This nice infographic will present you 8 fun facts of iPhone that you probably haven’t known yet, courtesy of IOTransfer.
Infographic created by IOTransfer – easily transfer iPhone data to PC/Mac/iPad/iPod.
GTBank Grand Strategy in one Paragraph, from CEO Segun Agbaje
GTBank is a category-king banking institution in Nigeria. In many ways, it leads the sector. It is a bank that I have studied; I’d shared the winning formula which partly made this bank what it is today. The CEO of the bank, Mr. Segun Agbaje , spoke this week in the Social Media Week Lagos event. His talk was titled “Making Sense of a World in Motion”.
Here are the top-level takeaways:
- Companies including banks would fail unless they transmute into platforms.
- Collaboration is the key to winning on digital. Without collaboration and partnership, firms would struggle to have success.
- Business will thrive if they develop capabilities on “flexibility and adaptability” in their business missions. For banks, with those two elements, they could effectively compete despite technology-driven disruptions in the industry.
- The key factor of production right now is Access, not capital.
- Entrepreneurs must demonstrate “integrity, transparency, hardwork and discipline.”
- The customer is the “king, special and at the centre of everything.”
Then he provided the grand strategy of GTBank thus:
To “create a platform and partner anybody who has a service to offer. So that if as a customer, one comes into our ecosystem, you can do just anything. You could do your banking business, buy your tickets, insurance, travel; if you wanted a 10-day pay day loan, you can do it. So, really we want you to come into our ecosystem, maybe five times a day to do different things other than banking.”
Adapted from the Guardian
When IT Anchors Hybrid Intelligence
The best IT deployment is one that RUNS your organization even as it TRANSFORMS it. I believe that IT must offer duality, helping to improve presently defined operations even as it helps to redesign the whole firm. Yes, take care of today’s operational needs but have the capacity to re-engineer the organization of the future. In all, IT bows to the business objectives because the objectives are superior to things that make them realizable. Yet, an IT that transforms could help architect those objectives.
When you deploy IT that only runs, you have extremely good operational quality which can be executing an expired business model flawlessly. Sure – instead of collapsing in three years, you can get that done in six months.
But when you have IT that transforms, you get the excellent operational fluidity even with capacity to restructure a business model to fit the changing needs of your customers. Indeed, you are running and your head is lifted up to see far into the future. That is when IT becomes a competitive weapon, evolving from operational element into a strategic enabler.
The best part of technology is not what technology itself does but what it enables to happen. For a telecom company that used AI assistants (think of Messenger bots) to fix 82% of customer services issues, it has IT that is not just running it but also transforming it. Getting to say 90% resolution success may require human elements. That is Hybrid Intelligence – concatenating technology and humans to deliver superior results at scale. At the heart of this is massive cost saving which makes the firm leaner, smarter and more profitable.
Until your IT can anchor Hybrid Intelligence in your operations, you only have an IT that runs and not one that transforms. An IT that runs must evolve as it may be destroying the future of the business. You need an IT that transforms. Yes, one that anchors Hybrid Intelligence in your business.
Facebook Enters Nigerian Banking Sector
What is the largest market in Nigeria right now? Perhaps Lagos you may note. That is wrong – the largest market in Nigeria right now is Facebook Corp. Facebook Corp hosts excess of 30 million Nigerians users, far more than the population of Lagos State.
Within five years, most of the users would use messaging for commerce. Facebook Messenger would anchor those within Facebook while WhatsApp would drive the business outside of Facebook. When you add Instagram, you would agree that Facebook Corp is the largest market for any Nigerian consumer business.
Ecobank and Zenith Bank want to launch Facebook Messenger banking with MasterCard. That is a good move. As Konga learnt, its main competitor was not really Jumia but Facebook which took many of its marketplace customers. These banks want to reach out to the small businesses where they are, and most are within Facebook Corp.
“Brands and developers around the world are turning to messaging to connect with the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger each month,” said Kahina Van Dyke, Director of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships at Facebook. “We are pleased that MasterCard is developing a service on the Messenger Platform to help small merchants use messaging to manage their business and connect with their customers.”
The Opportunity
According to research done by The Fletcher School and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, of the $301 billion of funds flow from consumers to businesses in Nigeria, 98 percent is still based on cash.
That is the opportunity, and there are rooms to grow digitally and electronically. Some banks are plotting strategically, going ahead to take advantages where these customers are located:
“In line with our goal to serve 100 million Africans by the end of 2020, Ecobank is delighted to collaborate with Facebook and MasterCard to enable underserved and unbanked micro-merchants with the opportunity to open an Ecobank account almost immediately and begin to receive instant payments using Ecobank Masterpass QR on the Facebook Messenger platform…,” said Patrick Akinwuntan, Group Executive, Consumer Bank, Ecobank Group.
“Our Bank is partnering with Facebook and Mastercard to introduce Masterpass QR as a means of driving financial inclusion and creating a new payment ecosystem for MSMEs and consumers,” said Mr. Peter Amangbo, MD/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc. “This initiative will help us encourage financial inclusion within the country in line with the strategic thrust of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Buyers and sellers now meet and conclude transactions in-store, online and on social media, so we are ensuring payments can also be made on these platforms via QR codes, without having to log onto other solutions or even take a break from what you are doing on Facebook.”
Note how these banks mentioned Facebook – yes, they are actually working directly with Facebook in these products. This goes beyond MasterCard as they would not have mentioned Facebook if there was no direct coordination with Facebook. And Facebook would not be involved if there is nothing there for it. No matter how you see it, Facebook is finding ways into Nigerian banking.
All Together
This is the expected natural trajectory as the ICT utilities take over the lands. Once Facebook perfects the integration with MasterCard on Messenger, it would do same on Instagram and WhatsApp. Then, it would be opened to any financial institution that wants. MasterCard is a natural payment aggregator, agnostic of banking institutions. Facebook would be the platform while MasterCard would act as the “interface institution”[payment processing] and banks the hosts [the accounts]. The implication is that over time few would bother to notice the hosts, focusing more on the platforms [once you have set up an account and put your bank details, there is no need to even remember the bank again as the transactions would happen on Facebook while MasterCard handles the underneath processing with the banks].
The banks are doing what they have to do: with Facebook Corp, there is no other alternative – you either fall in line or you go extinct. This is going to be the future of banking in Nigeria. No one goes to a bank in China; most go to WeChat to do banking. Facebook has a plan for that in Nigeria. The plan is now under execution.
This is March – Build Excellence in Your Business
Entrepreneurs,
As you begin the month of March, I want to challenge all of you. You may be small but note that there is glory if you demonstrate excellence in what you do. People are watching and any step you take is what they would use to judge you for engagements. There is no small or big job – every job is a job. You must put the best efforts to help your clients. It is always a great privilege that someone has hired you to offer services to his or her firm. It could be product supply, engineering design or even consulting services. Do not take it for granted: there is nothing you know many others do not have.
When I started my practice [the Advisory Services], I used to beg for speaking opportunities. I would even offer to cover my logistics. I needed platforms to reach out to people that would pay for my services. Those days, it was not straightforward. Then, the moments came: invitations to speak now come largely weekly. Instead of speaking for free, it is flipped that someone has to pay good money for my time [I give many free speeches in Africa but I charge fees in Europe and U.S.].
The message today is this: the best time to audition for opportunity is when there is no apparent opportunity before you. People are watching. And once those opportunities emerge, they know who to call. The best validation I ever got was when a potential client asked me to come over to discuss a project. At the end, I told him if we would need to send a proposal. He said “No, your prior works are enough proposals. I read what you wrote on this topic. Nothing needs to be added”. Just like that, we signed a contract and began the work. Of course, I am very happy that my client remains a fan.
Tenacity, focus and excellence will always win. And note that every job is a job – there is no small or big one. You must commit to absolute quality. Invest time to let people know what you do. That is the only way they would pay attention when the moments arrive.
Have a great profitable March.
Nd