Zoho Corporation, a global software development and Data connectivity company, in the quest to accelerate its inroad into Nigeria, has reassured on its willingness to partner government agencies and private concerns to deliver world-class technologies to businesses and corporates.
Speaking at a workshop during the just-concluded AfriTECH2021 event held in Lagos, Regional Manager at Zoho Africa, Andrew Bourne reiterated the company’s commitment to growing its brand and technologies in Africa, especially in Nigeria due to the huge population and need for technology.
Zoho Corporation is an Indian multinational technology company that makes web-based business tools. It is best known for online office suite named Zoho.
While noting that for organisations, large and small, the year 2020 was the longest year ever due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, also pointed out that the quick lesson learnt is the urgent need to reorient the workforce to a new way of working.
“It came swiftly with playbooks being written and rewritten depending on what leaders were learning from government authorities, medical professionals, and from their own employees.”
Bourne assured that the company is coming into Nigeria with affordable, seamless connectivity for data, infused with high security features for data protection and maximisation.
Speaking on the future of businesses and the need for data security, in line with what Zoho is propagating in Nigeria, Bourne cautioned on Nigerian businesses to be aware of the dangers of running free trackers.
A survey conducted by WorldWideWorx and commissioned by Zoho revealed that even though businesses were concerned about the privacy of customer’s data in the hands of third-party vendors, they were also very reliant on the vendors for revenue generation and gathering customer insights, making it harder for them to move away.
But according to Bourne: “When businesses choose to use a free tracker, they are paying for it with their consumer’s data.
At Zoho, we refer to this practice of third-party trackers collecting data without user knowledge as adjunct surveillance. Presently, Nigerian businesses turn a blind eye to this passive data collection by trackers, most likely, because they are dependent on them for revenue.
However, consumers will eventually trust companies with transparent privacy policies that protect their personal information. Businesses hoping to stay relevant in the long term will need to either rethink their reliance on third-party platforms or demand greater transparency and accountability from them.”
He also demonstrated how to drive customer loyalty through a CRM system. Through this means new customers get introduced to the company through a ‘promoting’ customer which could be triggered by word of mouth, social media recommendations or customer testimonial.
At the Forum, the Managing Director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof Muhammed Abubakar, expressed the company’s preparedness to provide ICT infrastructure and services to public institutions and the underserved communities in Nigeria.
Abubakar, who was represented by the head DataCentre at Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Timi Fadeyi, spoke on ‘Boosting Cloud Infrastructure for Digital Economy through Partnerships’. “We need to work smarter, faster and simpler – a combination of a hybrid mode of working and harnessing relationships; virtual, physical, both.
“Artificial Intelligence is reshaping value chains, industries, communities, countries and the works entirely. You also need to secure your data; secure your entire digital experience, a combination of technology and you.
Other key industry stakeholders participated at the one-day Forum, which also featured exhibition by some sector players such as Zoho Corporation, Medallion Communications, Layer3 and Notion Technology Limited (representatives of American #1 Technology company – Comway – and HSV Products)
The AfriTECH2021 had Zoho as the lead sponsors received supports from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Galaxy Backbone Limited, as partners, also sponsored by Rack Centre, Digital Encode, Cloudflex Computing Services Limited, Zinochrome International, Layer3, Notion Technology Limited and Medallion Communications.
