding debts owed to aviation agencies.
Affected airlines reportedly included Air Peace, Ibom Air, Overland Airways, Arik Air, United Nigeria Airlines, Max Air and Caverton Helicopters.
Industry sources said airlines immediately began discussions with the regulator after the directive was announced, leading to the temporary suspension of enforcement.
The NCAA clarified that the suspension did not amount to a cancellation or waiver of the debts, adding that all affected airlines remained responsible for settling their statutory obligations.
According to the authority, engagements with operators would continue to ensure compliance while avoiding disruptions to flight operations and passenger services.
The regulator also referenced earlier intervention measures approved by President Bola Tinubu, including a 30 per cent discount on outstanding charges owed by domestic airlines to aviation agencies.
The measure, it said, was introduced to cushion the impact of high aviation fuel costs and stabilise the sector.
The NCAA defended the five per cent Ticket and Cargo Sales Charge imposed on airlines, describing it as a statutory levy established under Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Act.
“The charge is not part of airline revenue or operating profit and should not be treated as such,” the authority stated.
It added that the agency operates largely on a cost-recovery basis and depends on remittances from operators to sustain regulatory oversight and aviation safety functions.
According to the NCAA, suspending the enforcement action was intended to balance regulatory compliance with the need to maintain operational stability in the aviation industry.
The authority reaffirmed its commitment to recovering all outstanding debts while supporting the long-term sustainability of domestic airline operations.
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