Business leaders have been given firsthand opportunities to see the many business enhancement possibilities that the Lumia phone has to offer by Microsoft Nigeria in Lagos recently.
Kabelo Makwane, managing director, Microsoft Nigeria, in his welcome address noted that a lot of entrepreneurs are now on social media to preserve their businesses. Makwane spoke on how Microsoft and Lumia came together during this event tagged ‘A Night of Business Unusual.’
He tweaked the imagination of the guests about what is going on in the world. He said, “About five years ago, we didn’t have things like twitter, whatsapp, facebook. They were still in very rudimentary stages. Technology is moving fast. We live in a social world. There is information of about 6.8 million devices that are out there. We communicate with these devices whether it is with tablets, iPads you name it. It has become a part of our daily lives.” Pointing out the millions of tweets in a day, he noted that people talk a whole lot on social media.
Makwane also stated that the social media has changed the way people work and the way people make purchases. He stated, “Think about how we travel, you can go online, do flight searching and compare prices. Buyers make up their minds on social media before they buy. What does that mean for you as a business in terms of how you re-imagine, how you rethink your market and you relate with the market? You have to connect with customers. You have to think about how you let them have the power.”
He also stated, “The cost of traditional adverts is astronomic, we provide platforms and devices that will enable you reach out wherever you are no matter what you do. It does not matter whether you are in the office, on your mobile, or at home, you have got to access all your services wherever you are no matter what medium you use. Our strategy is to converge all these devices and provide a platform such as 535 Lumia.”
Concluding, Makwane said, “In summary, as a company, we want to create more opportunities. Our strategy at Microsoft is to be the leading platform and IT company with mobile cloud services in the world to enable people and businesses around the world to do more.”
Ade Ajayi, business group lead, Microsoft Nigeria also spoke on driving productivity for SMEs at the event. Ajayi said, “SMES that invest in technology create more jobs, because they do not have to invest in multiple buildings.” Speaking on four key areas that Microsoft is investing in helping SMEs, he said the first is to help SMEs grow efficiently by adapting to change and getting the most out of technology use, second is business anywhere so they can get work done anywhere and work together easily, the third is to safeguard their business by protecting and controlling their data and fourthly to help them increase sales by understanding the customer.”
Ajayi added, “People look at their phones 150 times a day so businesses that do not have their services on phone are wasting money. You can get office running on every device.”
Mario Okonya, sales lead, Microsoft West Africa spoke on Microsoft Lumia in business. Okonya said, “Mobile has become the new normal. In 2016, 350 million people in the world will be doing their work on phones. in recent times, people spend more time on their mobile devices than in watching TV. Leading businesses globally are reimagining their businesses with Microsoft business mobility solutions.”
Bidemi Ladipo from Etisalat spoke on how Etisalat and Microsoft are mobilising businesses, citing an example of a person who was down financially but later became a high income-earner by purchasing and using the phone technology to do business.
The guests were also treated to videos on the personal stories of an entrepreneur and public servant who have revolutionised their business and job respectively by using these mobile devices.
OLUYINKA ALAWODE
