Microsoft Country Manager for Nigeria Ola Williams has said cloud-based technology will play a critical role in enabling inclusive economic recovery, with SMBs able to innovate far quicker and more securely at a much lower cost.
According to her, the Future of Business Resilience report, released by Microsoft in 2020, noted that investing in latest technology (which includes cloud computing) results in between 20 and 30 per cent productivity and 40 to 50 per cent faster speed to market, among other benefits.
“This is the enabling environment that we should be nurturing for SMBs and new start-ups alike if our economies are to successfully rebound post-pandemic. There is no doubt that economic recovery will be buoyed by the success of our start-ups and small businesses. This is because, across the Middle East and Africa, an estimated 90 per cent of all businesses fall into the small-to-medium-sized (SMB) category, highlighting the economic importance of these entrepreneurial enterprises.
ensuring business continuity in ever-changing market conditions in which many SMBs are operating on tighter budgets.
“The required resilience is rooted in digital transformation, allowing businesses to streamline operations and evolve to better meet current needs while developing the agility that will enable quick pivots in response to future changes.
“Cloud adoption amongst SMBs is a critical first step in their pursuit of resilience on their digital transformation journey. Beyond this first step, conducting business in the cloud in the long term is also the best bet for future-proofing operations in a global digital economy.
“This economy will be driven by the latest technologies, from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to the Internet of Things (IoT), which use the cloud as a platform,” she said.
Thenation