T&T is behind the Government of Antigua and Barbuda when it comes to e-Government services, said Atiba Phillips, managing director, Infocomm Technologies Ltd. Phillips pointed to a United Nations report, which placed T&T behind several of its neighbours, including the Bahamas, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda. T&T is 67th, behind Antigua and Barbuda, which placed in the 55th spot. In its 2008 report, the UN placed T&T much higher, at 54. Phillips, whose company advises regional bodies and governments in using technologies to develop their resources, said while in some of the other Caribbean countries–like Bahamas, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda–services can be accessed through government sites, people in T&T can mostly access only information.
The economics of the globe is changing and T&T needs to remain relevant, he said. "What we've been doing in the past is primary production and primary extraction and this will not sustain us in the future for much longer. "In that context, technology plays a big role. As a company, we are here to help a countries of the region better understand how and what you need to do to transition the and allocate resources and strategies to take advantage of the tools that are there now. That's the kind of role we want to play. We are different from the traditional information technology firm."
"It's about how countries leverage technology for economic diversification and how we consult them in that regard. In this we way, we bring our insights to the market," said Phillips, in an interview last Friday at his office at the corner of First Avenue and Eighth Street, Barataria. Speaking in March 2010 at the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce, former Public Administration Minister Kennedy Swaratsingh had said that by 2012, T&T citizens would be able to access a number of services. These included: "Paying your taxes online, VAT returns online and so on. There are about 13 essential services that will be operational at the T&T Connect Centre," Swaratsingh had said.
Leveraging competencies
Phillips advocates a more focused approach in the way T&T develops its IT sector. "Regional entities need to re-engineer the way they interact with the global economy–and technology is a major component. We assist nations, businesses, as well as regional bodies to better understand the new economic and technological paradigms and give them the advice/assistance that they need to help them survive and thrive. "This overarching mandate informs the work and projects that we do and leverages the competencies that we have built-up over time."
On returning to T&T in 2005 from doing a Masters in business administration at the University of California, Berkeley, Phillips got a job at the Ministry of Public Administration. There he was involved in some of the Government's main information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives. "There I was an executive manager of e-commerce for the country. I was involved in the broad plan of action 2006, the establishment of the e-Business Roundtable, the first ICT plan from 2009 to 2013, which is called Fast Forward, which is the current ICT plan. There is also a draft e-commerce policy that was done. "These things were done to move the country forward in this regard so that all businesses could benefit as well as the Government."
IT's seamless growth
Phillips said the sector has come a long way.
"Broadband has definitely taken off. Flow has launched some packages for as much as 100 megabyte download compared to when I came back to T&T in 2005, we were still doing 256 kilobytes, and still calling that broadband. We've made a huge jump. Plus, there are additional fibre lines coming in to Trinidad." He believes technology firms are easier to get off the ground then other companies in other sectors. "Technology firms have it a little easier because as a technology firm, if you are using technology that you're advising others on using, then you're using the technology tools to collaborate and bring everything together, then there's less use for brick and mortar." Technology has helped Phillips' own company run more efficiently.
"Also, we maximise our staff by leveraging technology. The timing is flexible for when we have to meet at this location, but at the end of the day, people can do their research, get work done and bring it back. There are less than ten people, both executive and non-executive, in this business." In the IT business, the greatest expense is human resources. "The business cost in a business like this is the people. We are growing right now and we are looking for new people. In a grocery, you have a lot of inventory stuff, a lot of storage stuff. In this kind of business, it's more a knowledge product, like software, policy advice. It's intangible products that we can deliver electronically. For example, lot of our business is regional and we can interact seamlessly."
Projects
Phillips and his staff are busy working on several projects.
"There is a regional e-commerce policy, an European Union-funded project through the Caribbean Export Development Bank and also CANTO Connect the Caribbean (CTC) initiative–working with the Telecoms sector as well as other regional stakeholders to bring the potential of ICT home to the regional citizen."
Private sector and e-business
Commenting on the state of e-business in the private sector, Phillips said it's nowhere the stage it should be at. "Local companies need to get aboard because business opportunities are passing them by because people are looking to do business online and many of the local businesses are not there. "What has not taken off is e-business and doing business online. One reason is the legislation. When you're doing business online, you're doing payments online, the legality of the transfer and of electronic signatures. The legislation for this went to Parliament in 2009, it was reviewed, but it lapsed and has not been enacted. It has to be re-submitted to Parliament for approval."
Another problem is that electronic payment systems are not at an advanced stage. "The other issue is the availability of payment systems. For example, if you want to receive money through your Web site, you have to do it through an international intermediary, like PayPal or whatever. "There needs to be the evolution of regional and local solutions for wireless that hook up with banks and non-bank financial institutions to enable those types of electronic transfers.
"T&T has Lynx, Barbados has its own system, Jamaica has its own system, but these are not linked together. There isn't enough conversation among the islands that would enable that. They also don't believe that people will be doing enough business to justify that.
He gave the example of Tobago's guesthouses using such systems.
"It would be great if guesthouses in Tobago could receive payments from people who are coming before they arrive. People do it, but with better technology, it can be less cumbersome than it is presently is." He addressed of using technology to bypass a third party, say the United States. "All of the communication in the region is connected to the US. So If I were to send someone an e-mail, it would go up to the US and come back down, which means that financial information would go to the US and come back. :So from a technology standpoint, that's not an optimal way of doing e-commerce. It's not efficient."
IT and diversification
Technology is important to T&T's efforts at economic diversification. "Any direction we move in will require the leveraging of technology. If it's agriculture, tourism, financial services. Technology is an enabler of everything else and, in itself, it can be a sector. We can't get away from technology. "T&T in terms of policy needs to have sense of where it goes. We need to do some marketing and this involves understanding the markets and then see what we have and leveraging it. Then we need to research to see what skills the country needs. The problem is you have many people with Phds who have no relevance to where the country is heading."
Phillips said T&T also needs to triple ICT's contribution to T&T's gross domestic product (GDP). "ICT contribution in this country GDP is about five per cent. I think telecom by it self is about three per cent. I think the ideal contribution of ICT, as a whole, should be at least 15 per cent to GDP. There needs to be timeframes to achieving these targets." Phillips believes for T&T to ideally become a knowledge-driven economy, people must be comfortable with technology. "You would have a population that is not technology averse. You still have a large population that don't use ATM cards and things like that. You would have a population that accepts technology in their everyday life to make their life easier. You would have a government that uses technology to deliver better government services."