Business heads share benefits of digital transformation

From small to big enterprises, business executives say the move to adapt to digital processes has helped them to match the pace of change as well as improve customer experiences over time.  

Alex Rukundo from One Acre Fund said that the adaptation to digital systems has among others extended customer support services easily and operational agility to their clients outside Uganda.  

“One of the impacts of digital payments that I have seen is cost saving in terms of operations and the people we hire. It comes with economies of scale and partnerships. I am now working with countries like Nigeria, which I have never been to,” he said. 

Rukundo was speaking during a workshop held in Kampala and organised by Beyonic. 

At the event, several players shared their experiences on how switching to digital solutions has impacted their businesses, growth and scale beyond Uganda in light of the Africa free trade agreement.

Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how a business operates and deliver value to customers.

Over the years, Beyonic has focused on providing transparent cashless tools for the management of domestic project and enterprise budgets, including payroll, petty cash, airtime, collections, and disbursements for small and medium enterprises of different nature.

"We found that 65% of refugees now prefer to get assistance via mobile money. This was a big surprise for us. We are now trying to understand the digital space, yet we are a non-for-profit organisation," Eunice Mwende from Cash Working Group Uganda revealed. 

“One of the key challenges is that the bank transfers are not well known. A lot of banks and other service providers do not know the services that refugees require. Issue about fraud cases are the things you need to think about when designing products,” she added. 

Micheal Nyitegeka, director at Refectory said the shift to tech-based solutions is inevitable to businesses as customers tastes and preferences change over time.

“Think about the digital and how you want it to work for you in your business [but] your customers ought to find value in what your offering,” he said. 

“You need to build for speed because your consumer is very agile. It’s important for you to look at how much you are spending on technology and how much it brings [or it will bring] in the company,” he said.