It’s not very often that you hear about African tech companies expanding into Europe, but Bluechip Technologies, a 15-year established Pan-African Data Management and Analytics company, has done precisely that.

Bluechip Technologies partners with Global Technology companies, such as Oracle, Microsoft, HP and Dell EMC, to provide ‘full stack solutions’ in the data management space to enterprises such as Banks, Telcos, Insurance, Manufacturing, FMCG, Mining, Oil & Gas, and Public Sector entities.

Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, Bluechip Technologies has invested in a number of new operations across Africa in the past few years.  This strategic expansion positions it as a “new competitive entrant in the EU market, offering data warehousing and analytics products as well as highly experienced senior data engineers from our Nigeria team as consultants for European firms”, according to the founders.

Olumide Soyombo is one of Nigeria’s high-profile angel investors, having launched Voltron Capital last year. He founded Bluechip Technologies in 2008 with partner Kazeem Tewogbade to specialise in Data Warehousing, Analytics and Enterprise Systems for Banks and Telcos. Since then, Bluechip Technologies has grown to employ over 300 Digital Transformation specialists and expanded operations across other African markets such as Kenya, DRC Congo, Zambia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Ghana. Many of our clients are Tier 1 corporates with Pan-African and even Global reach, such as FirstBank, GTBank, MTN and Lafarge. 

Bluechip’s Customer Master Data Management and Enterprise Data Warehouse solutions collate data from disparate sources – structured, unstructured and semi-structure data – translating them into usable Business Analytics & Enterprise Performance Management dashboards and reporting. Additionally, Bluechip Technologies has created a portfolio of industry-specific solutions such as ‘Simplex Voucher Management’, ‘Customer Experience Management’ and ‘Cash Complete’ that add to the capabilities.

Bluechip Technologies is also one of the few African tech companies focusing on developing and placing Data Management talent. IT Graduates may apply to be selected to enter our ‘Primo Academy’, a six-month program that transforms talented IT graduates into Data professionals.

According to Olumide Soyombo, the post-pandemic trend in remote working, a critical shortage of tech talent, and an increase in demand for managing data more efficiently presents a great opportunity for Bluechip Technologies to deliver specialized services in Europe. According to Fortune Business Insights, ‘The Global Big Data Analytics market is projected to grow from $271.83 billion in 2022 to $655.53 billion by 2029’, and Bluechip Technologies aims to win a good slice of that business, having already grown to revenues of over $60m in 2022-23.

Bluechip Technologies, having delivered a comprehensive range of Enterprise Technology Infrastructure and Software solutions in the African market in partnership with international OEMs, such as Oracle and Microsoft, is confident that with the right level of skill and experience, at a significant cost advantage, will do the same in Europe.  

Bluechip Technologies Europe CEO

Richard Lewis, an experienced IT and Telecoms professional with forty years of experience at the Executive level, is leading Bluechip Technologies European expansion as CEO of Bluechip Data Global Ltd in Ireland.

According to Olumide Soyombo, “Richard has a good feel for the market. He has seen some of the initial requirements from customers that can make him say, “Hey if this is what you’re paying for a developer from India, we can give you an equally qualified developer for 20-30% less than this price. We are confident that our ‘Talent as a Service’ offering is the launchpad for our European expansion journey”.

Richard Lewis (CEO, Bluechip Technologies EU). Image Credits: Bluechip Technologies

In common with all Mobile Network Operators, Nigerian-based 9mobile needed to build expansive business support systems to ensure it had the business intelligence to be able to understand customer behaviours, increase ARPU and reduce churn with the help of Voucher Management System.

Nigeria is a fast-paced and competitive business landscape, with all four major operators wanting to increase voucher sales, as well as margins, whilst reducing risk and operating costs.

Bluechip Technologies was the natural partner when 9mobile needed a robust Voucher Management Software to manage the complete lifecycle of prepaid vouchers, from PIN generation through Redemption and Administration.

Background

Nigeria has the largest number of mobile subscribers in Africa, and with four major mobile operators, it is inevitably a very competitive landscape.  One of the largest players – and the youngest – is the wholly Nigerian-owned, 9mobile.

9mobile has always operated on the core values of industry-leading customer service and innovation, and today, it boasts over 13 million customers and growing. In December 2022, 9mobile was awarded the  Deborah Leipziger Africa Prize for Innovation at the 16^th edition of the prestigious Sustainability, Entrepreneurship, and Responsibility Awards.

How did Bluechip help with the Voucher Management System implementation?

The partnership between 9mobile and Bluechip Technologies began with 9mobile’s inception as a mobile operator in Nigeria in 2008.

One of the first projects Bluechip Technologies delivered was a state-of-the-art Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) to provide a ‘single source of the truth’ and to automate the delivery of daily business Key Performance Indicators to enable proactive decision making via a self-service Business Intelligence suite which ensures that 9mobile always had accurate and timely business information at their fingertips.

Bluechip Technologies implemented Simplex – a ‘Trade Watchtower’ product to manage 9mobile’s entire Sales & Distribution Lifecycle and provide a 360° view of the business by capturing all activities within the value chain and delivering omni-channel monitoring of the ‘in-the-field sales force’.

Simplex is a cloud-based market-leading Voucher Management solution that manages the complete lifecycle of prepaid vouchers, from their generation through to redemption, covering all aspects of PIN Management, Stock Management, Fraud Management, Order and Sales Management and Security. By design, Simplex offers Open APIs with built-in integration with ERP systems to Service Providers and the IN. Using the integrated payment gateway allows easy payments via bank transfers or credit cards.

It is designed for forward-thinking telecoms, energy, retail, and entertainment businesses. Simplex is securely engineered through a combination of market-leading technology solutions as well as multiple industry know-how.

Summary

Utilising the Voucher Management Software, Bluechip Technologies was able to meet 9mobile’s needs.

It was able to achieve the following;

• Automated the Order to Delivery (O2D) process, which improved the turnaround time from days to minutes.
• Increase the airtime sales revenue by 2X within the first six months of implementation.
• Increased security in the business process, thereby cutting down fraud drastically.
• Reduced the cost by up to 50%, incurred on PIN Generation drastically through the demand management and flexible licensing of Simplex.
• Consolidation of multiple applications reduced the multiple service failure points, thereby increasing the uptime of the platform.

Provide visibility across the inventory across the entire value chain, especially the last mile.

Read the full case study here.

Bluechip’s CMDM implementation to improve the quality of data flowing into the Enterprise Data Warehouse

Digital banking in Nigeria is on the rise, and banks need to do all they can to ensure seamless transactions and processes for clients.

Wema Bank pioneered and today operates the most extensive digital banking system across Nigeria – ALAT – a digital-only banking service launched in 2017.  ALAT is a branchless & paperless bank with the ability to perform banking transactions easily on-line using a mobile phone, PC or tablet.

Background

Wema Bank Plc (Wema Bank) is a Nigerian commercial bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the regulator of the nation’s banking sector. Wema Bank was established in 1945 and is Nigeria’s longest-established indigenous bank.

Wema Bank chose Bluechip Technologies to implement its Customer Master Data Management (CMDM) solution to improve the quality of data flowing into the Enterprise Data Warehouse.

How Bluechip Helped with the Digital Transformation

As part of the digital transformation at Wema Bank, Bluechip implemented several models:

CMDM

• In 2019, during the initial phase of the Digital Transformation project, it was crucial to ensure the quality of the data in the Enterprise Data Warehouse in order to create reliable Business Intelligence from Advanced Analytics.
•  Bluechip Technologies’ CMDM was used to automate and operationalise its Data Governance Policies & Procedures, ensuring clean customer data.
• This project was regarded as one of the most successful during the pandemic for the bank.

Enterprise Data Warehouse

• The next stage was for Bluechip Technologies to build an Enterprise Data Warehouse, with the objective to provide a central source of customer data across the entire organisation and to ensure a 360-degree view of their customers. Bluechip Technologies built the Enterprise Data Warehouse in 2021 using Microsoft Azure – Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics and PowerBI.

Segmentation Analysis and Modelling

• Wema Bank wanted to promote the right products to customers, using properly segmented customer information to deliver insights into expected customer behaviours.
• Using reliable data from the Enterprise Data Warehouse, Bluechip seamlessly integrated and operationalised the Customer Segmentation Model into existing customer-facing applications, increasing engagement on campaigns, offers and promotions.

The benefits included:

• Enhanced customer understanding – Customer segmentation analysis provided a deeper understanding of different customer groups and their unique characteristics.
• Improved Target Marketing – Segmentation enabled more focused and targeted Marketing efforts leading to improved campaign results.
• Increased Customer Loyalty – By understanding customer needs and behaviours, Wema Bank developed tailored strategies that enhanced Customer Loyalty.
• Better Product Development – Segmentation provided insights into customer needs and preferences that informed Product Development and improved the overall Customer Experience.
• Increased Sales – By tailoring offerings to specific customer segments, Wema Bank increased Sales and Revenue.
• Improved resource allocation – Segmentation helped Wema Bank allocate resources more effectively by focusing on the most profitable customer segments.
• Increased personalisation – Wema Bank used customer segmentation to personalise customer interactions and improve customer satisfaction.

Transaction Classification & Recommendation Model

An essential deliverable from Bluechip Technologies to Wema Bank was the Transaction Classification & Recommendation Model. Wema Bank needed a solution that would enhance insight into customer product propensity and channel adoption, using customer demographics & transacting behaviours.

The approach taken was to classify ‘customer clusters’ based on demographics and behaviours.

A few of the benefits included:

• Understanding Customer Behaviour – Classifying customers based on transactions enabled further analytical insight into customer behavioural patterns.
• Drive Transaction Frequency via Partners – Increased the transaction frequency via Wema Bank partners.
• Cross-selling to Transaction Categories – Enabled Cross-selling of similar transaction classification categories to other customers with similar segmentation.
• Up-Selling Customers – Increased customer spend by recommending higher-value transaction types.
• Channel & Product Adoption – Drove the adoption of particular products and particular channels.
• Improved Customer Experience – Improved customer experience with ‘Right customer, right product, right time

Summary

Wema Bank invested heavily to improve its Data Quality – both old and new  – in order to be able to achieve the desired customer experience across all channels – whether it was services or campaigns. In the first year of implementation, Wema pushed its Data Quality Index up to 80%, and CMDM remains a foundational application within the bank’s Data Management ecosystem.

Read the full case study here.

Why Oracle Cloud integration works

As telecom companies expand and grow, the requirements for efficiency and ensuring their business operates to the best of their abilities.

Telecoms company MTN Nigeria’s parent group MTN Group decided to use Oracle Cloud Applications to drive one of the largest cloud transformations in the global telecom industry across all its core business areas, including human resources, finance, supply chain and operations.

Background:

Established in 2001, MTN Nigeria is Africa’s largest provider of communications services, connecting approximately 70 million people in communities across the country with each other and the world. In revenue terms, it is the single largest contributor to MTN Group, which services 270 million customers across 19 markets.

The digital implementation aimed to drive efficiency in inventory management, scale operations and integration across its local and regional operations through automation, self-service, IoT and mobile application capabilities. A key objective was enhancing management visibility across all business operations for real-time performance measurement.

How did Bluechip help with the Oracle Cloud integration?

MTN Nigeria decided to implement Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); Supply Chain Management (SCM); Enterprise Performance Management (EPM); Customer Experience (CX); Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Oracle Service Cloud solutions with TechMahindra as their primary partner.

TechMahindra engaged Bluechip Technologies to identify, analyse, design, test and deploy the Oracle Fusion Cloud SaaS solutions in MTN Nigeria with the following objectives:

• Systems Implementation and Integration of IT systems into the different business processes and applications.
• Local Integration of MTN Nigeria impacted applications to Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP.
• End to end Integration & testing of all impacted applications.
• Implementation of new reporting capabilities across the company.

Bluechip’s project scope involved the review and implementation of the business requirements, business processes, technical interface and integration using Oracle tools – SOAR and OIC, systems integration testing, automation testing and user acceptance resting.

Summary

As a whole, the project ensured that many of the primary objectives laid out were fully met, including (but not limited to, read more in the full case study here):

• Increased efficiency and business performance
• Improved business visibility across the entire organization.
• Improved collaboration between MTN Nigeria and external stakeholders.
• Improved features and functionality of the system for the effective close of books at period end.
• Improved engagement between the staff and the HR department.

From MTN Nigeria’s perspective, not only have their core business ERP applications moved to the cloud, with all the cost savings and efficiencies that brings, but reporting into MTN Group has become so much quicker and easier with Oracle Cloud EPM.

To read all about the outcomes and improvements of the transformation, click through to the full case study here.

At a time when many banks are innovating cloud transformation of their businesses and cash management software to cloud-based solutions, companies must ensure they can offer a smooth transition for their client.

Here at Bluechip, we have helped FirstBank – a Nigerian multinational Bank and Financial Services company headquartered in Nigeria and with subsidiaries in West Africa, the UK and elsewhere – to embark on a project to move the bank’s Enterprise Resource Planning from on-premise to cloud-based solutions.

Background

Established in 1894, FirstBank offers a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services through more than 170,000 business outlets to over 17 million customer accounts.

With over 16,000 employees, FirstBank held the strategic ambition to enhance its human resources management. Given the availability of an advanced solution with Oracle Fusion Cloud, it selected Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM to provide a cost-effective and highly efficient solution to their current and future needs.

How did Bluechip help with cloud transformation?

The aim of the switch was to support FirstBank’s Innovation goal to deliver innovative products and services to their customers, as well as improve customer experience, increase efficiency, reduce costs and ensure;

• As an Oracle partner, we worked to support the transformation designed to be implemented in two stages. The implementation solution begins with the Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. It is then followed by the Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) solution to automate human capital functions fully.
• Bluechip Technologies was engaged as its fulfilment System Implementation Partner for the delivery of the Oracle Fusion Cloud solutions, the objectives for which were clearly stipulated from the outset, including;
  • Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) must be available 24/7, 365 days a year
  • Be scalable to consider business expansion
  • Automate all the back-office processes and enable seamless Group Financial Consolidation and more.
  • Achieve savings of up to 50% in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over the existing Oracle on-premise solution
  • Be able to integrate with other digital transformation solutions adopted by FirstBank, such as ‘Finacle’
  • Much more can be found in the full case study here

• The new cloud system – Oracle Fusion Enterprise Resource Planning Cloud Service – can create processes for areas such as General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Asset Management, Cash Management, and Expense Management.

Summary

The transformation from Oracle On-Premise EBS to Oracle Fusion Cloud has brought huge benefits to FirstBank. Their primary objective was to upgrade their ‘back-office systems’. Also a vital component in their overall innovative digital transformation strategy that aims to drive the adoption of digital banking throughout Africa.

In 2022, First Bank of Nigeria Limited won two International Investor Awards awards – Best Bank in Nigeria 2022 and Best Bank in Digital Transformation Nigeria 2022 in recognition of its continued efforts at reinventing its digital banking channels.

To read all about the outcomes and improvements of the transformation, click through to the full case study here.