Digitalization can be defined as a process aiming at transforming traditional processes, objects, tools or professions through new digital technologies in order to make them more efficient.

This concept is widely used in companies and if all sectors of activity are concerned, the financial sector is particularly sensitive. Indeed, in the specific context of Africa, financial sector companies must be ingenious in order to overcome the multiple regulatory, infrastructural, socio-cultural and even financial obstacles to achieve their business objectives and mission in society.
In the case of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which essentially have to deal with segments of the population that are less served by traditional banks, the challenge lies at several levels, including:

• Internally, with the problem of reducing operating costs as much as possible in order to maintain margins that allow them to reinvest in the multiplication of access points. This first issue finds a solution in digitalization insofar as it avoids creating additional physical agencies as long as the sales service is available online and customers can access it directly from a connected terminal.
• The increase in sales that allows to project and establish a more accurate and sustainable strategy of market conquest. This increase in sales is also achieved through greater customer satisfaction, which is reflected in the subscription to more paid services or by the increase in the customer portfolio due to the effects of the improved brand image. It is at the level of customer satisfaction that digitalization brings more perceived value for the customer who sees it as a way to drastically reduce his trips to the branch and to avoid long waits on site.
• Another advantage for the company that brings innovation in digital technology is that it obtains more support from its target audiences insofar as its innovations meet the latent or expressed needs of customers and prospects. This proximity to the market gives the company an interesting competitive position that gives it a strategic edge.

With the centralized core banking ALPHA bank and Alpha Microfinance PROVIDED BY Innovative Technology (ITECH SARL), microfinance institutions (MFIs) that benefit from this software enjoy among others value-added products including: Alpha Mobile Banking, Alpha Web Banking, Alpha web Admin. This is one of the reasons why it is so much in demand because there is no doubt that the advantages it provides to the users will allow them to gain important market shares.