Financial experts have underscored the need for Nigeria to leverage opportunities inherent in the technology ecosystem to solve numerous problems associated with the entire African economy.
 
They also urged traditional institutions to use technology to provide efficient services through the deployment of alternative engagement channels and platforms.The experts, who spoke at the Thought Leadership Colloquium, organised by Greenwich Registrars & Data Solutions Limited, on the theme: Big Data in Nigeria’, noted that technology adoption can solve Africa’s problems.
 
According to them, corporate organisations and financial institutions must redesign and harness data and generate insights that make a quantifiable difference to customers, revenue generation and profits to remain relevant in the industry.
 
Specifically, the Executive Director, IT & Operations, Access Bank Plc, Ade Bajomo, stressed the need for companies to digitalise their strategies in such a way that it becomes more competitive to serve customers in the most efficient manner.
 
“We need to drive and participate in this transformation to boost our organisations. Based on this pattern, we want to move into predictive, which is digital transformation.”“The fourth industrial revolution is powered by data, and 90 per cent of all the data created in the world were generated in the last two years,” he added.
   
A Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in charge of Operations, Ade Shonubi, advised business organisations in the country to leverage the power of big data and internet of things (IoT), to survive competition in the present and future business environment driven by digital technology.
   
Shonubi, represented by the Director Information Technology Department, CBN, Rakiya Shuaibu Mohammed, said: “To survive in this age, organisations need to have an agile data architecture that will enable them harness the power of big data, and be able to play in their competitive ecosystem. So what I think we should do as an organisation is to have a very clear vision and a very clear strategy. When we have to look at data, we have to make a conscious decision to look at data as an asset, and to do that, we have to look at the entire organisation.
“When you understand the business drivers for harnessing the power of data in your organisation, you need to also ask yourself: what is it you want to use this data for?”
   
The Acting Managing Director of Greenwich Registrars and Data Solutions Ltd., Obiageli Chiki-Ijegbulem, who made reference to an IBM study, argued that under-utilisation of data is a costly mistake for many organisations.
According to her, meeting customers demand with seamless and personalised experiences, developing a plethora of tools and apps for service fulfilment, while ensuring optimal protection of the customer data is the new norm.
 
She said one of the most important developments of the 21st Century is the rise of data-driven service delivery, adding that traditional organisations that have not crossed the digital divide are at a disadvantage because they incubate a cohesive ecosystem that inhibits the establishment of a fully-integrated digital culture.
 
“This conundrum stems from an enshrined mundane work culture, weak disposition to change management and quality of the human capital. Factually, the significance of big data does not revolve around the quantity of data you have, but what you do with it.

“You can take data from almost any source, analyse it to generate intelligence that will help your business in areas like customer life cycle management, new product development and smart decision-making.”She added: “Ideally, mature organisations build protocols and employ tools for data security; these tools in themselves depend on big data to track and neutralize evolving threats.”