Virgin Nigeria has introduced a new on-line reservation and payment portal known as the “On-line Agency Booking System” (OABS). This development is in fulfillment of the airline's commitment to partner with all travel agents.

The new on-line reservation and payment portal enables all Travel agents to book and make payments for all Virgin Nigeria tickets on-line with Interswitch ATM debit cards and earn immediate commissions on every transaction.
Virgin Nigeria's Director of Sales and Outstations, Adeola Bali, who announced this recently in Lagos said that the introduction of the On-line Agency Booking System (OABS) will help to reduce the risk of erroneous entries that occur in manual transactions as the agents' sales network will be integrated into Virgin Nigeria's systems.

She added further that reconciliations would be more accurate as it would be conducted electronically with an automatic update of sales.
“With the new reservation and booking system, travel agents will have a seamless service delivery as they will have immediate response to reservations, confirmations as well as make payments anywhere and at anytime through online payment portals which will reduce risks associated with cash transfers”, Bali said.
She stated that Virgin Nigeria understands the importance of cost control to the travel agent and the on-line agency booking system serves as an extremely cost effective way of booking and securing seats on the airline.

Virgin Nigeria has since the launch of its commercial operations been at the forefront of introducing innovative and customer friendly products to make air travel in Nigeria a pleasurable experience. The airline pioneered on-line reservations and payments system as well as mobile phone enabled booking processes.
It should be recalled that Virgin Nigeria recently signed Airlogica, one of the world's leading companies in distribution software and specialists in cost control and revenue management options, to provide software that allows Virgin Nigeria to monitor all bookings made by her ticketing and travel agents.

Unity Bank has unveiled a suite of Information Technology-driven products tagged eSuccess, in a bid to bring a new gamut of possibilities within the reach of its customers.
According to a statement from the bank, the product is one of four others introduced into the marketplace by Unity Bank after an extensive market research.
According to the bank, eSuccess is a response to the need to make banking facilities available to customers beyond the conventional banking hours and environments. It was also conceived to make life easier for Unity Bank customers.
eSuccess encompasses e-banking services, ATM service, WebSchool, PayAlert, Internet Banking, Telephone Banking, ePay and Online Recruitment Solutions, among others.
“eSuccess breaks the barriers of conventional banking, making it possible for customers to transact business with Unity Bank from anywhere 24 hours,” said the bank's Head of Corporate Affairs, Abba Dandago.

Unity Bank was able to achieve seamless integration of the disparate Information Technology networks of the nine different banks that evolved into the bank within a year. It adopted, BANKS, a core banking software adjudged by many experts as one of the most robust in the nation's banking industry, and hooked all its 215 branches up into one network, making it possible for customers to transact business anywhere in the country, regardless of where their accounts are domiciled.

“It is all about convenience and cost-effectiveness. We are always looking out for new ways of making the banking experience of our customers better. eSuccess is a suite of products that rides on the back of superior IT to give our customers access to banking facilities more conveniently and cost-effectively, and ultimately create success stories in their businesses and their personal lives”, Dandago observed.
He noted that the e-products conceptualized under the broad name eSuccess are not aimed at individuals alone, but all categories of customers, be they retail, commercial or corporate.

“ePay enables Unity Bank to handle automatic payment to contractor on behalf of merchants in such a way that authorized account officers from the merchants, can initiate, authorize and effect payment directly into their contractors' accounts irrespective of which bank the accounts are domiciled”, he said.
The Online Recruitment Service, the first of its kind in Nigeria, according to him, was exclusively developed by Unity Bank for the Nigerian Army to provide the latter with a platform to handle and manage its on-going recruitment exercise via the Internet.

This was the first time in the history of the Nigerian military forces that recruitment of soldiers was done electronically. Young Nigerian men and women who desired a career in the Nigerian army applied for a position through the bank's website using a scratch card.
Through Internet Banking, corporate or retail customers of the bank who have Internet access can access their accounts online. By way of SMS/telephone banking services customers are able to keep track of developments on their accounts.

The 12th edition of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) NICOMM exhibition and conference, which held between October 22 and 24, gave another auspicious opportunity to subscribers of Starcomms, Nigeria's largest CDMA 3G Mobile network, to hook into its mobile range 07028 which was activated early this year.

Showcasing the mobile lines at the event, which Starcomms also was one of the sponsors, was in furtherance of the firm's determination to contribute towards the development of the ICT industry in Nigeria by making telephony within the reach of everyone.
Maher Qubain, Chief Executive Officer of the telco said Starcomms sponsored the exhibition because of its belief that the ICT industry is a very important component of the Nigerian economy which needs to be enhanced, a vision that ATCON shares with the company.

Initiated in 1995, NICOMM expo has grown over the years by strategically positioning Nigeria's ICT as world class especially the fact that the country has a regulatory regime widely seen as a model in Africa. About 32 companies are showcased their products at the exhibition.

Starcomms showcased its 0702-8 range of numbers along side other products at the expo. It would be recalled that Starcomms introduced these numbers into the market in early February 2007. With the introduction of the new range of numbers, which operates on the CDMA 2000 (Code Division Multiple Access) platform, subscribers can enjoy the roaming mobility that was once the exclusive of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) lines.

Among other features, it offers superior voice clarity, flexibility and mobility, enabling subscribers to use their phones in different