Vodacom sees technology boosting SMEs productivity, competitiveness

Adapting to technology will have small and medium scale enterprises key into market changes, increase productivity and value creation while remaining competitive, Vodacom Business Nigeria has said.

Wale Odeyemi,  executive head of Products and Services at Vodacom Business,  who spoke at the NigeriaCom 2015 forum highlighted the benefits of Unified Communications to SMEs and how these organisation can whether the story through investment in technology.

One of the most important benefits of unified communications for SMEs is that customers can access the network from multiple devices at the same time. This makes it easy to manage contacts, send and receive voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls and carry out multiple communications at the same time, which enables video conferencing to take place on a laptop while a voice call takes place on a worker’s mobile phone, Odeyemi said.

Odeyemi revealed that 75 percent of small business employees say that flexible working has made them more productive. According to Odeyemi, productivity gains are one of the many reasons for SMEs to take advantage of unified communications. Other gains include cost reduction, increased customer service and improved competitive advantage.

He explained that from instant messaging features to using the internet for voice calls   unified communications improves profit margins by boosting overall operational efficiency; this is especially true for businesses that have mobile employees.

“With unified communications employees don’t have to be in the office to perform their duties. They can access the system from anywhere with an Internet connection. This means employees can work from home, log on to the system, contact and provide services to customers even after close of business.”

Social media communications he noted can also be easily integrated into a unified communications network. In doing this, users can benefit from Presence technology, which helps users determine the whereabouts of one another.

Odeyemi concluded that SMEs can now enjoy the cost savings that come along with this solution, and stressed that Nigerian businesses should consider unified communications to simplify their day-to-day business operations.

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