NOT many Small and Medium Scale enterprises bother about technology. But in the long run, when it comes down to efficiency and results, there is a wide gap between those who do and those who do not. This is the submission of Omatsola Barrow, the Acting Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria. In this interview, Barrow, who is responsible for deploying core ICT solutions to enterprises that drive a substantial part of the Nigerian economy, is quick to point out that technology is always a fundamental enabler and never a distraction to business.
YOUR division manages some of the more strategic services in the telecoms sector. Can you give us an insight into some of the things you do?
MTN Business is the Enterprise Business Unit of MTN Nigeria and we are focused on delivering technology solutions that enable businesses and the public sector to efficiently optimize their operations and connection to their customers. Our focus markets include SMEs, Large Corporates and the Public Sector.
Our purpose as a business is to enable and inspire growth and we do this by providing innovative and customized solutions that help businesses reach more customers, serve these customers faster and better, and reduce cost, while at the same time maximizing profitability.
So whether its connecting a bank’s head office to all its branches and ATMs nationwide via our expansive fibre- optic network, or hosting an oil firm’s critical seismic data in our Tier 3 data centre or providing a platform for SMEs to access affordable software from the MTN Cloud, to mention just a few, our solutions are designed to enable businesses serve their customers better and by so doing grow.
What level of investments have you made in the network to make it ready to provide solutions for modern businesses?
MTN has made considerable investment in its network over time and continues to invest in the technology; infrastructure and human resources necessary to deliver innovative technology solutions for the enterprise.
Innovative technology
Our Data Centre is an example. We have a Tier 3 certified data centre from where we deliver a broad range of platform services as well as collocation, hosting, disaster recovery and cloud services to customers across the different verticals. In line with our vision to be the choice ICT partner for geographic and market expansion, we made huge investments in being part of the WACS consortium.
This has afforded MTN the opportunity to provide ultra-high speed connectivity and broadband services to locations beyond the shores of Nigeria. In addition, we are able to deliver high speed broadband through our Fibre to the home/Office solution to gated and multi dwelling communities notably VGC Estate and 1004 Estate. These are just a few investments that have helped position us to serve our business customers better.
SMEs are regarded as the bedrock of any strong economy, providing the quickest areas of growth. However, in Nigeria, it is one challenge after the other besetting SMEs. What initiatives have you introduced to help them function better?
Technology is not a distraction but a fundamental business enabler. The right technology partner can make all the difference between success and failure. Seek out technology partners that are able to offer partnership rather than a transaction-based relationship, that’s always our advise to SMEs. At MTN Business, we will partner with you to exceed your business goals and define new goals.
SMEs are very dear to us in MTN and our goal has been singular: to provide the SMEs with technology solutions that are relevant, accessible, affordable and easy to use. Thinking in this manner has allowed us innovate and provide a broad range of SME-focused solutions that SMEs have found very useful. One of these solutions is the MTN Y’ello Directory. This is a business directory listing of over 300,000 SMEs in Nigeria.
The service offers free listing to SMEs allowing them to be found by prospective buyers. Understanding the plight of SMEs not knowing how to go about getting and maintaining their own websites, we recently upgraded the MTN Y’ello Directory to allow SMEs also host mini sites within the directory as well as build a community for interaction and networking.
Interaction and networking
This means SMEs can get their businesses on the web for free and have their prospective buyers reach them anytime from anywhere and at no cost at all.
Is cloud computing for SMEs in Nigeria considering the fact that we are still battling with brick and mortar issues?
The Cloud is a very interesting phenomenon. Simply put, cloud services relate to services that can be accessed over the Internet at anytime, from anywhere most of which are device agnostic. We understand that the more people understand the benefits the Cloud offers, the more adoption there will be. This was the reason behind the SME Forum we held in Q4, last year. The forum focused entirely on the Cloud services and how they benefit SMEs in practical use cases. It featured speakers from Government, an OEM and an SME.
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