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ICT Agency focuses
on creating markets, jobs Wikramaratne told The Sunday Times in an interview that the business plan seeks to move away from merely sticking to the traditional method of increasing software exports. He said that several initiatives under the respective focus areas are also underway and a comprehensive report on its progress would be released in November when eSri Lanka celebrates its first anniversary. Market creation activities are also beneficial to smaller, local ICT companies. As the government is also now a consumer of ICT these companies are gaining referrals to compete in the global marketplace. Meanwhile the market creation efforts are attracting international investors to set up IT enabled services while the agency is also carrying out direct marketing activities to attract flagship overseas ICT companies to consider Sri Lanka as a modest investment destination. Early indications are that companies have expressed interest in setting up call centres within the next few months. The non-traditional business plan also provides for a subsidy to these types of companies to train personnel and thereby contribute to creating job-oriented individuals. Such initiatives are required for the success of eSri Lanka as the government can’t carry out training, etc, Wikramaratne said. In the area of eGovernment the agency's focus is to reduce transaction costs and thereby reengineer the way government works. The chairman emphasized that it is not aimed at enabling web presence of government institutions and added that these plans are being well received. Further, Chief Innovation Officers are being appointed in government institutions to develop and coordinate this process. A pilot project has also been launched in the Matale District for training of government personnel before it is expanded islandwide. Wikramaratne added that NCS, the Singapore government's e-services arm, has also been contacted for assistance in developing a plan for eGovernment. Questioned about the funding for these initiatives he described it as "Not a major issue". "There is enough funding. The issue is to put projects together to attract the actual funds. Many donors are working with ICTA on this", he added. A Vishwa Grama Fund (VGF) is also being set up with assistance from the World Bank to set up community access points or Vishwa Grama Kendraya as it would be known. These locations are being set up to provide access to ICT services in rural areas, where there would otherwise be no development due to the high capital cost of computers and telecommunication facilities. The initial phase would see the development of 100 such locations, before it is established countrywide. Support is also expected from Japan for this project. Asked for details of the modalities of how ICT service related services would be established, Wickramaratne said that this would have to emerge from the ground upwards based on the needs for such services. He explained that the private sector is under the misconception that all projects would be distributed amongst them. "Our ICT private sector is weak. They need to focus on these areas". He further stressed that the ICTA is not an originator but a facilitator of ICT services. Until now many government services have been already web enabled in an uncoordinated manner. The role of the ICTA would be to coordinate these activities by drawing up a basis for the launching of a government portal. The projects that are initiated by the various government institutions would come to the agency for approval and coordination between institutions. Several pilot projects have already been awarded and are under implementation. The equipping of schools with ICT equipment is being implemented through a public/private sector partnership where the hardware and software would be managed by a service provider. This will enable the provider to leverage on this for provision of services outside school hours as well. Other pilot projects include the development of Sinhalese fonts, web-enabling the government printer, a portal to provide agricultural information, and establishing distance learning centres. Yet another key project is the establishment of a National Operations Room that would function as the management tool of all ICT initiatives at the Prime Minister's office. This would provide up to date information of all projects from a macro level to micro level where their progress could be kept track of. A pilot is also being finalised for the creation of a public registry where every individual would be provided with a unique identification number at birth. Several other projects are also being initiated to provide ICT services to parliamentarians and the cabinet of ministers. The ICTA was set up on July 1, 2003 as a company fully owned by the government and in its three months it has created capacity in the government to deal with the roadmap. Most of the key people need to run the agency have been recruited. Twelve firms
graduate through incubation "This is a significant achievement," said Mohamed Azmeer, General Manager of ConceptNursery.com. He was of the view that as the first company testing the potential of technology incubation in the country, it has learned a lot and has acquired sufficient experience to partner and promote such ventures. The concept of incubation developed in the US with sudden failures of Internet start-ups after a very sharp rise to fame. An IT incubator primarily grows entrepreneurial ideas and concepts to companies, while protecting the business in its early days. It also provides the start-ups with full office support, business, marketing, legal and technology counselling. The 12 companies incubated through a two-year incubation period have generated employment for 94 individuals and have successfully established themselves as local software companies. Some of these companies have been successful in securing projects in Bangladesh, USA and Japan. Eight other companies are currently under incubation. As the concept develops the company is planning to set up additional facilities outside of Colombo through a franchise programme. Conceptnursery.com is the result of a partnership of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), Media Solutions, Prudential Holdings and Nextventures. The partners hold strength in providing the incubator with the necessary data entry and R&D facilities, technological expertise, management background and venture capital. BIA now a Wi-Fi
Hotspot Wi-Fi is a wireless broadband network that does not require a waiting period for set up or preparation unlike other Internet connections. Mobile users simply have to walk into "SLTnet Wi-Fi Internet Zone" (Hotspot) and authenticate their connection using the required prepaid card for instant access to the Internet. Customers will now be able to continuously be able to access the Internet at speeds of up to 11 Mbps, depending on the traffic handled by the network at any given time. The BIA "Hotspots" can be utilised by those in a certain area who have a laptop with a PC card or a hand held device with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) adapter. There will also be a need for authentication once a person is online in the network so that they can access the Internet. Access to the wireless web through this network can only come about through the purchase of a prepaid SLTnet Internet access card which is currently available at many shops at BIA. The service is being made available free of charge for an introductory period. This venture is a partnership between Sri Lanka Telecom and BIA to promote Sri Lanka as a business destination through enhanced services for business travelers who spend an inordinate amount of time in transit. Through these SLTnet Wi-Fi Internet Zone, SLT and the BIA are on the cutting edge of one of the trendiest initiatives which virtually encompasses all publics through its ease of connectivity. Emprise IT provides
mobility solution for Pivotal CRM Pocket Pivotal is a mobile CRM solution that provides mobile employees up to date customer information through iPAQ PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant). Pivotal initially approached Emprise IT through Hewlett-Packard (HP) about a year ago to develop this wireless extension. Pocket Pivotal enables employees to access the organization's customer database from anywhere in the field. This includes comprehensive employees directory, activity management, order management, contact management, and product support functionality. "The delivery of this solution shows that Sri Lankan products can compete or compliment with global players," said Manju Fernando, Managing Director of Emprise IT. Emprise IT previously has successfully established its own product suite of applications for sales, service, merchandising and logistics running on the Compaq iPaq Pocketpc environment. Its Avya range of solutions was recognized and the company was admitted to the Keystone alliance. The Keystone alliance is a partnership of Compaq, Intel and Microsoft that has been formed to develop wireless solutions on technology platforms created by these companies. Around five different solutions developers have been accepted into the alliance in the Asian region that includes Emprise IT. The membership denotes the confidence of these technology providers in Emprise IT, as true developer of enterprise level solutions. The alliance also helps its members with marketing collateral and to carry out joint marketing. When Pivotal approached HP which now owns Compaq, Emprise IT was recommended as preferred wireless solutions developer. The Pivotal deal is also a unique achievement for Emprise IT as its product is recognized globally through the Pivotal brand, Emprise IT would still own the intellectual property rights for the product. HP and Pivotal would remain the exclusive licensee for distribution and first level support of the product. This serves well for small local company that otherwise would not be capable of investing in international marketing and distribution of its products. Pivotal and HP are also in process taking Pocket Pivotal to the global market. Pocket Pivotal was designed by Emprise IT based on its Avya mobility solutions architecture. Currently Emprise IT Avya field force automation solutions are actively used by leading companies such as Diagio, MasterPet in Australia and New Zealand. The solution is also being used locally by Unilever Ceylon with over 250 units in the field. CNT:
Specialists in representing international brands CNT starting out as a distributor for Microsoft is now recognised as a Market Development Partner responsible for all Microsoft activities in Sri Lanka and Maldives. Microsoft through its 6-year partnership which has seen revenues soar from US$100,000 to over US$1 million in Sri Lanka prompting it to list the country as an emerging market for investment. "This means we play the role of a subsidiary for Microsoft in Maldives and Sri Lanka. Our responsibilities include developing the country plan," explains Keith Samuel, Chief Operating Officer of CNT. The present level of relationship is beneficial to the country as CNT has a revenue sharing agreement rather than a commission structure. Other Microsoft activities handled by the company include managing channels, large accounts, the relationship with the government, market development and anti-piracy initiatives. CNT's success
has seen many other international companies expressing interest
to be represented by the company. As part of its focus areas the
company handles Microsoft, Internet Security, and Document Management
Solution for Océ. "This is a significant achievement, because often you hear of Indian companies representing international brands being responsible for Sri Lanka. We have won the confidence of Checkpoint to go in the opposite direction and have set up two offices in India," adds Samuel. Due to its international marketing structure all revenue for sales in the region are routed through Sri Lanka. Identifying opportunities in growing Internet appliances business CNT represents Celestics and Intrusion, two key players in this market. Customer demands in Internet security are changing with preferences for fully setup Internet security boxes. The rationale is that customers do not have to spend separately on servers, firewalls and software that also requires training in complex processes. An Internet Security box is a fully functional server that has all security features inbuilt and primed to working with the particular hardware. Having amassed adequate knowledge in Internet Security hardware and software through its representations CNT proposes to build its own Internet Security box. The company says it is confident of finding market opportunities within the region for its proprietary product due to advantages of product knowledge and price competitiveness in the small and medium enterprises market. Currently it is in the process of identifying appropriate hardware after which a prototype would be submitted to Checkpoint for certification. CNT has also acquired distribution rights in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius and Maldives for Oce Document Management Solutions. Oce produces wide format and production printing solutions designed for large-scale functions like bill printing of utility companies. The progress made towards its vision of being one of the top five IT companies in the South Asian region is also significant as it functions with only 25 employees. Samuel attributes it to the company partner-driven where it empowers partners under it for direct contact with customers. IT scholarships
for women journalists The scholarships are reserved for exceptional women from low- income communities who already use IT for public benefit, who can demonstrate entrepreneurship, and who have the potential to become local role models for girls in their societies. The initiative forms part of Internews' DOT-GOV program, funded by USAID, and managed by the International Institute for Education (IIE). Successful applicants will join CISCO's Networking Academies, which are already located in the North African countries. Training will include advanced courses in writing, problem solving, Web design, and a series of other technical IT subjects. Interested participants should contact Sarah Tisch at Internews at e-mail: stisch@internews.org Microimage releases
Attendance Management Solution These include intelligent attendance processing, wizard based configurations and self maintenance, new advanced leave/overtime management, parameter based configurations, security and access control with audit facilities, and custom report wizards. Ontime also supports a range of data capturing hardware devices. The pre-release product was featured at the CeBIT 2003 in Hannover Germany together with other Human Resource Products of the company. The new release was launched after a long lapse as Microimage spent time on research and development on various functional aspects to uplift the level of the solution. Microimage already has a large established client base for the product with over 300 projects completed in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The version can be easily integrated to other products such as payroll, self-service, human resource solutions, production systems and accounting systems. |
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