Chairman of T&T Web Designing and Marketing Services, Dr. Thaddeaus Thompson, in this Interview with Senior Correspondent, Adelola Amihere, speaks on how the firm will be using Artificial Intelligence and visual communication technology to transform Nigerian businesses.
What is the motive for T&T Web Designing and Marketing Services in helping to transform Nigerian businesses?
* T&T Web Designing sees the strength of the Nigerian market (almost 300 million consumers), the educational standard of Nigerians, and the human capital strength of the country. In the late 90s, when e-commerce began to substitute brick and mortar business operations worldwide, our company moved from Switzerland to the Silicon Valley, California, USA, the heart of the tech industry worldwide and began servicing companies, particularly in the areas of sale and marketing, as well as studying customer needs. During our 20-year service in the US, we learned from the business environment how to exchange services for knowledge; in this case studying marketing trends and consumer behavior. Nigerian businesses will be much more competitive when given access to advanced agile marketing systems and web designing technology. This will also connect them to prospective customers and showcase their products and services in a more elaborative way
Explain how your company is using Artifical Intelligence and visual communication technology.
* The goal of our company is to help businesses in Nigeria develop a transactional customer relationship system with their customers using artificial intelligence (AI) and visual communication technology to better understand the needs of their target market. Over the past 25 years, Customer Service has evolved from what used to be the conventional customer service of handshakes to a more effective Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM), which is a transformation of a company’s entire marketing strategy into an electronic content management system called Web Designing. Today websites should not just be photo-fronts where products and services are displayed, but rather the entire operations of a company and how its services or products benefits customers. Our main aim as a web designing company is to help businesses realize the importance of CRM that empowers customers, create a user-friendly environment, and helps customers in their buying decisions-making processes. Web designing and marketing cannot be separated; they work conjunctively. The resulting conceptual mixture of marketing and web designing became Cloud Marketing, a powerful concept that allows consumers and businesses interact on a virtual platform (Cloud), such as online store and meeting environment popularly known as the web without seeing each other.
Consumers have become more sophisticated prompting businesses to move from just being nice (handshakes) to a more customer-focused marketing strategy, in which the benefits and interest of the customer is the central focus.
Are you satisfied with the penetration of web-based business activities in Nigeria?
* Nigerians are quite informed about marketing trends and are aware of the power of websites in a business set up. To understand the dynamics of running a business for profit is in the Nigerian blood; however, what good does present when the resources such as a website and web designing company are in short supply? We established T&T Web Designing & Marketing Services in Nigeria to make it easier for Nigerian businesses to benefit and maximize profit from transacting through Cloud-based websites. Customer service policies were designed to demonstrate how polite representatives were until new research and innovations proved that actual results in Return of Investment (ROI) and Return of Sales (ROS) were higher when consumers and businesses develop closer relationships through online platforms.
What do you think about the challenges Nigerian businesses face in terms of website; as well as benefits therefrom?
* Nigerian businesses face several challenges ranging from limited incentives from both the private sector, especially the banks and insurance companies and the government. Both the government, lenders, and insurers must offer a degree of security to businesses. For example, businesses must learn to take risk and be rest assured that when something goes wrong their insurers, government, and bankers will not deject them. Online business exposes companies to hidden fortunes as well as hidden dangers, especially when flaws exist in the website designing. There must be a fool-proof system in place to detect and minimize identity theft and hackers. Websites must be encrypted to prevent cyber-crime. Secondly, Nigerian businesses, like most businesses in the world do not understand the full capacity and benefit of a website. Many still consider a website as an image presentation platform rather than the heart and soul of a business. We are working with our clients to defuse the holdbacks and emphasize the benefits.
Now that you have debuted in Nigeria as a registered company what value are you going to add in promoting businesses here and how will it affect the growth, expansion, patronage and profitability of these companies that are potential clients?
* We are very confident in the ability and business acumen of Nigerians. Nigerians were named by CNN in 2019 as the most business-oriented population in the world. With this foundational truth, advancing courageously into today’s web-based business environment will facilitate growth at least 500 per cent, expansion at least 50 per cent, patronage at least 500 per cent, and profitability at least 200 per cent. Our web designing technology helps businesses and consumers find each other. Most of Nigerian businesses are operating under 30 per cent of their actual potential, which can be attributed to the lack of marketing incentives, such as Agile Cloud Marketing systems and Web-based technology.
Do you envisage challenges in Nigeria as you have commenced your operations amid COVID-19 issues currently affecting businesses?
* As an international business entity, we are indirectly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, because buying power has declined substantively since the outbreak. However, we have adapted to the new norms and are encouraging businesses to see the challenges as opportunities that have thought us all new things that we would never have known if the pandemic did not occur. Most businesses, who initial were hesitant to explore the benefits of reaching out to customers afar off, have now realized that a huge resource was left untapped for many years. Our business has expanded, not declined, because more customers are using our services now than before.
As a marketing company, do you think businesses in Nigeria really need that?
* As air is quintessential to the survival of a human being, so is marketing to a business. Most of our clients needed marketing services to help them reconnect with their customers. Nigerian business need advanced marketing tools to remain competitive and maintain sustainability.
Do you see the business environment as friendly and supportive to businesses in Nigeria?
* As part of our marketing package, we have always encouraged our clients to focus on the “positive” and avoid the “negative.” A friendly environment is definitely preferable; however, it might not always present itself. A business must be built to withstand adversity. I have always wondered why Nigeria is still full of foreign and multi-national companies if things were so bad. Obviously, one is focused on the negative, while the other is focused on the positive.
What should businesses expect from your company as business solution providers and not services alone?
* Our concept is founded on sustainability and growth. For a business to withstand the test of time, its foundations must be solid. We offer business solutions tools that show a clear path from destination A to Z. Businesses will be structured to understand the needs of their customers rather than telling their customers how great they are. Our website atwww.ttwebdesigning.comand www.ttcalgroup.org is here to move Nigerian businesses beyond the nation’s borders.
