Going Digital: What Nigerian businesses need to drive growths

Though innovations are applauded but the level of integration to drive business growth in Nigeria today is still at low ebb. The ultimate aim of digital transformation ordinarily should be the ability to adapt to any future digital innovation.

The Senior Manager Technology, Accenture, Akintunde Sawyer, shared insight on how Digital transformation can change the way we work and live, during the just concluded Social Media Week, said yet for many people the term digital transformation is still widely misunderstood and poorly integrated into businesses.

According to the tech expert, who also spoke at the event, stressed that there is maximum value from digital technologies such as social media, cloud computing, mobile technology and big data analytics saying reinvention of business practices is needed on a general scale in business organizations.

He further pointed key actions that businesses leaders and policy makers must take to exploit the growing digital economy, improve their economic opportunities and drive new productivity and growth.

“First, they need to prioritize digital investments based o value opportunities. Second, compete using an industry-specific digital strategy by being clear on which platform, what roles, and which data are fundamental to compete successfully in their industry. And third, create the right environment for digital transformation,” he said.

He advised that business leaders and policy makers must understand areas that need improvement so that can recalibrate their digital skills, digital technologies and digital accelerators to enhance productivity and output gains across the economy.

“The power to connect digital size, scale and outcome lies with businesses, industry sectors and government. With smarter investments, digital resources, technologies and assets can have a positive influence on competitiveness and help economies and industries drive greater, more sustainable value,” he said.

According to a research carried out by Accenture, digital investments can act as a growth multiplier in the coming years. “Take the United States where adjustments in investments in digital skills, digital technologies and digital accelerators in line with our calculations could see the nation increase its gross domestic product by 2.1 per cent, which equates to $421 billion in 2020” it noted.

For content marketers these stats present a business opportunity, as it means that content can now be distributed quickly and at a very low cost to a larger audience; something that hitherto would have required more time and funds. Concerning the use of media in marketing content especially, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have made it easier to connect with a very fickle audience.

The globalization of audiences made possible by these new media platforms have opened new frontiers for content marketers to try their hands on innovative ideas in a bid to keep the audience engaged.

According to the Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary “Internet Goes Mobile” April 2015 report on Nigeria, of the 23.1 million smartphones in Nigeria, 84 per cent are connected to the Internet.