E-Business
The Role of the Cloud in Your Digital Transformation Journey from SAP’s Perspective
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:
- A comprehensive, end-to-end SLA approach that avoids unproductive time-wasting by disparate service providers.
- Integration across your application landscape.
- Access to industry and engineering experts and best practices to support ad hoc and ongoing needs.
- 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?
Ministry of Interior has announced the launch of a new Online Citizenship and Business Management Platform in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
A statement signed by Dr Magdalene Ajani, permanent secretary, Ministry of Interior’s said the initiative forms a key part of its ongoing reforms aimed at promoting transparency, enhancing operational efficiency, and significantly improving service delivery to the public.
The new digital platform is designed to streamline the application and processing of citizenship and business-related services, ensuring faster turnaround times and improved user experience.
The platform allows users to apply for and manage business permits, ensuring that both local and foreign businesses operate legally in Nigeria.
It includes an Expatriate Quota System to manage work permits for foreign employees, helping companies hire skilled workers while complying with Nigeria’s immigration laws.
The Citizenship Administration and Management System provides a streamlined online process for applying, tracking, and managing Nigerian citizenship applications and related services.
Members of the public, corporate entities, and other stakeholders are expected to access the platform through the ministry’s website: https://interior.gov.ng , Direct Portal Access: https://candb.interior.gov.ng , or contact candb-support@interior.gov.ng for support and inquiries.
“The Ministry of Interior remains committed to establishing a more efficient, transparent, and secure framework for citizenship administration, while continuously enhancing service delivery through digital transformation,” the statement read in part.
Fifty selected young unemployed Nigerians have completed a four-week intensive digital skills bootcamp under the Digital Literacy for All (DL4ALL) initiative, gaining practical training in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and IT Essentials.
The programme, a collaborative effort between the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Cisco, was hosted at NITDA’s South West Zonal Office in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking on behalf of the Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa , the Head of the South West Zonal Office, Mrs. Chioma Okee-Agugwo, described the initiative as a vital component of Nigeria’s digital future. “This is not just a closing ceremony. It is the launchpad for new journeys—anchored in digital knowledge and powered by innovation,” she remarked.
According to the Director General, the initiative is rooted in NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0) and reflects key focus areas including Digital Literacy, Emerging Technologies, and Youth Empowerment. It also aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which seeks to accelerate economic diversification through digitisation, innovation, and skills development.
Inuwa noted that the DL4ALL initiative forms part of Nigeria’s broader commitment to digital inclusion—ensuring that no one is left behind in the evolving digital economy. It also supports the ambitious goal of achieving 70% digital literacy by 2027, championed by the Honourable Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani. This national vision aims to equip millions of Nigerians with the skills required to thrive in a tech-driven world.
He further emphasized the importance of empowering youth with globally relevant skills. “They are no longer just consumers of technology. They are creators, innovators, and future employers,” he said.
The NITDA boss explained that throughout the bootcamp, participants engaged in hands-on learning experiences designed to build both technical proficiency and digital leadership capabilities.
“This is only the beginning,” he stated. “Through our zonal strategy, we are bringing innovation closer to local communities. This is how we democratise access and unlock Nigeria’s full digital potential.”
Inuwa expressed appreciation to Cisco for delivering high-impact training and called on stakeholders to continue investing in partnerships, people, and platforms that drive digital inclusion.
He asserted that the newly certified participants are now equipped to contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s digital economy—armed with the skills to build solutions, secure infrastructure, and launch tech ventures that solve real-world problems.
At the end of the bootcamp, participants demonstrated their knowledge through impressive presentations that showcased the integration of skills acquired across Data Science, AI, and IT Essentials. Many spoke passionately about how the programme had expanded their technical competence and sparked a drive to create job opportunities—not only for themselves but also for others—as entrepreneurs and digital solution providers in their communities.
Coinbase forecast a hit of between $180m and $400m from a cyberattack that breached account data of a “small subset” of its customers, the crypto exchange said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
The company received an anonymous email on May 11, claiming to have information about certain customer accounts as well as internal documents.
While some data — including names, addresses and emails — was stolen, the hackers did not get access to login credentials or passwords, Coinbase said.
Still, it will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attackers.
Hackers had paid multiple contractors and employees working in support roles outside the US to collect information.
The company has fired those involved, it said.
Separately, the New York Times reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was investigating whether the company had misstated its user numbers.
Coinbase shares extended losses after the report and were last down 6.5%.
“This is a hold-over investigation from the prior administration about a metric we stopped reporting two-and-a-half years ago, which was fully disclosed to the public,” said Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer.
“While we strongly believe this investigation should not continue, we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close.”
The SEC declined to comment.
The latest developments come days before the company is set to join the benchmark S&P 500 index, casting a shadow over what was expected to be a landmark moment for the crypto industry.
Security remains a challenge for the crypto industry despite its growing mainstream acceptance.
In February, Bybit disclosed a hack in which about $1.5bn worth of digital tokens were stolen — widely described the biggest crypto heist ever.
“The cyberattack may push the industry to adopt stricter employee vetting and introduce some reputational risks,” said Bo Pei, an analyst at US Tiger Securities.
Funds stolen by hacking crypto platforms amounted to $2.2bn in 2024, according to a report from Chainalysis, a US-based blockchain analysis firm.
“As our nascent industry grows rapidly, it draws the eye of bad actors, who are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the scope of their attacks,” said Nick Jones, founder of crypto firm Zumo.
Coinbase has refused to pay a ransom of $20m demanded by the attackers and is working with law enforcement agencies. Instead it has established a $20m reward for information on the hackers.
The company is also opening a new support hub in the US and taking other measures to prevent such cyberattacks, it said.
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