Nigerian Firms Decry IT Skills Shortage, Plan International Expansions

Nigerian businesses have decried the shortage of information technology (IT) skills in the country saying it negatively impacting their operations even as they said there are huge opportunities for businesses to successfully expand into new markets and reach new customers.

In a study released yesterday by Main One Ltd, titled ‘Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey- The Nigerian Report’,100 business leaders in Nigeria who were interviewed disclosed the opportunities and challenges their organizations are facing – and their plans for the future.

The survey in Nigeria revealed that 54 per cent of respondents are planning on expanding in an existing country in the next 12 months, 34 per cent into a new region and 33 per cent into a new country.  And that 93 per cent of IT leaders in Nigeria said enhancing customer experience is a priority.

However, a number of potentially limiting factors were identified by businesses when it came to global growth including concerns and challenges in supply chain, cyber security, and staff retention and recruitment.

The managing director, MainOne, an Equinix company, Funke Opeke, said:“The acceleration in digital transformation in Nigeria reinforces the need for businesses to have access to single points to interconnect locally. Increased speed of connectivity, increased flexibility of connectivity, and reduced cost of connectivity were identified by IT decision-makers in Nigeria as the most beneficial aspects of interconnection.

“MainOne provides a rich interconnection ecosystem that allows customers connect to each other multiple telecoms networks, and Cloud, Payment and Content Providers in a single location,” she added.

About 55 per cent of the business leaders said their business was plagued by global supply chain issues and shortages, while 50 per cent specified the global microchip shortage as a threat to their business, 85 per cent of respondents in Nigeria confirmed a key priority is improving cybersecurity.

To help grow their businesses, 77 per cent of IT leaders in Nigeria said they plan to move more business functions to the cloud including business-critical applications and security functions. Forty per cent in Nigeria said they plan to facilitate global expansion plans by deploying virtually via the cloud, with over a quarter (26 per cent) – 21 per cent among IT decision-makers in Nigeria – doing so using a bare metal solution.

Meanwhile, 47 per cent globally (46 per cent in Nigeria) said they expect increased spending on carrier-neutral colocation solutions to facilitate the planned rise in digital deployments, while even more (59 per cent at global level, 70 per cent in Nigeria) said they intend to increase investment in interconnection services as they plan to progress digital transformation and build resilience.