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By Chinenye Anuforo
Microsoft has unpacked its Digital transformation journey to accelerate meaningful transformation for Nigeria’s financial services providers (FSPs).
At a digital transformation roundtable for the financial services industry (FSI) last week, Marketing and Operations Director for Microsoft Middle East and Africa, Hoda Younan, who disclosed the initiative during the virtual roundtable, said Microsoft would empower Africa’s FSPs by bringing together existing and new industry capabilities to deliver a more seamless, customised cloud-based experience.
According to Younan, “With deep security and compliance built in to meet the needs of the FSI, the proposed digital transformation roadmap future-proofs FSPs as they continue to manage unprecedented risks and grow rapidly with innovative business models.”
With this targeted solution, Microsoft has already helped many FSPs successfully embrace change and unlock new value creation on their digital transformation journey. “What we’ve seen in doing so is common thread that defines success for FSPs,” explains Younan.
Recently, the African Financial Industry Barometer (AFIB) revealed that nearly 72 percent of banks have already launched digitalisation programmes as a priority for the year ahead. However, most of those surveyed feel that their digital maturity is still at the emerging stage – these FSPs need to accelerate transformation as a business priority.
Ola Williams, Country Manager for Microsoft Nigeria, noted that there are several factors driving this urgency to digitise. “First, we’ve seen changes in employee work patterns that have shaped a hybrid workforce, as well as the increasingly sophisticated customer expectations for a 24-hour-a-day service at their fingertips with the same level of security as a physical vault,” she explained.
“Remaining competitive has seen a growing call for more sustainable, cost-effective business systems. Additionally, the urgency to digitise can also be attributed to increased regulatory scrutiny, a global surge in cybercrimes, and the rise of non-traditional FSPs in the form of FinTechs.”
Speaking about industry-specific cloud-based solution, Williams said: “Our focus on providing services that facilitate a trusted cloud with pervasive intelligence allows FSPs to reimagine how they deliver payments, manage risk, empower employees, and deliver engaging customer experiences.”
