IT service management and Ticketing at JUMIA group (Emerging Countries)

In Detail

1) Business Problem  with Context: In 2018, Jumia Group was preparing for its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. While core markets (“Big Five”) received significant attention, Emerging Markets were operationally underserved.

Here were some Key Problems. 

• IT issues were reported via Emails, WhatsApp messages, and Verbal escalations

• No centralized ticketing system.

• No SLAs, no prioritization, no tracking.

• No knowledge base or incident history.

• IT Representatives across countries faced Inconsistent escalation paths, Limited access to Group Tech systems, and huge dependency on Portugal-based Group Tech teams with no structured intake process.

Urgency: As IPO readiness increased, operational discipline became non-negotiable. Poor IT service management posed:

• Operational risk

• Poor internal user experience

• Reputational risk to Group Tech

• Scalability limitations across new markets

2) Objective / Success Criteria

• Objectives

  • Establish a structured IT issue reporting and resolution framework.

  • Standardize escalation between country IT reps and Group Tech.

  • Introduce transparency, traceability, and accountability.

  • Enable basic SLA tracking and reporting.

  • Do this without budget approval for enterprise ITSM tools.

• Success Criteria

  • All IT issues captured through a single intake channel.

  • Clear categorization and ownership of issues.

  • Defined escalation paths to Group Tech.

  • Adoption across Emerging Markets.

  • Improved resolution turnaround times.

3) My Role & Ownership - Country IT Representative (Uganda) with Regional Impact. I:

• Identified the systemic gap across markets.

• Co-designed the solution with the Head of IT (Emerging Markets).

• Designed workflows and tooling architecture.

• Implemented and piloted the solution in Uganda.

• Supported rollout across 7 countries.

• Coordinated escalations with Group Tech in Portugal.

• Acted as interim IT support for multiple countries before local hires.

This was not assigned, it was self-initiated and later adopted regionally.

4) What I Did

• Conducted informal needs assessments with IT Reps across markets.

• Designed a lightweight ITSM framework aligned with ITIL principles.

• Selected tools based on Zero budget, Ease of adoption, and Integration flexibility

• Built the system using, Wufoo (issue intake forms), Asana (task tracking & assignment), and Zapier (automation & routing)

• Defined ticket categories, priorities, and escalation rules.

• Created workflows for Local resolution, Group Tech escalation, and Vendor-related incidents.

• Implemented status notifications to users.

• Introduced basic SLA definitions that included Issue priority classifications (Critical, Very high, High, Medium, Low), with respective timeframes for resolution (<3hrs, <12hrs, <24hrs, <36hrs, <48hrs, and <72hrs)

• Built a rudimentary knowledge base from resolved issues.

• Trained local teams on structured issue reporting.

• Collected metrics to demonstrate value and adoption.

5) Technical Depth

• Architecture;

  • Wufoo: Centralized ticket intake

  • Zapier: Automation and logic routing

  • Asana: Task assignment, tracking, and visibility

• Capabilities;

  • Structured issue intake

  • Automated task creation

  • Ownership assignment

  • Status tracking

  • Historical issue records

  • Escalation visibility

• Design Philosophy;

  • Minimal friction for users

  • Maximum visibility for IT

  • Scalable without enterprise tooling

6) Results & Impact (Before vs After)

• Before: Chaotic issue reporting, No accountability or tracking, Long resolution times, IT teams constantly firefighting, and Zero metrics for management.

• After: Centralized issue intake across Emerging Markets, Clear ownership and escalation, Faster resolution times, Documented IT operations, Improved trust between local teams and Group Tech, and Framework adopted across 7 African markets.

Strategic Outcome: The system professionalized IT operations in Emerging Markets and demonstrated operational maturity during IPO preparation.

7) Challenges & How I Solved Them

• No Budget: Enterprise ITSM tools were not approved at the time. This called for creativity. I designed a modular, low-cost architecture using existing SaaS tools, and demonstrated value before management asked for investment.

• Resistance to Process: Users preferred informal reporting. As a Solution, i made intake forms simple and fast, Enforced policy gradually, and showed faster resolution benefits.

• Limited System Access: Local IT lacked admin-level rights. As a Solution, I Used the ticketing system as an evidence trail, and structured escalations with context and logs.

8) What I’d Do Differently Next Time

• Push earlier for enterprise ITSM tooling.

• Formalize SLAs sooner.

• Introduce automated incident classification.

• Create dashboards earlier for leadership.

• Assign regional ITSM ownership faster.