The Nation Newspaper

Tag: automate

  • Automate your business processes, expert urges SMEs

    Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should automate their organisational processes in order to increase their productivity and effectiveness.

    Giving this advice in Lagos, during the week, a Software Developer, Mr. Austin Agbakor, said many SMEs are not embracing digitalisation due to challenges ranging from lack of skilled manpower to increased cyber security threat, difficulty in training staff, among others.

    “Automating our business process is a step to digital transformation, which is critical in business development. The challenges should be used to one’s advantage, instead of looking for skilled manpower to automate processes; workers who are tech-savvy should be trained,” Agbakor said.

    While noting that ironically, Intelligent Automation (IA) will provide the solutions to most of these challenges, he said by augmenting the human work force with IA, smaller teams can do more with less, eliminating the need for additional IA-skilled staff.

    The software developer added that incorporating IA into the cyber-security process enables security teams to fight the attackers using the same technology used in attacking them or getting a more advanced technology.

    He said rather than workers being laid off jobs due to digital transformation, the work would be made easier for them.

    Agbakor said organisations worked on a range of activities on a daily basis, which allowed different teams to operate effectively and contribute to the overall growth.

    He said the time when people relied on papers and manually forwarding files to different teams was gone, saying that automation was the new ideal.

    Agbakor said be it a service provider, product supplier, or SME offering products solutions, every company went through some basic everyday processes, and as such needed digital transformation.

  • Automate your business processes, expert urges SMEs

    Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should automate their organisational processes in order to increase their productivity and effectiveness.

    Giving this advice in Lagos, during the week, a Software Developer, Mr. Austin Agbakor, said many SMEs are not embracing digitalisation due to challenges ranging from lack of skilled manpower to increased cyber security threat, difficulty in training staff, among others.

    “Automating our business process is a step to digital transformation, which is critical in business development. The challenges should be used to one’s advantage, instead of looking for skilled manpower to automate processes; workers who are tech-savvy should be trained,” Agbakor said.

    While noting that ironically, Intelligent Automation (IA) will provide the solutions to most of these challenges, he said by augmenting the human work force with IA, smaller teams can do more with less, eliminating the need for additional IA-skilled staff.

    The software developer added that incorporating IA into the cyber-security process enables security teams to fight the attackers using the same technology used in attacking them or getting a more advanced technology.

    He said rather than workers being laid off jobs due to digital transformation, the work would be made easier for them.

    Agbakor said organisations worked on a range of activities on a daily basis, which allowed different teams to operate effectively and contribute to the overall growth.

    He said the time when people relied on papers and manually forwarding files to different teams was gone, saying that automation was the new ideal.

    Agbakor said be it a service provider, product supplier, or SME offering products solutions, every company went through some basic everyday processes, and as such needed digital transformation.

  • DPR to automate operations

    DPR to automate operations

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is set to roll out a digitalisation programme to automate its critical operations, enhance efficiency of its regulatory deliverables and accelerate recovery of outstanding revenues due to the government.

    This is contained in a statement by the by Paul Osu of the Public Affairs Department, which said the programme, when rolled out, will improve regulatory service delivery to stakeholders, promote transparency and effective monitoring of the oil and gas industry, enhance the ease of doing business in the oil and gas sector in alignment with the government’s executive order 001, and upgrade the DPR’s operational standards to world-class levels.

    According to him, one of the automation project in the works is IMPEX (Import and Export) Permit digitalisation. The project will automate the administrative role of issuing import and export permits on petroleum products. It will ensure timely and transparent automation for ease of obtaining permits for importing or exporting petroleum products.

    Fiscal Payment Administrative System (FISPAS)  is designed to enhance the collection of government revenue like royalty, concession rentals, and flare penalty, among others. It will ensure timely and transparent e-billing of companies, thereby enhancing the government’s  revenue profile.

    Smart Inspector is the electronic monitoring/reporting system of petroleum product retail outlets nationwide.  It ensures generation of real-time and accurate data of retail outlets and has the overall objective of curbing irregularities in the provision of service to customers by retail outlets.

    It will be recalled that in 2014, DPR automated the process of issuing oil and gas industry service permit (OGISP), a statutory requirement issued to Nigerian registered companies seeking to render services in the oil and gas industry, is categorised into the general, major and specialised categories.

    It was later followed by the National Production Monitoring System (NPMS ) launch, which is designed to receive in real time oil and gas production data from the fields and enhance transparency of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in alignment with    government’s aspiration.

     

    The DPR wishes to assure all stakeholders that we will continue to strive for excellence with integrity in the discharge of our regulatory oversight functions to the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, he said.

  • Peterside: we will automate payment process in NIMASA

    Peterside: we will automate payment process in NIMASA

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is set to automate its payment system for greater efficiency and eliminate revenue leakages.

    A statement yesterday  by the Head of Corporate Communication Team in NIMASA, Hajia Lami Tumaka, quoted the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, as speaking when he hosted representatives of major shipping companies in Nigeria under the aegis of the Shipping Association of Nigeria (SAN) in his office.

    Peterside said the payment system was being reviewed to ensure efficiency.

    He assured the delegation that NIMASA would institute more transparent ways of calculating the three per cent levy charged on all inbound and outbound cargoes.

    “We are automating our payment platform in line with our strategic growth plan to ensure greater efficiency in the payment process.

    “The new process will be integrated with similar platforms of sister agencies in order to correctly ascertain levies chargeable per freight and eliminate the bottlenecks currently being experienced,’’ the director-general said.

    Peterside said the agency’s commitment to the elimination of piracy and other criminal activities on the waterways was unwavering.

    He said the Federal Government through the Office of the National Security Adviser would soon launch a high capacity satellite system which would assist the military in dealing with maritime crimes.

    Peterside also urged the shipping companies to support the NIMASA’s capacity building programme by providing sea time experience for cadets sponsored under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).