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