In most government offices across Nigeria, the scent of bureaucracy is literal. It rises from stacks of paper in dusty file cabinets. It clings to torn manila folders, yellowing documents, duplicated records, and endless photocopies passed from one desk to another. The system is familiar, flawed, and deeply expensive, not just in money, but in time, transparency, and trust.
But quietly, away from the buzzwords of fintech and AI, a Nigerian software company is tackling this foundational problem head-on. It’s called Antly, and it’s betting on electronic document management systems (EDMS) as the infrastructure backbone Nigerian institutions didn’t know they needed.
The Cost of Disorganization
Nigeria’s reliance on paper-based documentation isn’t just inefficient, it’s a drag on national productivity. Delayed approvals, missing records, bloated storage rooms, and security lapses have real financial consequences. In some public institutions, it takes weeks and sometimes months to retrieve a file. In hospitals, patient records are sometimes lost between departments. In government offices, procurement processes get stuck because a single signature page can’t be found.
According to a 2022 study by PwC, Nigerian organizations spend up to 30% of their operational hours managing paperwork manually, an invisible tax on efficiency. But while many agree on the problem, few have delivered a solution robust enough to fix it at scale.
That’s where Antly comes in.
A Homegrown Fix for a Systemic Problem
Founded by Nigerian software engineer and automation expert Peter Ukonu, Antly was originally built as a no-code operations platform for African businesses. But as the team dug deeper into organizational bottlenecks, one problem kept showing up: document management.
“People think digitization starts with software,” Peter says. “But really, it starts with structure. If your documents are scattered, your decisions are scattered. We realized most Nigerian institutions don’t need more tools, they need better control of their information.”
Antly’s EDMS is built to be simple, secure, and scalable. It allows organizations to create, manage, approve, store, retrieve, and archive documents digitally, all within a centralized platform. From memo approvals to procurement documents, HR files to legal contracts, everything is tracked, time-stamped, and backed up.
The platform includes version control, role-based access, document workflow automations, audit trails for organizations operating across multiple offices and cities.
Beyond the Software: A Shift in Culture
More than just deploying a platform, Antly is facilitating a cultural shift: moving Nigerian businesses and institutions from reactive documentation to proactive systems thinking.
Some organizations that have adopted Antly’s EDMS. Within two months, they reported a 40% reduction in administrative turnaround time and a complete elimination of paper loss in procurement approvals. “We’re not just going digital, we’re becoming accountable,” a director at the ministry said.
The platform is also gaining traction in private sector companies especially those in legal, health, and education where documentation is core to compliance and customer service.
Why This Matters Now
Nigeria’s push toward digital transformation is accelerating, especially in the wake of the pandemic and the federal government’s renewed commitment to e-governance. But digital transformation isn’t just about websites and dashboards. It starts with the most basic building block: documents.
Peter believes the time for document management to become a boardroom conversation is now. “If you are still running a major operation on paper, you’re not just outdated, you are vulnerable. To loss, to fraud, to inefficiency. Document integrity is national infrastructure,” he says.
Building With Vision, Not Hype
Unlike many tech startups chasing hypergrowth and global press, Antly has taken a quieter path focusing on deep integration, enterprise sales, and local relevance. “We don’t need to be everywhere. We need to be in the right places where institutions are ready to transform how they work,” Paul Ukonu who leads Antly’s Sales and Marketing efforts explains.
That patience is starting to pay off. With enterprise pilots underway in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and other major cities in Nigeria, Antly is fast becoming a go-to platform for organizations that are serious about digital transformation.
And for Peter, this is just the beginning.
“We want to build technology that lasts. Tools that grow with institutions, not just trend with them.”
The Bottom Line
In a tech ecosystem often obsessed with hype and funding rounds, Antly represents a different kind of innovation: the kind that quietly rewires the way a country works. Document by document. Workflow by workflow. Office by office.
If Nigeria is serious about digitization, it must start with the basics. And Antly with its roots in order, structure, and quiet power might just be the company leading that charge.
