E-Business
Maximizing IT as Business Enabler

The era of running your business with “GUT FEEL” or Speculations is going extinct in Nigeria. Neither will “Peer Pressure” effect of everyone is doing it so I must do it be any beneficial to any business.
Every business, small or big, need proper intelligence to fuel strategy to advance the business.
The influence of Information Technology (IT) and market opportunities on business and its effect on emerging small businesses is something for most business to give attention to. Information Technology (IT) has grown to be an essential component of any firm’s strategy in the market place.
Information Technology has shown to be a transformation agent. Here, new technologies enable firms to radically transform their business, sometimes creating something that is unrecognizable as deriving from the former business.
The truth is, any business that is not embracing technology as a business enabler is doing business at its own peril.
Everyone will agree that business productivity can be traced to an organization’s ability to successfully execute on overall strategy.
If execution of strategy is the key to a successful business — what are the steps to increasing your business productivity for greater execution on your strategic goals?
How do you know your business alignment and people performance are working at optimal levels to maximize business productivity resulting in the best possible results?
This is where information technology comes in. Information technology provides the bridge between strategy, execution and performance.
Using technology to maximize your business productivity creates the platform to realize true business success.
However organizations need to understand their own DNA and strategy, and with that know for certain when, how and where to use IT to leverage the business for optimal performance.
Information Technology should be a business success enabler, but we’ve seen that in recent times that IT departments are more of a cost center for many organization than business success enabler.
The cost of IT not commensurate with the value it delivers. Should it be so?
I strongly believe that there should be a science to what and how technology can be used to enhance which business process for maximal performance.
I also believe the very first question businesses should ask before spending money or time on technology is, “why am I doing this?” If there is not a core business benefit to be gained, why do it in the first place?
For IT to be maximized as a business enabler, business managers should invest time and money to answer the following:
1. Why is the technology needed and for which business process?
2. How much, comparatively in size and industry specificity, does go into IT spend in a financial year?
3. What costs should be considered to be part of your IT budget? These costs are broken down into several categories:
Initial cost – hardware and software, and training
Ongoing cost – maintaining systems, including licenses for proprietary software, hosting, and support.
Upgrade cost – cost of upgrades, and expected lifespan of systems/frequency of upgrades.
Value proposition – how much employee time will the system save? How much new business could the system generate?
Opportunity cost – how much potential revenue is lost by not implementing a system? What are your competitors doing in this area?
Risk – what are the risks of a particular system? What does it cost to mitigate those risks?
4. Where should you be spending the IT budgets? Should you spend most of your technology budget on infrastructure, hosted applications, custom line-of-business applications, or what? The answer to this depends a lot on your industry, but even more on your specific business.
5. When should you spend on technology and to what extent? Technology has a cost not just in dollars, but also in the time you and your employees need to spend adapting to it.
6. Who? You need to decide who to help you implement technology in your business. Will you do it yourself? Do you purchase an off-the shelf product? Do you use free software? Do you hire a programmer to create a custom system? Do you use a hosted system? Do you hire a consultant to help?
In conclusion, a strong plan for use of technology should be a part of every business plan, and re-evaluated whenever taking a strategic look at a business. Technology is both a cost of doing business, and an opportunity to do more business.
I think it’s time for CIOs and business managers to take a step back and look at the big picture of technology in business.
Bola Adisa is an IT Business Analyst based in Lagos Nigeria. He currently leads the West Africa sub-region, out of Lagos Nigeria, for a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.
GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.
In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.
Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).
GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.
E-Business
Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”
Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.
A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.
Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”
Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.
“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.
The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.
He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.
This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.
GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.
The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”
As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.
With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.
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