SA should follow the examples of Canada and the UK and establish a 'country CIO`, says Nicky Sheridan, VP and MD of Oracle Ireland and SA.
Speaking at ITWeb`s IT Confidence conference in Midrand this week, Sheridan emphasised that creating such a post is needed in order to develop a coordinated national IT strategy.
"While there are opportunities in front of us, there is a big onus on the IT industry, private sector organisations and government to make [economic development] a reality," he stated.
He said there is already enough focus on compliance, cost control, management information systems and security. He encouraged SA to learn from the successful IT strategies of other countries - in particular Canada and the Nordic countries - and focus more on solutions and business processes.
SA should look at what governments around the world are doing to "articulate the importance of the IT industry". Canada, for instance, encouraged early adoption of the Internet by giving faster tax rebates to those submitting tax returns online, he said.
IT as an enabler
"IT will act as a great enabler in being able to facilitate change - IT vendors can finally develop architectures that are extremely adaptable and flexible."
He added that the promotion of open-standard processes is essential to furthering the integration of IT in South African business. Sheridan emphasised the importance of local companies having a standard "language" in terms of the technologies they use, to increase compatibility between businesses.
Open-standard processes, allowing a retailer and a wholesaler to communicate automatically, for instance, enable greater levels of efficiency, which in turn creates the productivity vital to economic growth, he explained.
He sees IT investment in the public sector as important in increasing efficiency, transparency, security, and reducing costs due to the knock-on effect of personnel redeployment.
Partnerships between the public and private sectors are important in promoting the development of ICT skills in SA, he noted.
IT spending
The South African ICT landscape has grown 7.5% in 2005, which amounts to R48.3 billion, he said.
"ICT spending is growing locally, which shows SA is learning from countries like the US, the UK and the Nordic countries, which have seen the success of spending money on ICT."
He believes the South African regulatory environment must encourage ICT investment and adoption. "There needs to be more initiatives to provide low-cost access to the disadvantaged majority, as well as assisting SMEs to implement ICT."
In SA particularly, ICT will be able to bring new people into the workforce by linking up people in rural areas, he added.
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