Expert tasks Nigerian companies on technology driven business

Staff Development Officer, Technical Training,MTN,Oyebanke Osunsanya making a presentation of MTN’s BMP during a practical session at the JK Micheals/Oracle Breakfast meeting, with her is the Lead Project Management Consultant for JK Micheals, Dr. Bello Omololu.

If Nigerian companies must catch up fast with Chinese and India firms that have invaded the economy, they must therefore consider Business Process Management (BPM) that is technology driven.

The reason is that if Nigerian owned organisations deploy technology driven BPM in the management of their business process they would be able to achieve operational excellence, reduce cost of operation, increase profit margin, and standardised their processes.

Speaking to the ICT.BizAfrica  shortly after addressing top executives of selected Nigerian companies at a breakfast meeting in Lagos, Lead Project Management Consultant for JK Micheals, Dr. Bello Omololu said that a BPM that is backed up by technology would help in organisational flexibility, agility and assist in regulatory compliance.

He told participant at the meeting which was organised in conjunction with Oracle that the nation’s business landscape is gradually being eating up by the Chinese and India firm whose acumen for business was yet to be matched by most Nigerian owned and managed organisations.

According to him, with a technology driven BPM a company can be transformed into a world class organisation saying that Oracle has one of the best solutions a unified BPM technology known as the Oracle BPM Suite 11g, which has the capability to break barriers.

He said that the Oracle BPM Suite 11g integrates different components of an organisation, which can help to put their process in a seamless way adding that every other system in an organisation can ride and talk to the Oracle BPM thereby making the process in the organisation to be effortless and flow in seamless manner.

He disclosed that there is the training aspect of the BPM and another where “we can simulate and the break points, delivering, and you can even make corrections before you move into your business”.

He further said that the rules of the organisation as well as the roles of personnel within the organisation can be built into the business and roles so that when there is a change within the system the organisation can easily change the rules and then move on.

“Sometimes you want to integrate a new technology into the organisation and if you are just working without a BPM backbone, you see a situation where it takes a longer time to integrate new technology, but with the BPM backbone it can be done very fast and change your technology, and that is where Oracle comes,” he explained.

According to Omololu organisations across the globe have moved from the old ways of doing business to  new ways saying that the rigid structure has given way to fluidity and flexibility, authoritarian reporting to dynamic relationships, monolithic to highly complex and tightly-integrated components while relationship between customers, suppliers, and staff have changed.

In his presentation, making reference to the 2004 Gartner Survey that touched 154 completed BPM Projects, he said that organisations that use BPM had 95 per cent rate success adding successful projects had no less than 10 per cent internal rate of return.

He also said that 78 per cent had greater than 15 per cent while a wide numbers included 100 per cent rate return stressing that 67 per cent of the projects were completed in less than 6 months just as 50 per cent of the projects were completed in less than 4 months.

On the cost implication, he said that 77 per cent of the projects had returns greater than $100,000 per project while 55 per cent of the projects had returns in the $100,000-to-$500,000 range value of the companies that had BPM projects underway.

He disclosed that industries where BPM is applicable are development and manufacturing, finance and Banking, consulting, telecommunications information system, computer manufacturer, education, service industry, automobile and government.

He further said that SMES also have solutions that can drive their business stating that what the SMES need, was to “understand the process of doing their business, so it is only after that they can then model their process to be able to win within the competitive environment they find themselves”.

On its relevance to mergers and acquisition, he said: when you are trying to merger two different banks with difference rules and roles you have to synchronise the two processes so that it stands as one, if not there is going to be a hang-off bottleneck such that one process is done in one way and another in a different way. And that is why there are failures in a process wherever there is a merger and acquisition”.

Sales Consultant for Oracle, Mr. Peter Boglo while reviewing the Oracle BPM Suite 11g said that when business conditions evolve faster than the company’s ability to change and respond, business performance suffers noting that with BPM there are possibilities for organisations to optimise business processes and align them with organisational goals and strategies while also empowering staff to work smarter leveraging on the systems and information.

He said that BPM delivers for organisations that use operational excellence, process standardisation, continuous process improvement, business and IT alignment as well as business transformation. 

FG urged to wade into NCC/NESREA conflict

L-R: Financial Secretary Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, (ALTON),Mr. Tom Iwueze, Chairman ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adeboye and Environmental  Compliance Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Babatunde Laniyan at press conference on the constant closure of base stations by NESRA. 

Telecommunications operators want the Federal Government to mandate the Minister of Communications Technology and the Minister of the Environment to resolve the conflicting roles of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Environmental Standards Regulatory and Enforcement Agency (NESRA) over the regulation of base stations in the country.

The telecoms operators under the name: Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, (ALTON) made the appeal following the repeated closure of base stations across the country, which they said, have made difficult to deliver quality service to their customers.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, the chairman of the ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo said that the action of NESRA in taking armed policemen to shut-down a base station that has been duly approved by the agency that is mandated by law to regulate the telecoms industry was an embarrassment to the Federal Government and the National assembly that made the laws that set up the NCC.

Describing the invasion by NESRA of several base stations in the country as a great economic loss to the nation and an act that is capable of undermining national security, he said that NESRA failed to follow the due process in the closure of the base stations.

According to him, the law setting up NESRA demands under the current circumstances to seek a court injunction saying that “these impulsive closures cause very serious negative impacts to Nigerians whose lives and livelihood increasingly depend on the 100 per cent availability of the telecoms networks and are particularly worrisome given current security challenges in the country”.

He noted that ALTON members have complied with laws regarding environmental safety stating that “the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the sole statutory regulator of the telecoms industry has articulated and aggressively enforces regulations on the installation of masts, towers and other telecom facilities”.

Adebayo further said that if government should allow NESRA to continue with its disruptions in communications service caused by the increasing spate of interference with telecoms installations, it would amount to denying the Nigerian people the right to talk or communicate.

While the Federal Government to call NESRA to order, he said that the two ministers of the agencies concerned must be mandated by the government state the clear terms of their regulations concerning base stations.

According to him, the action of NESRA is more political rather than that of the interest of the environment saying that if government assists both agencies to define their roles and rules concerning regulating base stations it would save the nation the embarrassment that NESRA has caused the Nigerians.

He explained that: “NESREA has unlawfully sealed the base station sites of our members in Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, Ado Ekiti and Ibadan causing serious network outages and congestion.  When the NCC caused the site in Abuja to be unsealed in lawful exercise of its statutory powers, NESREA again unlawfully invaded the site with armed policemen, demobilized the site and caused loss of service to millions of individuals, businesses, law enforcement and security agents”.

Speaking further on the grave implication of NESRA action, Adebayo said that “some of these sites collocate over 6 separate operators and the activities of NESREA have severely impacted on the quality of service delivery to our esteemed subscribers who are affected on the respective networks”.

On how to further end the NESRA issue he suggested the establishment of one-stop shop (OSS) permitting model, which would coordinate and harmonise the relevant government ministries, departments and agencies in one location for the purpose of a singular permitting point for telecoms site-build operations.

He further said that there should be an amplification of the role of the NCC as the industry regulator, educational campaigns and capacity building for government ministries, departments and agencies involved concerned with telecoms activities and the passage of Critical National Infrastructure Law.

He also called on the government to protect the industry from unionisation by labour saying that the industry is too critical to be let to go the way of the textile industry.

Nigeria can break barriers to getting small biz online says Google

Last week, Google organised the first of its kind CSR programme where over 10,000 business men and women were offered the opportunity to host their own website for free, in this interview Country Manager Google,Juliet Ehimuan revealed the rationale behind the initiative and how break barriers to getting small businesses online.

Google and Nigeria

Google is serious about Nigeria, and we want to get more Nigerian users online by developing an accessible, relevant and sustainable internet environment.

Nigerian Internet users make up 28.9 per cent or 44m of the population according to WorldInternetStats and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).  This is up from 6.7 per cent in 2008 a fourfold increase.

In fact a recent World Bank study based on analysis of 120 countries found that a 10 per cent change in broadband adoption is associated with a 1.38 per cent increase in GDP per capita growth in developing countries

So what we are doing in Nigeria is to help reduce access barriers facing potential internet users using the Google Universities Access Programme is we hope will impact over 100,000 students at 6 Nigerian universities, with more universities to follow. 

We are also investing in infrastructure; specifically we have given $500,000 to Nigeria ICT Forum to support efforts in improving access to Internet infrastructure in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.

One other thing we have done also is to localised Google products in Nigeria such as the Google Search, which is now in local languages like Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba, also we have the Google Maps, Gmail SMS,  iGoogle, Google News, Baraza, Google Trader.

We also provided info on the Nigerian elections through our Nigerian Elections Portal.

We have been helping to strengthen an Internet ecosystem in Nigeria and across Africa that is viable and sustainable in the long-term.

The software development community in the country have also benefitted from us as we are empowering the next generation of developers in fact we've held multiple developer events and education where over 3000 people were in attendance last   last year.

For instance, the G-Nigeria programme took place in April 2011 for a second year running and was unprecedented in scale/numbers over 1000 people.

And then in terms of education, Google is working with universities to raise the level of curriculum, raising and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. Currently, Google has 27 Nigerian students from 8 universities who act as internet and Google ambassadors in their communities in its ambassadors.

Small businesses and barriers to getting online.

Many people feel that using the Internet as a business channel is expensive, intimidating or difficult to understand. They believe they have to pay an expert to create a site for them and depend on experts to keep it updated, but we want to demonstrate that there are plenty of free, easy-to-use tools available to companies of all sizes. We'll hopefully help them get a foot on the digital ladder. And that is what we are doing through the Get Nigerian Businesses Online web fair

The GNBO Web fair is a two-day event dedicated to helping Nigerian businesses create their very own websites at www.GNBO.com.ng. Web fair participants will be able to create their own customised websites with support from trainers, in as little as 1 hour, at no charge.  This is being done in partnership with MTN Business and Ecobank.

Creating a website is great.  But how does a small business owner manage it especially since they won’t always have access to the Internet?

When you create your website, you have several options for how to manage the site.  For example, you can have as many people setup as administrators, which means they can go to the site and update information when you’re not available.  Also, you can set your website up in a way that customer enquiries are sent to you via SMS.  So if someone is interested in your products or services they can provide their information online, and you get it on your mobile.  Your website can of course also be accessed on internet enabled mobile phones

Google’s stake in this

We believe that the power of the internet will help small businesses in Nigeria to thrive, by bringing more local information online, and making that information more accessible and useful to Nigerians.

If you have read the McKinsey study, it states that the internet enables economic opportunity and has already fostered significant growth for economies around the world.

The Internet will create jobs and foster economic growth in Nigeria SMBs has been identified as a key vehicle for growth in the government’s ‘Vision 2020’, as well as by the new Ministry for Information, Communications Technology.

GNBO is an initiative which will transform the Nigerian SMB landscape and have a real impact on the economy by bringing thousands of businesses online.

GNBO helps to remove the barriers that stop small businesses from getting online such as lack of time, cost, and lack of knowledge by making it quick, easy and free to set up a website.

Nigerian customers are already online, and they’re looking for local businesses. So having a website means that customers can find local businesses easily and quickly online. Having a website is as important for a business today as having a phone, because customers are looking online for local business information.

Evidence of GNBO initiative impact

Absolutely!  Since we launched the program in September of 2011, we’ve seen more than 20,000 Nigerian businesses get online through Get Nigerian Businesses Online.  We have so many success stories, some of which can be seen on the website www.gnbo.com.ng.  We also have so many businesses that have creatively used the platform to change the way they do business, for example, we had a small business that sold rams go online.  Customers could look at pictures of different rams from the comfort of their living rooms and request that they be delivered to them.  This is benefit both for the business and the customer.  The internet is helping businesses access a wider range of customers from more places at cheaper cost.

In addition to the simple tool that uses Google Business Sitebuilder to allow businesses to easily produce and populate a new site, we will also automatically add their business to search listings for Google Search & Google Maps.

We've developed a simple tool that uses Google Business Sitebuilder to allow businesses to easily produce & populate a new site.

We will automatically add their business to search listings for Google Search & Google Maps. These tools are available at www.gnbo.com.ng

We're looking to help any type of business get online from scratch, and those that have a website that isn't really working for them or has been neglected.  Any business from a barber's shop to an accounting firm who wants to reach a broader base of customers even in their own neighbourhood, those are the businesses we want to help.

For domains, if a user decides they want a totally free site, then they can own a sub-domain under gnbo.com.ng (for example, theshoeshoppe.gnbo.com.ng).

However, if a business wishes to establish its own unique identity online, then the business can purchase a domain name (e.g., theshoeshoppe.com or the shoeshoppe.com.ng).  We have engaged a domain registrar, Upperlink, to support businesses coming online who wish to purchase a .com.ng domain name. These cost N1500 per domain per year and must be renewed annually.  The ability to purchase a .com domain will likely become available shortly and the cost of .com domains varies.

The cost for the second year of owning your website is really only the annual domain registration fee of N1500 (for .com.ng domains).  That is the only cost a business will incur from getting online.

  

GNBO success story

Any launch that helps small businesses get online can only help web developers & agencies,because the more small businesses there are online, the more small businesses will be looking for web developers & agencies to give them advice on improving their web experience in the short to medium term for example, optimising their site. 

We have lot of examples but let me give one example using a quote from what the COO of Zaris Fashion and Style Academy,a fashion training institute in Allen avenue shared with us

 And I quote him: "The website has really enhanced Zaris Fashion and Style Academy’s image to the outside world by presenting it is a stable, reliable and organized brand.   We also took advantage of the Google Apps for businesses and immediately created email addresses with our domain name further giving us more credibility on the Internet and ensuring secure communications with our customers".

"We are commencing a new study session in May and the requests and feedback has been overwhelming and we are looking forward to registering well over 40 students in this session with the largest number of enquiries emanating from our website.This represents a 500 per cent increase in student number with relative income just after 6 months in business"

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