Contact Magazine April 2018

the chamber in action
Be a part
of the digital
transformation
WORDS By: Derrick Villeneuve
We stand at a fork in the road,
and the direction we take
will determine Trinidad and
Tobago’s future. We can be
idle spectators and watch the downward
spiral, feeling helpless about crime, jobs
and the government; or we can choose to
make a difference.
The road to a better future must
include a plan to diversify the economy
and make us competitive on the world
stage. The Economic Development
Advisory Board (edab.org.tt) has identified
seven industries that will lead us from our
current state – where non-energy exports
are a mere 15 per cent of the total – to
40% by 2030. A key enabler in exporting
these goods and services is information
and communication technology (ICT). This
demands a digital transformation in our
businesses and government.
customers and trading partners more
easily. It allows us to get things done
without having to spent three hours
in traffic or waiting in a line at the
bank. It helps prevent crime and catch
criminals. We have been exceptionally
successful at digitally transforming our
personal lives with the use of Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other
social media platforms. Now we need to
bring that level of digital expertise to
business and government. In our focal
areas we need to be the best!
This transformation begins with
The committee is a group of
volunteers from leading local companies
who are passionate about ICT and are
working towards a vision of Trinidad and
Tobago as a digital society. Committee
members have already organised seminars,
network events and webinars; now this
signature event can bring together the
ICT community and business leaders to
advance our digital transformation.
The Canadian government has
assisted us with a keynote speaker, Peter
van der Gracht, a serial entrepreneur with
global experience who has participated
We will offer a choice of 50
different breakout sessions
Keeping up
The world is moving ahead of us, while
we remain constrained by institutions
and habits that undermine this future.
Our government agencies are still
fundamentally manual and burdened with
bureaucracy. We lag behind our Caribbean
peers in passing legislation to enable
digital business. We are still mostly a
cheque-based society, and our vendors are
still expected to collect their cheques in
person. Many of our institutions straggle
significantly behind the firms we will be
competing with in North America, Europe,
China, India and, significantly, even in the
Caribbean.
Digital transformation is about
enabling a better and more efficient
way of doing things. It allows us to
share information with our associates,
education and information exchange.
Your managers and ICT departments
need exposure to what is available for
them to move your business from where
it is today to where it needs to be in the
digital age. This is a journey we will all
have to undertake on a continuous basis
as the world and its business evolves in
disruptive ways all around us.
The ICT conference
We all know it is tough right now, and it will
probably get harder before it gets better.
This is why ICT Pro TT, a committee of the
Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry
and Commerce, will host the conference,
“Ignite Your Digital Transformation”, at
the Hyatt Regency on May 15-16, 2018.
in diversification strategies in other
countries. Other presenters will include Dr
Wayne A.I. Frederick, President of Howard
University; Marla Dukharan, Caribbean
economist with the financial technology
company Bitt; and other notable business
leaders.
To top it off, we will offer participants
a choice of 50 different breakout sessions
to expand your digital knowledge, in topics
including analytics, business applications,
IT-enabled services and social media.
So please join us, and join Trinidad
and Tobago’s digital transformation!
The author is chairman of ICT Pro TT, a
committee of the Trinidad and Tobago
Chamber of Industry and Commerce
06
Trinidad
and Tobago Chamber
of Industry and Commerce
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine