In the Uganda Vision 2040 statement, it’s clear that the Ugandan government understands the importance of digital transformation. “Government will encourage innovation to harness the full potential of the digital economy and technology innovation.” – a sentiment echoed by many companies across Africa.
Experian is one such company. And while relatively new to Africa outside of South Africa, we’re invested in developing innovation on the continent to drive digital economies.
Digital Transformation Research
Through research commissioned by Forrester, we found that despite past investments, many decision-makers admit their effectiveness at engaging online customers hasn’t improved sufficiently during the past two years to keep pace with rising consumer expectations.
Companies are having difficulty with numerous commercial barriers to growth, including the continued impact of legacy technology and budget constraints while ensuring seamless digital customer journeys.
As a result, around 60% of decision-makers are prioritising the acceleration of digitisation strategies and expanding the adoption of online channels. It’s also clear that there is no going back to pre-COVID-19 business models, with a lack of automation, such as customer management tools that can automate manual tasks, a challenge for 26% of businesses.
Up to 80% of companies are increasing their budgets for advanced analytics and customer insights. They also expect to make a marked increase in investment in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within the next three years. Decision-makers also plan to further invest in and expand their adoption of data and analytics to drive customer insights for acquisition, marketing, and product development.
Despite the infrastructural, cost, and skilled resource constraints often seen in Africa, innovative technologies, analytics, and data present great opportunities for overcoming the obstacles experienced by traditional methods of customer interaction. Now more than ever, companies across the continent realise the importance of embracing digital transformation.