‘Digital Transformation Will Enhance Business Growth, Expansion’

Emma Okonji

Tech experts have stressed the need for business owners and employees to embrace digital transformation in order to sustain business growth and expansion.

According to them, organisations need to take full advantage of the evolving Information and Communications Technology (ICT) landscape and embrace digital technology capable of positively disrupting their business model in order to survive business challenges, especially the challenge posed by COVID-19.
They spoke at this year’s NerdsUnite hybrid forum organised by MainOne, held in Lagos recently.

Managing Director of MainOne, Ms. Funke Opeke, was of the view that digital disruption is the change that would occur when digital technologies and business models affect the value proposition of existing goods and services and the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic sparked a new era in the application of ICT to business.

According to her, “The major cause of digital disruption is the rapid advancement of technology and globalsation, which allows new business models to be introduced at an ever increasing rate and with rapidly declining costs of adopting technology.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, improved technology innovation, growth in broadband penetration, millennials ease with digital platforms, growth in social media, growth in mobile penetration and the shift to work from home.”

Also, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at MTN Nigeria, Dr. Olubayo Adekanmbi, advised organisations during one of the panel sessions to master and own their digital transformation in order to survive, adding that these days, most businesses are going digital and the COVID-19 has made it inevitable.
He, however, said not every organisation’s journey would be the same.

Founder and Group Managing Director, Interswitch Limited, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, noted that organisations must think of the traps and triggers on their digital transformation journey.
According to Elegbe, “Digital is about solutions that work for everyone. Regulation is very important, as digital has implications for national sovereignty and security.”

On his part, the Chief Investment Officer, GreenTec Capital Partners, Mr. Tomi Davies, stressed the need for the training of competent personnel to drive digital transformation.
The Co-Founder of CC-Hub, Mr. Bosun Tijani, said both the employer and the employee have great roles to play in achieving digital transformation.

The Chief Digital Officer at Sterling Bank, Mr. Yinka Oni, said more digital solutions should be made available for financial transactions, in order to enhance customers’ experience.

The 2021 edition of the event was collaboratively put together by Deloitte, which addressed two audiences, the online, which composed of participants from around the world and the offline which accommodated other participants physically.