W/Africa Telecoms & IT to Blossom in 2015-Adisa

Bola Adisa, country manager, International Data Corporation (IDC), West Africa, has said the regional telecommunication and IT landscape will receive boosts by 2015, just as  findings showed that  West Africa's technology leaders are primarily concerned with driving innovation through IT

Adisa who was speaking during a gathering of the regions inaugural IDC West Africa CIO Summit held in Lagos on Tuesday, said that aside driving innovation, IDC researchers found that African IT leaders are concerned with managing growing expectations from users and measuring the return-on-innovation of the their IT initiatives.

The day's proceedings got underway with an assessment of the ways in which the era of transformation will impact the West  Africa the West Africa.

This was followed by an eclectic mix of insightful presentations and informative panel discussions on everything from Big Data analytics and datacenter strategies to CIO best practices and ICT predictions for West Africa.

Adisa said: "Our extensive research shows the regions technology leaders are primarily concerned with driving innovation through IT, managing growing expectations from users and measuring the RoI of their initiatives.

"The coming years will be a fascinating period for the development of West Africa IT and communications market.

"While some organizations are still building their infrastructures, others are surging forward, implanting cutting-edge technologies that disrupt traditional business and work models while creating opportunities in lines of business and in the optimization of workflow".

He added that the proliferation of 3rd  platoform technologies is not only changing the solutions that CIOs need to implement, but also fundamentally affecting the role of IT in the organization, the tasks and responsibilities of the IT department, and the Skill sets required by CIOs and their IT staff".

Meanwhile, the delegates in attendance represented a variety of industry sectors, including banking and financial services, government, oil & gas, construction and real estate, utilities, and healthcare.