'Embrace innovation to enhance business growth'

Oct 19, 2018

The experts said once companies don’t grip innovation, they risk being out competed leading to future collapse.

Information technology experts have urged corporate companies to embrace innovation and growing trends of digital transformation in Uganda to enhance their growth and development in business.

The experts said once companies don't grip innovation, they risk being out competed leading to future collapse. Digital transformation is the way technology, which is digital is used to allow people solve their problems.

"Digital transformation is something that is taking  centre stage globally. It is still low at 6% growth but it will keep on increasing. The good thing about digital transformation is that even the government is getting in on it. For instance, today, some of the public services are being accessed digitally," said Raymond Mugwanya, the Voice and Core Network Engineer at Liquid Telecom.

Mugwanya said: "People are logging in to file their tax returns using Uganda Revenue Authority portal, mobile money has become part of Ugandans with about 95% of all phone users having mobile money accounts."

He made the remarks during a conference organised by Liquid Telecom on Thursday at Innovation Village in Ntinda, a Kampala suburb. The conference was attended by Information and Technology experts.

Mugwanya said, decades ago, banks didn't know that they would face competition from the telecommunication companies until the introduction of mobile money, whose transactions take less time compared to bank businesses.

However, he said banks have also come up with multiple digital products such as mobile and agency banking. 

"We are living in era of digital business powered by rapidly changing technology pervasive throughout personal and business lives. For instance, several people in Kampala have embraced use of Uber cabs and boda bodas as opposed to traditional boarding of taxis," he explained.

Wale Olokadana, the director, enterprise commercial at Microsoft Nigeria explained that corporate companies Small and Medium Enterprises need devise means of engaging customers and their feedback channels using digital means to enhance satisfaction.

"They should also ensure innovation of products in tandem with digital transformation; for instance the uber has transformed the car taxi business," he stated.

Ensure data safety'

Hans Haerdtle, the Liquid Telecom Uganda chief executive officer said although there has been global digital transformation, people must be careful with their data so that it is not hacked into.

He also emphasised use of cloud azure services so that one can access his/her data anywhere, any time without being limited to data centres.

Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers.

"Data is not necessarily stored at storage centres, you can store it online so that you can easily access it where ever you want," Haerdtle said.

Digital transformation globally

According to World Economic Forum's Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI),  digitalisation in aviation, travel and tourism is expected to create up to US$305b of value for the industry through increased profitability, migrate US$100b of value from traditional players to new competitors, and generate benefits valued at US$700bfor customers and the wider society.

The development according to the body will take place from  the year   2016 to 2025.

BBC recently reported that digitalisation has left no segment of the travel ecosystem untouched, giving it potential to grow.

"Technology pervades every area of tourism and must be given the highest priority when developing the workforce for the industry," it reported quoting the 2016 report from the United Nations World Travel Organisation.

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