Jamaica ahead in Information Technology
Chief Executive Officer of the
Central Information
Technology Office (CITO),
Michael duQuesnay
addresses JIS 'THINK Tank'
JIS PHOTO
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
KINGSTON, Jamaica: On an international basis
Jamaica is ahead of many of its trading partners and competitors around the
world in terms of its e-readiness for the Information Technology world. Chief Executive Officer of CITO Michael duQuesnay made this observation at the
weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston recently.
Mr. duQuesnay said the recognition given to
Jamaica this year by the Economist Intelligent Unit as one of the 78 most
advanced countries in the world based on the development of the IT sector
proved that the country was doing well. Mr.
duQuesnay noted that Jamaica was the only English speaking Caribbean country
chosen in the survey, which was regarded as the most important international
survey measure of e-readiness.
The CITO Head said as the technology
advanced, it was envisioned that a common data backbone will be developed for
the government of Jamaica, as there was an important and urgent need to
physically join all government entities and enable the sourcing of software,
the pooling and sharing of resources and outsourcing.
Mr. duQuesnay said as the move to offer
computerized services to citizens increased there was the need to establish a
new way of governance to enhance efficiency in this area, especially where
related transactions were concerned in particular, with export and import
transactions.
“Citizens want to see the government as
providing one service for them as a unified set of transactions; in order to
do that the pieces of the government behind the scenes has to be joined
together,” he said. The CITO seminar on
wireless technology, which will be held on Thursday April 14 under the heading
“Demystifying Wireless for the Decision Maker,” is another of the Office’s
initiatives to familiarize Jamaicans with the global trends in IT and how it
affects business. Mr. duQuesnay said the
event, which will be directed towards executives and decision makers, was
primarily an educational one as in many cases persons in decision making
positions were faced with signing off on investment decisions about technology
and were not always knowledgeable about the underlying components of the
technology. He said the seminar was an
attempt to bridge the gaps and demystify the technology where wireless
computing was concerned. Meanwhile, he
informed that CITO was in the planning process for a major update of its 2002
national IT Plan. He said the Office was concerned with ensuring that the
sector’s advance was not accompanied by waste and duplication of efforts.
Noting that Jamaica was already poised for growth, he said the improvements
stood to further enhance the country’s development.
CITO was established in 2001 by a Cabinet decision stemming from the
government’s recognition of the need for a national IT plan and the
realization that IT could be a vehicle for economic development and growth.
Its mandate is to, among other things advise, lead and build capacity in the
IT sector and in particular IT use in the public sector.
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