The new normal has presented us with a need to think out of the box albeit with varying challenges and eventual opportunities.

With this Pandemic and as we move into the second wave of it in the western world, the apparent problem now are the job losses and SMEs folding up due to

business impact which is the shortage of sales, contracts and huge bills incurable. It means that business models of the future must be agile and easily transformable.

I do feel sorry for the bright youngsters losing their jobs though – at least going by my office having received hundreds of CVs during this lockdown period.

We have to make the future bright. I had mentioned in earlier discourse that we are underutilising our Information Technology brains and opportunities. Our young IT soldiers now have to be equipped with assorted Datacentre skills. Loads of talent are lying fallow and we need boot camps to work on synergies in our younger generation to join the digital transformation efforts.

Do something different, something no one has seen before!!

There are so much Data generation avenues worth exploring for Data Analytics ventures. The models by which we engage at B2B level will enhance with lots of Data analytical services and products.

The public sector will need to provide the enabling environment for laboratories and incubation centres to bridge the digital gap. Opportunities for individuals to solve local problems and retain the solution autonomy. The typical employment models of 9 to 5 are slowly eroding. Room to present the opportunities in research results to ‘adoption agencies’ will begin to spring up. The mantra is ‘Entrepreneurial spirit, not to attach to a person, place, company, organisation or project but attach to a mission, a calling, a purpose ONLY!’

There will most likely be a shortage of roles. Datacentre engineering as we currently have it will require immense upskilling into the softer sides. We will begin Datacentre footprint expansions in Africa no doubt and see a 25 to 40% expansion plan across Africa, the Datacentre skill sets will change for inclusiveness so techies could be more innovative and creative.

On the supply side there will be need for Datacentre expansions to accommodate the imminent exodus of on-prem environments. Rackcentre and MainOne are leading for future capacity in Nigeria.

Internet connectivity latency however still requires improvements before we hammer the existing network capacity with additional traffic. Talks are taking place in several quarters to upgrade Internet traffic so hopefully in the not-too-distant future, Internet based services and reliant businesses will begin to see a turn-around.