Adedayo: Agile Technology Will Boost Firms’ Growth, Profitability 

Adedayo: Agile Technology Will Boost Firms’ Growth, Profitability 

 

Chief Executive Officer of Zhill Systems, an information technology  consulting firm incorporated in the United States  and Nigeria, Olatunji Adedayo, speaks on the importance of emerging technologies in business growth and how organisations can leverage technology for profitability. Emma Okonji brings the excepts:

Agile technology is an evolving technology that is already disrupting the global tech space. What informed your decision to bring the technology to Nigeria, along side other emerging technologies like the cloud computing?

Zhill Systems is an information technology  (IT) consulting firm that was incorporated in the United States (US) and Nigeria to offer borderless quality services in cloud computing, tech sales, agile staffing, training, agile and digital transformation. We partner  several IT companies to provide end-to-end digital solutions that increases collaborations, productivity and profitability. Some of our partners are Zoom, Monday.com, Adobe. We became a gold partner of Trend Micro and therefore can provide network, device and enterprise security solutions at competitive prices. We are also a Consulting Partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS). In the Agile space, we are accredited/authorised by some of the reputable global training, accrediting and certifying organisations, such as EXIN, Scrum.org, Scrum Study/VMEdu, ICAgile.

Our membership with ICAgile gives us the opportunity to promote agility across different domains and that is the reason we have brought agile leadership to Nigeria to help organisations strategise and transform in the Nigerian economy.

What are the value propositions driving the performance of Zhill Systems in the technology space?

Zhill Systems as a brand that is all about best practice, value delivery and client satisfaction. We deliver an end-to-end solution in organisational agility through certifications, training, on-site and virtual support on projects, pro-bono advisory services on business agility and seamless agile adoption. Once any individual and organisation attends our April Agile Leadership workference, they are no longer alone in their agile journey as our teams both in Nigeria and the US will avail them of endless support.

Considering the different goals of different organisations, why will you recommend Zhill Systems solutions for every Nigerian company?

Businesses are done in complex environments where there are several uncertainties and competitions. Similarly, organisations have different structures and cultures which may or may not align with current market realities. However, to meet these growing market demands successfully in a complex environment requires agile leadership that can sustain business agility. Becoming agile or undergoing agile transformation is a process and not an event hence, it is customisable to the structure and culture of the organisation, which in turn, benefits the customers, stakeholders and the delivery processes. Agile promotes simplicity, transparency, continuous planning and continuous value delivery such that organisations in various line of businesses such as sales, finance, procurement, Information Technology (IT), Human Resources (HR), manufacturing, telecommunications, oil and gas, engineering, among others,  can increase their revenue, respond faster to market demands and reduce wastages. Depending on the uniqueness of an organisation, agile has different frameworks that can be successfully adopted such as scrum, Kanban, lean, crystal, extreme programming, feature driven development, and dynamic systems development method.  Any organisation that is ready to increase the productivity of her workforce, reduce waste, increase revenue, faster delivery and meets stakeholders’ expectations must be part of the workference.

What sets Zhill Systems apart in the IT space in the global community? 

Our passion for quality, best practice and competitive pricing sets us apart. It may interest you that with the weight of all our keynote speakers, trainers and panelists, the cost of the ICP-ALP certification which would be issued at the workference is priced between $1850 – $2500 both in the UK and US. However, Zhill Systems is offering same value at an affordable price. We are not just a training firm but a problem-solving company that walks and works with our clients to accomplish their goals within their budget.

Adoption rate of new technologies appears slow in some sectors of the Nigerian economy. How will the forthcoming workshop help in addressing the challenge?

Most successful organisations across the globe are now agile and this is because businesses are conducted in complex environments where there are varying priorities, competitions, uncertainties and different value expectations. Agile has been proven over the years to have helped organisations to deliver value continuously and incrementally while increasing productivity and profitability. The best way to go in this present economy is the agile way. While Ministries, Departments aid Agencies (MDAs) of government are not exempted, a situation where both public and private sectors are agile, will impact the economy very positively and give the right signals to serious minded investors. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will rapidly grow and also compete with their global peers.

Which organisations can benefit from the agile technology?

Agile can be adopted by both private and public organisations as well as small, medium and large organisations. Agile is a mindset and belief system and anyone can be agile regardless of their background or education. Agile is not a software nor a building and it comprises  values and principles that helps teams and organisations to collaborate with customers, respond to change, deliver working solution incrementally, interact more with people and learn continuously. Agile organisations across different countries and industries have recorded tremendous growth and profitability just by planning continuously, iterating their processes, accommodating changing requirements and creating market feedback loops.

Given your background in Computer Science and Business Information Systems, how will you describe organisational behaviour in relation to the application and use of technology solutions?

Yes, I have a degree in Computer Science and Master of Science in Business Information Systems from the University of Bedfordshire in the UK, and I have a zeal for knowledge acquisition and this has earned me several professional certifications such as Project Management Professional(PMP), Agile Certified Practitioner(PMI-ACP), Certified Scrum Professional(CSP-SM), Agile Fundamentals Professional(ICP), Agile Project and Delivery Management(ICP-APM), Agile Leadership(ICP-ALP), Agile Certified Coach(ICP-ACC), Cisco Certified Network Administrator(CCNA), Certified Wireless Network Administrator(CWNA), Certified Six Sigma Green Belt(CSSGB), among others. With over fifteen years of professional experience in corporate Nigerian and American businesses, I understand organisational behaviors, structures and how to lead a successful transformation. My passion for training and coaching has helped me to impart knowledge in several thousands of professionals and undergraduates across the US, UK, Canada and Nigeria. As an Agilist, I have worked for global fortune companies in the US and supported their agile transformation, agile project management as well as helping other agile teams to get progressively better.

From my wealth of experience, I realised that organisations are interested in the application and use of new technologies, especially emerging technologies, but they need support from technology experts and that is the more reason why I am involved in training and supporting organisations with technology skills that will bring profitability and sustainability in their business.

I have consulted for dozens of startups and large organisations in agile-lean; helped them eliminate organizational wastes, deliver value faster and increase their revenue. As a co-founder of Zhill Systems, I have led the firm to become a one-stop shop for agile and digital transformation in Texas and increased their revenue in three years, a feat that I am determined to accomplish in Nigeria as well.

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