For Nigeria to transform her economy and reach its full potential of being the fastest growing economy in Africa, Oracle has advised the country to adopt cloud computing and pay more attention to implementation of technologies.
The global technology company highlighted Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence as the key technologies that Nigeria needs to adopt to drive economic transformation.
Speaking in Lagos, Adebayo Sanni, Managing Director, Oracle Nigeria, said a number of socio-economic challenges facing the country could be tackled using technologies.
“The issue of waste management and traffic, for instance can be easily addressed with IoT. Social issues such as lack of access to healthcare can also be addressed using technology,” he said. According to him, the problem of corruption and the need for transparency in government can also be tackled using the blockchain technology.
While emphasising the need for enterprises and governments to embrace cloud computing to achieve maximum security of data, Sanni noted that industries are now being disrupted by cloud computing as currently being witnessed in the Nigerian transportation sector, with the operations of Uber and Taxify, whose apps are leveraging on the cloud to revolutionise the sector.
Sanni, who was delighted that Oracle Cloud is now gaining momentum in Nigeria, said with cloud computing enabling unmatched speed, value and better return on investment (ROI), businesses and public sector entities in Nigeria are accelerating their digital transformation initiatives.
The Oracle chief elaborated on the key factors driving the rapid adoption of the company’s cloud solutions in Nigeria while also highlighting key technology trends, organisations in Nigeria are expected to adopt in 2018.
“Cloud is now a mainstream approach in Nigeria and we are increasingly seeing business leaders opt for solutions that allow them to free up resources for creating unique customer experience; drive innovation or reduce ownership costs”, said Sanni.
“Over the past few years Oracle has invested in expanding its footprint, increasing the workforce and introducing latest cloud solutions in the country. This sustained engagement has helped us support the digital transformation initiatives of a host of organisations and thus drive solid momentum for Oracle cloud in Nigeria”.
Oracle also made some predictions that enterprise security will become company job number one priority with much of it being automated. It added this year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will also cement its place in enterprises.
By the end of 2018, most customer support in Nigeria will be conducted by chatbots; blockchain will emerge as a transformational technology and IoT will evolve from individual components to an integrated platform, while regulated industries will move to the cloud en masse, Oracle said in its 2018 predictions.
“With projections that the country’s ICT market will grow to $10bn in 2018, Nigeria is fast emerging as the hotbed of technological innovation in Africa and we are working with customers that sit right on the edge of this potential,” commented Sanni.
“In a market defined by growth, development and change, Oracle Nigeria has focused on redefining the capabilities of cloud, the potential of technology and the relevance of innovation. From the ubiquity of next-generation cloud to the reliability of blockchain, we continue to invest in solutions and services that will help bring transformational change for our customers,” he added.