ICT for Development
ICT for Development
Africa Economic Summit 2003
Two interlinking questions need asking, said Louis N. Diakit窠Chief Executive Officer, Afripa Telecom, Cd Ivoire and Global Leader for Tomorrow 2002, as he introduced the session.
How is technology affecting development in Africa? and; How is African innovation affecting the way technology itself is used?
One way of answering is by citing examples, said Teresa Peters. Executive Director, Bridges.com, South Africa. Her company had recently examined a Cape Town programme for using SMS technology to help in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). TB treatments often falter because patients either forget to take their medicine or terminate treatment before completion. This can lead to the evolution of drug resistant strains of the TB bacillus, But by reminding patients by means of periodic SMS s, the treatment success rate was lifted to 97%.
In a Ugandan programme, doctors in rural areas were equipped with hand held computers enabling them to collect and start the processing of malaria statistics. Downloading to a central computer allowed a survey that might normally be expected to take months to be completed in seven days and placed on the minister s desk. Simple instances, but effective, Peters said.
Pete da Silva, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Telecommunications, South Africa, took a different approach to the questions. Africa is not always on the catch up trail, he said, citing the rapid growth in penetration of cellphones, and Internet usage in South Africa. "The bad news is that we have done all this and just kept up with the rest of the world," da Silva said. "The digital divide may not have narrowed, but it has not grown." As it is, da Silva continued, Africa has learned from the dotcom bubble which affected the developed world. In South Africa licence fees (which badly affected service providers elsewhere) were kept at realistic levels. And South Africa gave birth to the concept of prepaid SIM cards.
Stephen Mncube, Chairman of Sentech, a South African broadcast infrastructure services company, cited South African examples such as a programme which linked 15 rural hospitals to 15 teaching hospitals allowing better and more rapid diagnosis.
The focus is on e government, learning from the mistakes of other countries.
Godfrey Ntoele, Managing Executive, Business and Government Markets, Telkom South Africa, enumerated the three pillars of any successful ICT initiative: Accessibility Affordability Sustainability
Telkom, the state owned telecommunications company, is focusing on leveraging fixed line and mobile telephony synergies. This is necessary as fixed line growth is averaging 3% a year against 23% for cellular. One participant then stated that he has the sense of emerging complexity. Who will disaggregate information? Will there be changes to make the back end of the process more understandable to front end users? Not necessarily, replied da Silva. Service and equipment providers have to ensure that devices are truly "plug and play". There is no need for users to understand the technologies or systems underlying particular ICT services.
Peters added that another back end process is the human process. Before new services can be introduced and sustained, change management may be necessary to ensure that service providers employees understand and can deliver on services that are offered.
Another participant asked what intellectual property benefits might accrue to local populations linked to e government services. Mncube quoted an example from Pakistan where government makes tender application forms available on the Internet. Previously their distribution was in the hands of corrupt officials, and making them freely available has sharply reduced corruption in this sector.
ICT for Development - To learn more about this author, visit World Economic Forum's Website.
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13.06.2003
Africa Economic Summit 2003
Two interlinking questions need asking, said Louis N. Diakit窠Chief Executive Officer, Afripa Telecom, Cd Ivoire and Global Leader for Tomorrow 2002, as he introduced the session.
How is technology affecting development in Africa? and; How is African innovation affecting the way technology itself is used?
One way of answering is by citing examples, said Teresa Peters. Executive Director, Bridges.com, South Africa. Her company had recently examined a Cape Town programme for using SMS technology to help in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). TB treatments often falter because patients either forget to take their medicine or terminate treatment before completion. This can lead to the evolution of drug resistant strains of the TB bacillus, But by reminding patients by means of periodic SMS s, the treatment success rate was lifted to 97%.
In a Ugandan programme, doctors in rural areas were equipped with hand held computers enabling them to collect and start the processing of malaria statistics. Downloading to a central computer allowed a survey that might normally be expected to take months to be completed in seven days and placed on the minister s desk. Simple instances, but effective, Peters said.
Pete da Silva, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Telecommunications, South Africa, took a different approach to the questions. Africa is not always on the catch up trail, he said, citing the rapid growth in penetration of cellphones, and Internet usage in South Africa. "The bad news is that we have done all this and just kept up with the rest of the world," da Silva said. "The digital divide may not have narrowed, but it has not grown." As it is, da Silva continued, Africa has learned from the dotcom bubble which affected the developed world. In South Africa licence fees (which badly affected service providers elsewhere) were kept at realistic levels. And South Africa gave birth to the concept of prepaid SIM cards.
Stephen Mncube, Chairman of Sentech, a South African broadcast infrastructure services company, cited South African examples such as a programme which linked 15 rural hospitals to 15 teaching hospitals allowing better and more rapid diagnosis.
The focus is on e government, learning from the mistakes of other countries.
Godfrey Ntoele, Managing Executive, Business and Government Markets, Telkom South Africa, enumerated the three pillars of any successful ICT initiative: Accessibility Affordability Sustainability
Telkom, the state owned telecommunications company, is focusing on leveraging fixed line and mobile telephony synergies. This is necessary as fixed line growth is averaging 3% a year against 23% for cellular. One participant then stated that he has the sense of emerging complexity. Who will disaggregate information? Will there be changes to make the back end of the process more understandable to front end users? Not necessarily, replied da Silva. Service and equipment providers have to ensure that devices are truly "plug and play". There is no need for users to understand the technologies or systems underlying particular ICT services.
Peters added that another back end process is the human process. Before new services can be introduced and sustained, change management may be necessary to ensure that service providers employees understand and can deliver on services that are offered.
Another participant asked what intellectual property benefits might accrue to local populations linked to e government services. Mncube quoted an example from Pakistan where government makes tender application forms available on the Internet. Previously their distribution was in the hands of corrupt officials, and making them freely available has sharply reduced corruption in this sector.
ICT for Development - To learn more about this author, visit World Economic Forum's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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