Accra, April 3, GNA – Ghana, with the right investments in critical infrastructure, has the potential to become a technology-driven and digitized economy in the next five years, said Mr. Chris Larbi, West Africa Country Manager, Cisco Meraki .
He said while Ghana appeared to be two years behind due to socio-economic impacts, there were indications that the country would be at the forefront of internet technology in the next five to ten years.
Mr. Larbi was speaking at a corporate seminar on Maximizing Business Growth: Unleashing the Power of Cloud Platforms to Scale Profitably.”
“We have so much opportunity and growth. If you just see the tourism in Ghana from the return year 2020. And how the internet bandwidth is currently used in this country and I think we should have the best internet connection because all the foreigners come here as their hub to build across Africa,” he said
He said technology is helping to reshape the way things are done so that people, for example, can now easily fix wireless problems from the comfort of their homes when they previously had to go to the office.
“It means we allow companies to scale. Similarly, we have done with so many companies that have scored 500% in less than five years. With our growth, we are able to keep people in jobs.”
“We have to be able to put ourselves ahead of the curve. And I think Ghana is making adjustments. And I think things will happen where Cisco Meraki brings new products and new product portfolios that help not only educate everyone to be able to use the technology, but also allow people to scale and grow as much as possible,” Mr. said Larbi.
He said the technology could be applied in different sectors such as oil and gas, defence, financial institutions and hospitality, among others.
On AI, Mr. Larbi said it is the future and businesses should embrace it as it helps them perform their tasks efficiently, adding that Meraki is already integrating AI into its platforms to facilitate work processes .
Mr. Olusegun Enitan Dada, CEO of IT HORIZONS, an African IT company, praised the innovative digital transformation solutions currently being implemented by the Government of Ghana.
He said initiatives like bringing together the entire database system to ensure that from one central point any Ghanaian can be identified could help the country grow as well as the Smart City project could help
Mr Dada said there was a lot of potential in African countries including Ghana and IT Horozons was working to tap into them.
He said that COVID-19 has really helped change the technology landscape not only in Africa, but around the world.
And you can also see that even from the various digital applications that have been released every now and then, this helps to make things easier and better.”
He said AI has always been there, but now it was more intense and would require everyone to increase their knowledge as well.
GNA