The Impact of Information Technology in Nigeria's Banking Industry

Abstract

Today, information technology (IT) has become a key element in economic development and a backbone of knowledge-based economies in terms of operations, quality delivery of services and productivity of services. Therefore, taking advantage of information technologies (IT) is an increasing challenge for developing countries. There is now growing evidence that Knowledge-driven innovation is a decisive factor in the competitiveness of nations, industries, organizations and firms. Organizations like the banking sector have benefited substantially from e-banking, which is one among the IT applications for strengthening the competitiveness. This paper presents the current trend in the application of IT in the banking industries in Nigeria and gives an insight into how quality banking has been enhanced via IT. The paper further reveals that the deployment of IT facilities in the Nigerian Banking industry has brought about fundamental changes in the content and quality of banking business in the country. This analysis and clarification of how Nigerian Banks have used IT to reengineer their operations is detailed through literature review and observation. Three categories of variables that relate to the use and implementation of information technology devices were considered in this paper. These include the nature and degree of adoption of innovative technologies; degree of utilization of the identified technologies; and the impact of the adoption of IT devices on the bank operations.