Cosseted under-achievers

I don`t think we should fool ourselves too much longer. Despite the political gloss enveloping SA today, we have to admit that we haven`t capitalised on it with any concerted effort to be more competitive. Consequently, we simply don`t matter very much globally in any practical sense.

The areas in which we do rate highly are easily outnumbered by others that show up our complacency, arrogance or ignorance. Examples are plentiful and well-documented. We fail to formulate the government policies that attract more attention than that which naturally gravitate towards a beautiful country. We are shamefully deficient in the foresight required to build the infrastructure that would allow us to capitalise on incidental riches.

In short, we`re a lazy bunch that milks political goodwill. And so it`s probably fair to say we`re not likely to build a culture of excellence anytime soon.

And yet we have the cheek to wonder how we`re viewed outside this bubble of privilege and entitlement. At trade confabs, we solicit praise about our efforts, and unquestioningly accept it when, incredulously and faintly, it comes. And in an ongoing national ecstasy of mutual back-patting, we constantly refer to our services/offerings/specific areas of progress as "world-class".

Why do we do this? Why do we kid ourselves when all around us the lack of competitiveness is evident? Surely it`s better to take stock honestly?

In coming weeks, a South African ICT journalist who works in London will write a series of articles for ITWeb on this very topic. The wealth of outside knowledge that he`s amassed over the last few years will no doubt make his opinions on this matter more readable than mine, but nothing stops us from getting into the mood so long.

Let us then take a look at how the outside world views SA. Not a very serious look, because that may prove a bit too sobering. Just a quick, light-hearted look. Not the entire picture; just enough to show there is a lot of work to be done.

We are shamefully deficient in the foresight required to build the infrastructure that would allow us to capitalise on incidental riches.

Carel Alberts, Supplement Editor, ITWeb Brainstorm

One Saturday afternoon, two hours before I was due to check in at the airport, I walked into Incredible Connection for an "any-to-any" power adapter. The theory is that you plug your laptop plug into it, and with its various country-specific pins, it allows you to charge your notebook battery in any hotel room in the Western world. (I have no knowledge of Asian or Australian wall sockets, but I get the feeling kids will probably not be able to stick their fingers into them.)

The sad truth, however, of my any-to-any adapter, is that for all its international pricing parity (R200) it accepts only UK, US and European power plugs. Nowhere on it will you find the three round holes we know locally, so in order to use it, you`d have to convert your own plug to, say, a British one.

The reason I mention this is that it gives you a pretty good idea of how highly the rest of the world values our travelling brothers and sisters. And they probably wonder what the hell we were thinking when we stuck sawed-off curtain rods in power plugs.

Some months ago I joined a motley bunch of journalists from Turkey, Brazil, Russia and other "developing" nations on a vendor junket in New York. Coyly, most of us at one time or another asked the spokesman charged with "developing" nations about their South African/Mexican/Russian/Brazilian policies.

Would you know that he was not able to tell me anything useful? The Brazilian and the Russian - of course they got answers. But not me. The reason for this? Ask any IT vendor`s SA country manager how much SA contributes to their bottom line. They`ll probably say 1% or less. So much for world-class. No wonder nobody bothers much with us.

But companies do bother with Africa and SA. Why is that? An international telco tells a story of global footprint. It may not be very profitable to be in SA, but at least its clients know a global telco can "give them the world". And off a zero base, revenue growth is probably a certain prospect. Faint praise indeed.

SA has for some time now courted the attention of the multinationals that set up contact centres in India. Are we serious? Is there not a huge labour militancy issue, along with the high corporate insurance exposure to AIDS? Is bandwidth not excessively priced and in short supply? Do our telecoms policies and operator licensing shenanigans not make even the most callous politician want to weep?

And yet we carry on about the wonderful English we speak here, and our central time zone, and the supposition that India`s dominance cannot last. It reminds me of the campaigning business mentality in Ireland - they talk of mastering new areas of expertise quickly, and of their proximity to major trade centres. I`d like to ask this of the next Irishman who cites anything other than their low corporate tax as a reason for Ireland`s success: did a recent survey not find that Irish workers, more than any other Europeans, fall asleep at their desks?

The message is simple. I`m not one of those South Africans who sit around London whingeing about how crap we are back home. I don`t think we suffer from a national inability of any kind. I just think it`s time to pull finger. And we have to continue doing so after 2010.