E-Business
Why Services Are Vital to The Next Age of Business
By Emmanuel Asika
It seems like it’s the end of work as we know it, given the significant transformation and changes in recent years. The growing need for hybrid working environments has led businesses to explore new ways of securely linking systems and staff.
Emmanuel Asika
Meanwhile, many institutions are wrestling with a shortage of IT personnel brought about by the widespread phenomenon of the ‘Great Resignation,’ which is rapidly growing around the worldI.
The latter is even worse in Nigeria, where a great number of IT professionals are resigning daily and heading to countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, in search of the proverbial ‘greener pastures’, a phenomenon known in local parlance as ‘Japa’, a Yoruba word that simply means ‘to run away’ or ‘escape’.
Apart from the medical field, the Japa syndrome seems to have hit the IT sector the most, with many tech developers either leaving the countryII in search of better paying jobs or working remotely for foreign companies.
While IT costs around the world are on the rise, interest in managed services is equally increasing. Such a scenario may appear staggering, but it shouldn’t. As these changes are reevaluating the way people and businesses work, IT as an industry is reacting with inventive solutions for the majority of the urgent challenges faced by organisations.
The increase in all-inclusive services for hardware, software, and amongst others helps businesses to adjust, grow, and constantly renew themselves to be able to provide customers with capabilities they desire. This is because services will not only propel the subsequent business revolution, but they will also be the base for their growth.
New Age, Fresh Tests
Research firm Gartner estimated that by the end of 2023IIIII, 48% of knowledge workers around the world – engineers, accountants, and writers – will work either fully remotely (9%) or in a hybrid arrangement (39%).
So, it is important to build robust IT structures and solutions that will empower these hybrid staff to be productive, wherever they will be working from. It is equally important to obtain an emerging blend of remote gadgets, cloud-based software solutions, and on-premises hardware.
Yet, achieving the goal of acquiring the perfect IT personnel proves to be a challenging task. Despite the long-standing global demand for IT workers, the increasing shortage of skilled personnel in the industry has become a cause for concern in recent times.
A Nigerian business surveyIIIIII showed that 58% of IT decision makers in Nigeria view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business. The survey also found that 34% of tech decision makers in Nigeria were planning to move to a new region, and 33% into a new country.
Expectedly, it’s all about more money, more flexibility, reduced stress, and new experiences. Numerous organizations in Nigeria and Africa are anticipated to face challenges related to tech skills, and these issues are expected to intensify in 2024 and the years to come.
These undercurrents are a disaster for IT units, many of them already under-staffed, and at a time when businesses really need them most. Luckily, the right services can deal with such growing obstacles.
Help is Here
Over time, HP has been researching different kinds of innovations that can assist companies around the world to traverse this new era, and managed services and solutions are top of the list. In contrast to total gadget possession, these end-to-end options, just like HP’s Managed Print Services, are convenient, flexible, scalable, secure, and manageable.
Personalization is rapidly becoming the new thing. Today, to be successful, businesses need bespoke solutions that fulfil the changing expectations of consumers as effortlessly as they enable access to competencies.
We are convinced that this is where the future generation of managed services will come into play – narrowing the skill gap, and at the same time delivering solutions needed to empower and protect a hybrid staff.
For instance, the HP Device as a Service (DaaS) assists IT units cut the rate and intricacy of running devices during their lifespan of gadgets, delivering gadgets, repair services, and AI-driven analytics in a formularized payment. We also provide bespoke offerings for special needs and budgets.
Future-proofing IT
Fully managed services strengthen IT units, delivering the know-how and materials that organisations require to prevail over present uncertainties.
Managed services enable organisations to double up and grow to satisfy the present needs and be ready for future expansion. Having access to extra capability and up-to-date solutions helps businesses to easily transform digitally, thus decreasing the danger and price of doing so.
What’s more, digital services enable businesses to grow competencies in step with changing consumer demands – all the while not being obliged to update technology.
HP’s acquisition of Teradici in 2021 presents a supportive set of cloud-based and remote experiences to products like HP workstations, presenting consumers with faster computing and the suppleness of simulated access that will satisfies their personal requirements.
Emmanuel Asika is Country Head, HP Nigeria
Amazon’s management on Wednesday said that it expects that artificial intelligence software will reduce the number of office workers at the world’s largest online retailer.
Andy Jassy, chief executive, Amazon
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs,” Andy Jassy, chief executive, Amazon wrote in an email to employees.
He said it was difficult to predict how the overall workforce will evolve, but in the next few years, it is expected that AI efficiency gains will lead to a reduction in the number of office workers.
According to earlier reports, Amazon employed around 1.5 million people worldwide, with approximately 350,000 office employees in various roles.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company does not anticipate further large-scale layoffs, as seen in 2022 and 2023, in the near future.
Instead, it expects that vacant positions will not be refilled.
However, layoffs are not ruled out, according to sources familiar with the matter.
“Amazon is focusing on so-called AI agents, software capable of independently performing tasks. These agents could, for example, summarise information from the web and data sources, write software, translate languages and automate many time-consuming tasks,” Mr Jassy explained.
“Agents will be teammates that we can call on at various stages of our work,” he added, urging employees to experiment with AI whenever possible.
The impact of AI on the job market has been a concern for many years.
Recently, Spotify, the leader in music streaming, announced that teams requesting additional staff would first need to prove that AI could not perform the tasks.
The creators of the language-learning app Duolingo plan to gradually replace external workers with AI.
Dr Adebowale Adedokun, director-general, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), has reaffirmed the bureau’s commitment to data protection in Nigeria.
He disclosed this in a statement at the weekend by Zira Nagga, head of Public Relations, BPP, following a courtesy visit by a delegation from the National Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
Adedokun stressed that data protection is vital to Nigeria’s economy and development, particularly in areas such as demography, health, education, and other key sectors.
He emphasised that no country should leave its data unprotected, as it plays a crucial role in future planning and national development.
“Data governs the world. It is essential to technological progress and must be protected for a country or business to be taken seriously,” he said.
Adedokun described the visit, aimed at fostering partnership on data policy implementation and protection, as timely and aligned with national goals.
He said the BPP would collaborate closely with the NDPC to boost data development, capacity building, and enhance the procurement system.
“The BPP will support compliance as part of the ‘Nigeria First’ Policy, although it is not a core procurement eligibility requirement,” he explained.
He suggested a hybrid training model to help build strong capacity in data protection, privacy awareness, and policy understanding.
According to him, a dynamic training approach will reduce logistics costs and improve public confidence in data safety and privacy.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, CEO, and national commissioner, NDPC, praised Adedokun and the BPP for supporting data protection initiatives.
He said the partnership supports President Bola Tinubu’s vision and will strengthen data privacy across Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
“The collaboration will create awareness and train BPP staff to ensure a firm grasp of data protection principles and policies,” he stated.
Olatunji said the NDPC would establish a working group to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding beneficial to both institutions.
He added that President Tinubu signed the NDPC into law on 12 June 2023 to uphold citizens’ rights and protect national and business data.
Olatunji also noted that strict legal measures were in place to enforce data protection and ensure full compliance nationwide.
Both agencies agreed to form a team to sign the MoU and focus on capacity building and data management in procurement and beyond.
President Bola Tinubu said that his administration has initiated a project to install fibre optic cables across the country, aimed at enhancing the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
His plans were contained in a speech he delivered at a joint session of the National Assembly in commemoration of Democracy Day on Thursday, June 12.
He said the fibre optic layout is part of other projects being embarked on.
“In addition, we have embarked on an ambitious project to lay fibre optic cables across the nation, a transformative step toward bridging the digital divide and fostering greater connectivity.
“This initiative promises not only to enhance the speed and reliability of internet access but also to revolutionise how businesses operate, how students learn, and how communities stay connected,” Tinubu stated.
He maintained that by extending this critical infrastructure, his government is empowering entrepreneurs, enabling digital education, and providing the tools for our youth to compete in a globalised world.
In a most recent report on Internet connectivity, The ICIR pointed out how Nigeria has faced setbacks in its deployment of fibre optic cables and needs a transformation.
The challenges revolve around vandalism, inadequate coordination between road construction and telecom infrastructure, and varying right-of-way (RoW) charges across states.
Among industry experts, these issues impact network outages, increase repair costs, and hinder broadband expansion efforts.
It has also further threatened the digital economy, leading to slower Internet speeds, dropped calls, and unreliable connectivity among others.
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