The returns on innovation and collaboration in production and business processes could be enormous, especially LDC’s. Early adopters are starting to reap dividends of web based application and online storage. Enterprise 2.0 is in, and isn’t going anywhere soon. The ability to collaborate across firms, within firms and with freelancers is proving to be the area in which collaboration and the decentralisation of information can be used to spur extraordinary growth for frontier firms. However the decentralisation of information also comes with the decentralisation of decision making. Naturally, anyone who enjoys the status quo has an incentive to resist the new order because it directly challenges the power and therefore the relevance of the current decision makers.
Business leaders in more developed economies find themselves steadily giving in to the pressures to adopt these new avenues of doing business. Why wouldn’t Nigerian business leaders adopt these tools? Beyond the technical issues (high cost and unreliable Internet, low penetration etc.), all of which are close to being resolved, there are some issues that need to be looked at while wait for the engineers provide Africa with cheaper and faster Internet. More importantly the gains from collaboration is huge as poor infrastructure and bad roads still make the average transaction cost for projects quite high. This means that the relative gains from deploying the Internet for business process will surpass even that experienced by western firms. Also keep in mind that the average size of small business may be too small to attract high quality professional full time.
Obstacle 1: Unreal Competition
Real competition in the Nigerian business space is still weak, due to infrastructure, artificial restriction, unclear license and accreditation problem, a tinge of corruption, cronyism and some factors that obstruct capital inflow for early stage investment. With reduced competition there is room for sub optimal decision making and the pressure to make the bottom line is not as strong as in more open economies. CIOs are not pushed to make the leap into enterprise 2.0.
Obstacle 2: Our love pyramids
We live for pyramids. This isn’t quite the appropriate way to state this phenomenon. The structure of our institutions, income and status inequality make us place a higher premium on pyramids in governance and in the workplace. (See: Economics of Bling: pdf) Traditional systems, which were still prevalent in the not too distant past , autocratic leadership and military rule still filter into our decision making process. Nigerians are still hard wired for strict command control. Also, labour force protection is still in its early stage and not at par with the rest of the world.
If we have a few rich and powerful men on the pinnacle of fortune and grandeur, while the crowd grovels in want and obscurity, it is because the former prize what they enjoy only in so far as others are destitute of it; and because, without changing their condition, they would cease to be happy the moment the people ceased to be wretched (Discourse on the origin of inequality, part II). Hattip Stumbling and Mumbling.
Temi Kolawole has a must read entry (Open Collaboration, Sharing Mindset & Attitude in Nigeria) :
gave a topic at one of the sessions at BarCampAfrica called “The Potential Of The Internet In Nigeria“. All I can say is we are very very behind. We have the highest number of Internet users in Africa but are nowhere near the top when it comes to Internet technology. Our overall attitude towards collaboration needs to change. It’s a big setback. Any Nigerian web developer will know how “unfriendly” other Nigerian developers can be sometimes.
What Can An Evangelist To Do?
Besides speaking and demonstration the awesomeness of collaborative apps and business process. Technology evangelist on the continent should support initiatives that support the opening up of economic systems and challenge traditional methods of doing business. Otherwise when that high-speed Internet arrives, we’d still have to deal with our people problems.
Tags: collaboration, nigeria, technology
Hi Oz.
You have created a very incisive and interesting post here and I wonder where our tech enthusiasts are. They should be here. Now, here's my take – Enterprises will not venture into adopting these tools unless they can throw away their conventional and traditional methods of doing business.
Whether or not there is enough competition to drive this trend, I still believe that our generation driven by today's new media space will get them to start thinking of these tools. Afterall, everyone knows how Facebook has impacted on global businesses, so who doesn't want to get a bite of the web 2.0 cake?
My guess is that, Nigerian enterprises will be forced to get out there (damn the high technology costs), and adopt tools and strategies to reach out to Nigeria's over 10 million Internet users. Letche Blog seems to have some plans up their sleeves…let's see how this goes.
Thanks Loy. I wish the convo was louder. What do you think we can do?