ICT Impacting the Bottom Line
Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee
Mona GeoInformatics Institute & Department of Geography and Geology,
University of the West Indies
ICT – Information and Communications Technology
What are ICTs and what types of ICTs are
commonly used in education?
“ICTs stand for information and communication
technologies and are defined, for the purposes of
this primer, as a “diverse set of technological tools
and resources used to communicate, and to create,
disseminate, store, and manage information.”
These technologies include computers, the Internet,
broadcasting technologies (radio and television),
and telephones” (Tinio V.L.)
• ICT is often used as the extended synonym for IT
(information technology) but the “C” stresses the
communication element in information technology.
Audio-visual technology
Computer networking
• ICT addresses the encapsulation of and
convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks
with computer networks.
Simple & complicated
telephone networks
• ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve,
manipulate, transmit or receive information
electronically in a digital form. For example, personal
computers, digital television, digital cameras, smart
phones, email, robots.
A modern television
An older television
Older cell phones
The modern cell phone
• In business ICT can be categorized into two (2)
general types
1. The traditional computer-based technologies –
Tasks that are done on a personal computer.
The personal computer
• 2. Digital communications technology – this type of
ICT allow people and organizations to communicate
and share digital information.
Modern Communication
The importance of ICT in education
• One of the greatest hardships endured by the poor,
and by many others who live in the poorest
countries, is their sense of isolation. The new
communications technologies promise to reduce that
sense of isolation, and to open access to knowledge
in ways unimaginable not long ago.
• ICT in education is expected to reduce the gap
between those who have access to and control over
technology. This gap is referred to as the Digital
Divide. Digital divides exist inside countries and well
as between different countries.
• The ICT Development Index (IDI) – Published by the
United Nations International Telecommunications
Union. The IDI is a tool used to measure the digital
divide and compare the ICT performance within and
across different countries.
• ICT in Jamaica (Facts from JAMPRO)
Jamaica’s world-class and robust telecoms
infrastructure ranks among the most developed in
the world when compared to the US and UK.
Jamaica has the highest tele-density rate in the
entire Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
• While mobile penetration exceeds the rest of the
Caribbean and rivals many developed nations in the
world at over 109%. Multiple mobile service
providers offer 3G, 4G, WiMax and international
roaming capabilities.
• The presence of 3 (now 2) broadband carriers
ensures triple redundancy and 99.99% up-time on
broadband services.
• Jamaica has seamless connectivity to North
America, Latin America and the Caribbean via three
parallel fibre routes to the Americas Region
Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) submarine
cable in the Dominican Republic. There is also a
complete fibre ring around Jamaica.
• ICT in Jamaica (Facts from JAMPRO cont’)
The Government of Jamaica has introduced a range
of reforms and measures designed to support ICT
industries and therefore attract businesses to the
island.
The growth of Jamaica’s ICT industry is evidenced
by the enacting of new legislation in support of the
development strategy, such as the Cyber Crime Act
(2010), as well as an overhaul of the existing 2007
Telecommunications Policy. These efforts clearly
demonstrate to investors that the necessary
measures are being taken to ensure that their
operations and investments are secure.
• It is well-known that ICT improves efficiencies in the
workplace, expands the reach of companies and its
products, as well as enables telecommuting of
employees, product deliveries, and service impacts.
ICT systems continually need to evolve as market
tastes, preferences and demands change and new
solutions develop to replace obsolete or ineffective
systems.
At Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI) e-mail is one of our
most common ICT tools
Electronic Mail or E-Mail is the exchanging of digital
messages between persons over the Internet or
other computer networks.
• There is a large premium on ICT innovators,
who are able to both develop products,
systems and services that help individuals
and other businesses, as well as thrive
themselves as a profitable and effective
business.
• This has been the experience of the Mona
GeoInformatics Institute and the
development of the first GPS navigation
system for the Caribbean, JAMNAV.
• JAMNAV is the product of research and
development incorporating the collection of
primary spatial data – roads and points of
interest – that have applications in disaster
management, business intelligence, and
crime, but also direct applications in
consumer products requiring location-based
information.
•
•
JAMNAV provides street-level, voice-assisted, turnby-turn navigation from a start point to any desired
destination in Jamaica. We can already see the
foundations of ICT here since JAMNAV directly
facilitates communication.
With its high level of coverage, attributes and
accuracy, JAMNAV is designed to provide
Jamaicans and tourists alike with a faster, safer and
easier method to find their destination.
• JAMNAV is a GPS navigation, offering turn-by-turn
voice-assisted navigation across Jamaica, with over
21,000 km of roads
• Over 22,000 points of interest, including gas
stations, hotels, eating places, shopping places, and
attractions.
• MGI is a licensed Garmin map developer, and the
system reflects the same quality and content that
users would be familiar with when using similar
systems in the United States, Canada or Europe.
• Users of the system have adopted this in direct
ways; rental car companies are primary users of the
system, which conventionally use GPS navigation
systems as part of their product and service delivery.
• Other businesses use the GPS navigation system
and its constituent database for vehicle tracking,
while others use it for safety considerations, a critical
element when human resource protection is key for
businesses.
•
There are also practical applications for local
delivery and courier companies, fleet
operators, and national security.
• JAMNAV in Fleet Management, courier and
concierge services.
The practical application of JAMNAV GPS Navigation
to fleet management
• In fleet management systems JAMNAV can be
incorporated in such a way which allows for
coordinates (as well as POI names or addresses) to
be pushed via telephone networks and for two-way
messages may to be sent wirelessly, opening up
potential avenues of use with compatible GPS
tracking systems
The current set up – No
communication between the
field team and the client
JAMNAV will bridge the gap
between the response team
and the clinet
• JAMNAV fleet management system is a hybrid of
the GPS navigation and GPS tracking platforms.
This hybrid adds the interactive link which has been
absent from conventional fleet management and
tracking systems.
This is how a JAMNAV fleet management system
would potentially be set up
• More applied uses of this database have extended
to the extraction of the data itself for more involved
purposes, such as business competitor analyses,
correlation with other databases (socio-economic
and environmental data are common databases for
co-analyses), or security or public health modelling.
• MGI & JAMNAV and
Businesses
Since JAMNAV is a compilation of detailed spatial data across the
length and breadth of Jamaica the system opens up the avenue for
applications in business intelligence.
•
Digicel
•
Scotiabank
•
Island Grill
•
Jamaica National
•
Victoria Mutual
•
GSB Credit Union
• Includes:
• Asset distribution
• Competitor locations (current and potential)
• Customer locations
• Risk locations and proximities
• Advertising and marketing locations
JAMNAV and the Security Forces
MGI has also done and will continue to do work with the
police. Our largest portfolio at MGI is crime and on a
daily basis we map crime data for the JCF and the
ISCF. We have also done extensive work with the
JDF
MGI has also used JAMNAV data to create strategy,
intelligence and strategy maps to assist the police &
the JDF with their operations across Jamaica.
With the JDF in St. Thomas
Training of the Grants Pen Police
in GPS technology
Spatial Analysis of the Provision of Early Childhood
Services in Jamaica
• MGI was contracted by the Early Childhood
Commission to conduct a spatial analysis of the
provision of early childhood services in
Jamaica. The ECC sought to understand the
distribution of ECIs across Jamaica so that informed
decision-making could be facilitated.
• MGI mapped Early Childhood Institutions
(ECIs) across Jamaica, provided GIS training
and spatial analyses were also conducted for
each ECI in relation to the community
population served, the community socioeconomic status and available resources. The
analyses also indicated areas that were
potentially under-served or over-served by
ECIs.
• Here JAMNAV was the tool used to find the locations
of these schools do they could be mapped
•
•
•
•
Conclusions
ICT forms the platform for MGI’s innovations, but these
are paired with science and business knowledge
JAMNAV is not a single-application product. Uses are
market-driven
Success of JAMNAV has been a function of Jamaica’s ICT
progress and maturity; appetite fed by local demand for
First-World ICT products
Evolution of JAMNAV a function of Jamaica’s continued
ICT growth – user feedback, technological advances,
competing platforms, emerging applications, integrated
use
Conclusions
•
Bottom line impacts have been for MGI clients as well as
MGI directly
Client impacts:
Efficiency improvements – asset distribution,
supply and maintenance
Improved customer service – deliveries,
response to complaints etc
New business opportunities to diversify into –
vehicle tracking, location-based services, etc
•
•
•
•
•
MGI impacts:
Reduce time to realize return on investment
in product
Cross-sell other products and increase market
awareness
Drive other innovations
•
•
•