“In the future, computers will shop for us. You will log into a virtual supermarket and order food, they will send it to you the next day. School will change too. You could have school at home and fax your homework in, but you won’t make any
friends that way. We will have to make friends on the Internet. Libraries will still be there, but not many people will visit them anymore and they will be knocked down. ” — Nicholas Phibbs, age 12 Surrey, UK
PROMOTION
One of the major battles which business has had to fight for time immemorial is the war of costs. How do you bring this devil down and kill of your competition? On the other hand, the customer has had to engage in an opposite but challenging war with the central rallying point being how to achieve value for money, maximize, get more for less. Two major events have taken place in Africa if not the world, within the past three decades or so, the first being the emergence of a strong black middle class with so much “cash” to spend and the second being the emergence of a vibrant and forceful new age dubbed the Information Age with Information and Communication Technologies being the driving force. Mix the ideas in this serving and you have business with costs that they are trying to contain on one hand and a middle class which has lots of spending power on the other but is not necessarily gullible as to buy at any price (this excludes luxury cars of course).
When the patriarchs of the National (or Global or Galactic) Information Infrastructure now known as the Internet, were busy discussing the possibilities of such technology, little did they perceive as to how robust and useful the “final” product would be and the uses generations to come would attach to it. For business to flourish in the international domain without harnessing internet tools and fully utilizing them, would be tantamount to milking a bull. Markets are fast evolving and to stay in the past is more perilous than death. What with the advent of mobile telephones, broadband internet and other related technologies. If a twelve year old boy could perceive that one day computers would do the shopping in virtual supermarkets and school would change too, then surely our mature minds have to seriously engage. The possibilities are endless and the benefits too numerous but where do we start? The answer is not too far from us it’s the grass roots. From intranets to extranets to the internet (WWW - world wide web).
One of the major problems we have as a people (Africa) is that we believe that someone other than us should initiate progress, we look further than at ourselves. In turn we tend to play the blame game, if something is wrong blame the government or the authorities or the manager or the supervisor. We are never at fault for the predicaments that we find ourselves in, it is always someone else’s fault. Hence we have watched others develop whilst we continue to grope in the dark. The internet has been a growing force for the past two or so decades with major progress occurring within the past ten years. Don’t forget that ten years is a long time in deed more so when you look at this industry with new inventions on a daily basis. Just study the history of the founding fathers of the game they had little sleep if at all trying to come up with new programs, new inventions and acquiring massive programming hours in various computer laboratories. Those long hours spent have created new ways of doing things look at Amazon.com Inc an American-based multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, which is America's and one of the world’s largest online retailer, with nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and launched it online in 1995. It started as an on-line bookstore but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs and MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, etc. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and Japan and also provides international shipping to certain countries for some of its products. A competitor to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Inc. is referred to as the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The company operates the chain of small "B. Dalton Booksellers" stores in malls. The company is known for large, upscale retail outlets, many of which contain a café serving Starbucks Coffee, and for competitive discounting of bestsellers. Most stores also sell magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, and music. Video games and related items were sold in the company's GameStop retail outlets until October 2004, when the division was spun-off into an independent company. The summarized story of Staples, Inc. is that it is the world's largest office supply retail store chain, with over 2,000 stores worldwide in 27 countries. The Framingham, MA based company has catalog and delivery businesses and serves customers in Argentina (as Officenet), Austria, Brazil (as StaplesOfficenet), Canada (as Staples, in Quebec as Bureau En Gros), China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States. Staples, Inc. sells supplies, office machines, promotional products, furniture, technology and business services both in stores and online via Staples.com. The company opened its first store in Brighton, Massachusetts in 1986.
That background information on its own does not amount to much so let’s get into the number crunching part of things. Amazon.com Inc which is in the Retail Industry had Revenue of US$ 19,166 billion in 2008 Operating Income was US$842 million, Net Income US$645 million with an employee base of just 20 500 people. Now look at Barnes & Noble which began as a Printing business in 1873 in Wheaton Illinois (USA) and then opened doors in New York in 1917 with one of many bookstores to come. The Revenue of Barnes & Noble in 2007 from an employee base of 40 000 people was US$5,8 billion from 800 stores. Take a further step and go over the figures of Staples Inc which was founded in 1986 as a Retail concern majoring in Office Supplies which generated Revenue of US$27 billion in 2008. What do those figures tell you? A creative mind will tell that among the three concerns two have generally harnessed more of the “new” ways of doing things – less employees and more technology hence more work covered. Though the figures are from two different and distinct years the underlying factors and constants still hold true that the organizations formed in the Information Age have had a greater advantage due to harnessing of more computer power and creative PROMOTION via ICTs. You would have thought that the “older” companies would do better in resource utilization and a better bottom line profit would be attained but not so, the ones which have been creative and ICT savvy, have become lean and hard hitting have won the cake.
PROMOTION and yes the pillars of Marketing are functions that are and should be embedded in work ethics of all departments from Administration to Sales as everyone uses products or services from other departments. Business operates internally as a spider web linking departments and externally linking with suppliers and customers. There is need when I say from grassroots, to create internal systems or Intra sites whereby the various functions are linked together thereby creating internal markets for products from other departments. The Accounts department offers a carefully created system of documenting and analyzing the profitability and cost effectiveness of other departments, the Administration department offers an enabling environment for others to do their work and the like. From each department there are resources and data which other departments can utilize and as such can be stored on and accessed via an Intranet (internal network) and so on. On the Extranet, reporting data from various branches within the network of related branches can be shared and performance compared of which branches are doing better than others on set targets, or which branches still hold stock on various products and the like. From there Websites can then be created but notice that you have a system or culture of sellers and buyers, a consumer today being a manufacturer of another product and the Internet then functions as a complete unit. Now consider the colossal and or ripple effect if every other business is linked up on the Internet. Who has to rent out a large retail space and for what? You eliminate the need for large retail outlets. One can order anything without moving away from his or her computer or mobile phone. All you need is warehouses and lots of them. Now let’s get back on track we are talking of PROMOTION, instead of confining your market to a small village or city, the Internet or website in particular which is a major tool in the ICT era can be viewed by connected people all over the world. Now instead of having a market of just 13million or so Zimbos now you have billions of consumers who can access you and your products. Ain’t that grand? The face of PROMOTION has to change in this era, old tactics will not work we need to reinvent the wheel here. Whatever product you are making, remember that now money has changed hands from the old aged to a vibrant middle class who are mostly in the ages between 25 and 50. Now what products do those people need and more importantly how can you get to them or PROMOTE such products, do you use the conventional methods or creativity is needed here. By the way what happens to the data that we all submit when we buy a new cellphone line, open a new bank account, fill in some form somewhere in a government department? That information is priceless and there is need for us to begin to be a Database centered country if we are to fully harness ICTs for Marketing and PROMOTION. We need to open up more and more on the uses and access of data such that information sharing and data gathering can be promoted to the betterment of our own cause. Imagine if I wanted to market razor blades for shaving and I would just go to a Cellular Network company and asked them to broadcast my advertisement to men of a certain age (the assumption being that men are the only ones who shave using razor blades of the manufactured nature), in Harare say, for a fee of course, how much would that achieve. Such data is available or should be available the simple criteria being used having been obtained from the time of contracting one company when you fill in a form denoting your age, sex and so on.
ICTs are the major reason why some countries and companies continue to flourish while others continue to be basket cases. Our level of backwardness is so much that we are amongst the last in an index of Network Readiness in the world. Well we will talk more on that next week but we need to seriously engage if we are to go further than extinction. Imagine the amount of money floating in space and how you can get a hold of it. That is the new face of PROMOTION. By the way can someone tell me which television station one has to advertise on if you need to capture the Zimbabwean market? I wonder! I know for a fact that most Africans especially Zimbos know more about the UEFA cup and the FA Cup than about our own major leagues (reasons are said to abound). That should be PROMOTION, but how? ICT - Information and Communication Technology. When the idea of the network of networks kicked off, business or the exchanging of wealth was forbidden. That was not the intended purpose but hey, these guys later noticed that there was lots of gravy embedded in the concept. Can you handle nobody owns the Internet! “It’ a free for all.” Now let’s get to it and see how we can PROMOTE our products there and make money from anywhere anytime mari hairari (money does not sleep).
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Marketing in the ICT Era
“With more than 900 million consumers, the continent of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing markets. In Africa Rising (a book published by Pearson Education Inc in 2009), renowned global business consultant Vijay Mahajan reveals this remarkable marketplace as a continent with massive needs and surprising buying power. Crossing thousands of miles across the continent, he shares the lessons that Africa’s businesses have learned about succeeding on the continent…shows how global companies are succeeding despite Africa’s unique political, economic, and resource challenges… introduces local entrepreneurs and foreign investors are building a remarkable spectrum of profitable and sustainable business opportunities even in the most challenging locations… reveals how India and China are staking out huge positions throughout Africa… and shows the power of the diaspora in driving investment and development.
• Recognize that Africa is richer than you think
Africa is richer than India on the basis of gross national income (GNI) per capita, and a dozen African countries have a higher GNI per capita than China.
• Aim for Africa two
Opportunities exist in all parts of the market, particularly the 400 million people in the middle of the market.
• Find opportunities to organize the market
From retailing to cellphones to banking, companies are succeeding by building infrastructure.
• Develop strategies for the most youthful market in the world
Companies are recognizing opportunities from diapers to music to medicine in a market growing younger every day.
• Understand that Africa is not “Media Dark” continent
From Nollywood to satellite to broadband, media is exploding on the continent.
• Recognize the hidden strength of the African Diaspora
The African diaspora brings resources and knowledge t African development and expands the African opportunity beyond the continent.
• Build Ubuntu markets
Create profitable businesses, sustainable growth, and social organizations by meeting basic human needs.”
What a thought, 900 million African consumers! But how do we get to them in a changing world bombarded daily with communication and mis-communication, education and mis-education spanning thousands of kilometers across the virgin land of Africa adulterated day in and day out by western, eastern and other – products of lands afar off? Do we know the Products that we need, at what Price, Where do we need them (Place) and is anyone telling us and creating such need for such product (Promotion)? The question lies not in any other word but HOW? It’s not just about getting there but HOW we get there, the means is just as important if not more important than the end – at least some times.
In the previous editions of this column, I have tried to convey ideas bigger than I, in the fashion in which they have dawned on my mind. It is imperative that we force ourselves to think in a simple fashion, that without ICTs we are DEAD! We are finished, dog gone! We are obliterated and vanish into thick nothingness. We are useless to the world, only to be regarded as an object needing to be studied in a university as the most ignoramus brother of the African ape thrown back into the stone age save for our clothes and luxurious lifestyle which would somewhat signify a variance from the time past Stone Age and Loin-Skin era. Ah, that sounds sophisticated you say, let me put it down in simpleton terms we need ICTs and need them now with the right policy frameworks and legislature in place to create an enabling environment for the people (that is you and me).
Do companies advertise because they are big or they are big because they advertise? What is a “big company” anywhere, the last time I checked the so called “big companies” borrow from the “small ones”?
PRICE
There is a cost and a price to anything and everything, at the end of the day it all boils down to, are you willing to pay the final PRICE? In a continent ‘considered’ to be poor by some who consider themselves to be rich by the standard which they have unfortunately set for all – us included (one size fits all), there is need for business to be innovative in cutting costs and coming up with a PRODUCT that has the ‘best’ PRICE. Best price meaning, a price that will be favorable to the buyer or consumer and at the same time achieving ‘reasonable’ profitability for the seller or manufacturer. More and more, ICTs are becoming a determining factor in the end PRICE of a product and organizations need to find the best fit between their business process and ICT. It has been said that “the diffusion of ICTs affects the status and competitive position of countries and jurisdictions, and has the impact across sectors and at all levels of society”. Just to build on an earlier idea in one of my other offerings titled Land Versus Knowledge, let’s revisit the case study of the computerized farm in South Africa and compare that with a ‘manual’ farm in the fertile Matepatepa region. Just to bring you up to speed, on case of the South African based farm I wrote “A brother to a close friend of mine who happens to be a Water Engineer visited an irrigation based farm down south where he was ushered into a control room manned by several computers and pieces of technology controlling the farm. So precise was the irrigation system that there were no random sprinklers riotously watering all over the place but mission specific computer controlled sprinklers watering directly with needle precision on top of each plant. Now picture that, not even a drop of precious water wasted due to the convergence of ICT and Agriculture.” To add onto that, imagine the benefits if the farming process is linked to a database showing the size of crop at any stage and the expected harvest date, calculating the expected yield with a precise knowledge of the input costs, basically everything to do with the crop. At the back-end would be a website, a Marketing Website such that even before the crop is ready for harvest, a prospective buyer can have a follow up of your crop, yes your crop, and until the final day you deliver to their doorstep they can monitor the progress of the crop. Now what can that whole process do to the SELLING PRICE? It goes without say that this process is efficient and does not tolerate leakages and wastage. Look at the elimination of storage costs in the finished product. Why not consider the elimination of or reduction in advertising and marketing costs – internet versus newspaper and television advertising. Let me stop here and allow you to THINK and go wild as pen and paper deny me. Now go to Farm Matepatepa with a new farmer with, (let’s dignify this guy), a tractor or two and waits for the heavens to give him adequate or sometimes too much rainfall, drought and ‘maguta’ (time of plenty) permitting whichever might be the case. This comrade has to visit the farm space ‘physically’ to see the height and so forth of the crop. Marketing is strictly after the crop has been harvested and samples are taken to the prospective market, (imagine carrying say a box of flowers on a plane to the USA to convince a prospective buyer to trade) which might materialize or not so into a sale. Consider the airfare costs involved, the hotel expenses and other hidden costs involved in the unnecessary trip. Needless to say such a Market might be unknown to the comrade in the fertile region of Matepatepa who is good at farming but is not ICT compliant and network ready and as such does not have access to “fertile” markets. Big deal hey! If one company has harnessed ICT in producing Widgets and another is still manually manufacturing Widgets then the ensuing difference between the two would be the SELLING PRICE of the finished product in the long run. Don’t ask me how that’s too obvious - machine versus human being.
PRODUCT
Again visit the farming example and see if the quality of the PRODUCT would be the same, gathering that one method (the computerized method) maximizes input utilization and the other depends largely on GOD or unforeseen factors and forces with little control left to the farmer. How many farmers study the soil PH at the middle of the farming season and have the audacity, creativity and or know how to alter it to suit their particular choice of crop in Zimbabwe and yes Africa? How many farmers have a direct relationship or link with their intended market and not the middle man if any? Who determines the PRICE of the crop and why? Does the farmer have autonomy over such a complex decision as to how to arrive at the last PRICE? Why not, if he doesn’t, I thought he was the one sweating it out day in day out tilling the land and all that? I almost forgot there that I am talking of the PRODUCT. Surely ICT is a big savior this one, remember I don’t talk of devils, I’m too cognizant of whose side I’m on. I love people who can imagine, picture this, a farmer who can control the amount of water that goes onto a plant, the amount of fertilizer (to the dot) which will go into the plant, the underlying soil PH of the soil supporting the plant, (in short the whole process is in the hands and under the control of the farmer), even for a lazy cellphone farmer the crop would be phenomenal. Yes cellphone farmer, why else would you need to wear gumboots and tread on some brown soil when you can just phone the control room and speak to a computer and give it full instructions as to what needs to be done to the crop. I beg you to stretch your imagination don’t focus on trivia.
PLACE
What PLACE now you say with almost a Nigerian accent what with the mai Azuka craze that just hit us. If you have been reading this page you would know by now that the thing we call PLACE has drastically evolved. I can almost visit anywhere, any PLACE anytime, in the world without moving an inch from my desk in the corner office that I occupy, for now at least, lest I get fired. From 21 Downing Street to Number 1 without moving an iota a furlong a foot a a a whatever. That’s amazing stuff right there forgive my unbecoming language but that’s amazing stuff. Can someone tell me which is the shortest route or easiest way to send a parcel optimally to America sorry China lest I forget about looking in the right direction? The easiest answer would be however the national bus would choose. The answer doesn’t matter if you have a monopoly on whatever PRODUCT you are selling but not if deadlines are in place and competition is rife ask me. If there is a DOHA conference in a week and you are the one tasked with supplying flowers to that conference and have to make sure that those flowers are as fresh as the Zimbabwean |Independence, then routes will definitely matter to you and PLACE will be as significant as TIME and the start of the world. How do you find out in the first place, about the DOHA conference when you depend on a black muscular dude who has to take whatever communication you want to make with the external world in a letter attached to a stick lest he touch the letter and adulterate the contents by smudging the envelope? Don’t forget this guy has to run across Africa from village to village on foot if you want to go back to basics. How many months will it take him just to get to some sea where he realizes that unfortunately he can’t swim across the great river depicted in Mr.Bones 2? What a laughing matter if you ask me! I don’t need to trek to the west or the north or the east at least I can sell my A Grade mbanje (no English explanation needed) from here at least it’s organically grown – says my brother from the other side of the law. PLACE! Where is my customer or would be customer located and how do I get the product there cheaply – notice this is the only time I will ever use the word, I strongly believe this word should be taken out of man’s vocabulary because cheap things are the most expensive things period.
PROMOTION
I like the way the South Africans do their advertisements, a big pam pam. Look at the craziness that goes into their humor, a dude laughs out loud at hearing the reduced PRICE of airtime (KNK – Kufa Nekuseka) etc well I not talking of a new position at work for those who have a strong work ethic ever applying for jobs but never thinking of enterprising. Sorry! I think I have run out of pen and paper here let’s talk about PROMOTION some other time there are serious issues right here. I am tempted to just give you a bit of a teaser on what direction we would want to look at what with Barnes and Noble, Amazon and the like hitting it large on the Internet scene. What about street TVs somebody had started that noble idea at Throgmorton House but I think they have somewhat taken a back seat on that one. Is there a way of broadcasting adverts on mobile phones and how do we narrow down to our target market and avoid the rest of the mobile phone community from receiving adverts on anti-bald head creams when they recently had their weave done (27 pieces for that matter)? Let’s get our creative juices flowing!
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
• Recognize that Africa is richer than you think
Africa is richer than India on the basis of gross national income (GNI) per capita, and a dozen African countries have a higher GNI per capita than China.
• Aim for Africa two
Opportunities exist in all parts of the market, particularly the 400 million people in the middle of the market.
• Find opportunities to organize the market
From retailing to cellphones to banking, companies are succeeding by building infrastructure.
• Develop strategies for the most youthful market in the world
Companies are recognizing opportunities from diapers to music to medicine in a market growing younger every day.
• Understand that Africa is not “Media Dark” continent
From Nollywood to satellite to broadband, media is exploding on the continent.
• Recognize the hidden strength of the African Diaspora
The African diaspora brings resources and knowledge t African development and expands the African opportunity beyond the continent.
• Build Ubuntu markets
Create profitable businesses, sustainable growth, and social organizations by meeting basic human needs.”
What a thought, 900 million African consumers! But how do we get to them in a changing world bombarded daily with communication and mis-communication, education and mis-education spanning thousands of kilometers across the virgin land of Africa adulterated day in and day out by western, eastern and other – products of lands afar off? Do we know the Products that we need, at what Price, Where do we need them (Place) and is anyone telling us and creating such need for such product (Promotion)? The question lies not in any other word but HOW? It’s not just about getting there but HOW we get there, the means is just as important if not more important than the end – at least some times.
In the previous editions of this column, I have tried to convey ideas bigger than I, in the fashion in which they have dawned on my mind. It is imperative that we force ourselves to think in a simple fashion, that without ICTs we are DEAD! We are finished, dog gone! We are obliterated and vanish into thick nothingness. We are useless to the world, only to be regarded as an object needing to be studied in a university as the most ignoramus brother of the African ape thrown back into the stone age save for our clothes and luxurious lifestyle which would somewhat signify a variance from the time past Stone Age and Loin-Skin era. Ah, that sounds sophisticated you say, let me put it down in simpleton terms we need ICTs and need them now with the right policy frameworks and legislature in place to create an enabling environment for the people (that is you and me).
Do companies advertise because they are big or they are big because they advertise? What is a “big company” anywhere, the last time I checked the so called “big companies” borrow from the “small ones”?
PRICE
There is a cost and a price to anything and everything, at the end of the day it all boils down to, are you willing to pay the final PRICE? In a continent ‘considered’ to be poor by some who consider themselves to be rich by the standard which they have unfortunately set for all – us included (one size fits all), there is need for business to be innovative in cutting costs and coming up with a PRODUCT that has the ‘best’ PRICE. Best price meaning, a price that will be favorable to the buyer or consumer and at the same time achieving ‘reasonable’ profitability for the seller or manufacturer. More and more, ICTs are becoming a determining factor in the end PRICE of a product and organizations need to find the best fit between their business process and ICT. It has been said that “the diffusion of ICTs affects the status and competitive position of countries and jurisdictions, and has the impact across sectors and at all levels of society”. Just to build on an earlier idea in one of my other offerings titled Land Versus Knowledge, let’s revisit the case study of the computerized farm in South Africa and compare that with a ‘manual’ farm in the fertile Matepatepa region. Just to bring you up to speed, on case of the South African based farm I wrote “A brother to a close friend of mine who happens to be a Water Engineer visited an irrigation based farm down south where he was ushered into a control room manned by several computers and pieces of technology controlling the farm. So precise was the irrigation system that there were no random sprinklers riotously watering all over the place but mission specific computer controlled sprinklers watering directly with needle precision on top of each plant. Now picture that, not even a drop of precious water wasted due to the convergence of ICT and Agriculture.” To add onto that, imagine the benefits if the farming process is linked to a database showing the size of crop at any stage and the expected harvest date, calculating the expected yield with a precise knowledge of the input costs, basically everything to do with the crop. At the back-end would be a website, a Marketing Website such that even before the crop is ready for harvest, a prospective buyer can have a follow up of your crop, yes your crop, and until the final day you deliver to their doorstep they can monitor the progress of the crop. Now what can that whole process do to the SELLING PRICE? It goes without say that this process is efficient and does not tolerate leakages and wastage. Look at the elimination of storage costs in the finished product. Why not consider the elimination of or reduction in advertising and marketing costs – internet versus newspaper and television advertising. Let me stop here and allow you to THINK and go wild as pen and paper deny me. Now go to Farm Matepatepa with a new farmer with, (let’s dignify this guy), a tractor or two and waits for the heavens to give him adequate or sometimes too much rainfall, drought and ‘maguta’ (time of plenty) permitting whichever might be the case. This comrade has to visit the farm space ‘physically’ to see the height and so forth of the crop. Marketing is strictly after the crop has been harvested and samples are taken to the prospective market, (imagine carrying say a box of flowers on a plane to the USA to convince a prospective buyer to trade) which might materialize or not so into a sale. Consider the airfare costs involved, the hotel expenses and other hidden costs involved in the unnecessary trip. Needless to say such a Market might be unknown to the comrade in the fertile region of Matepatepa who is good at farming but is not ICT compliant and network ready and as such does not have access to “fertile” markets. Big deal hey! If one company has harnessed ICT in producing Widgets and another is still manually manufacturing Widgets then the ensuing difference between the two would be the SELLING PRICE of the finished product in the long run. Don’t ask me how that’s too obvious - machine versus human being.
PRODUCT
Again visit the farming example and see if the quality of the PRODUCT would be the same, gathering that one method (the computerized method) maximizes input utilization and the other depends largely on GOD or unforeseen factors and forces with little control left to the farmer. How many farmers study the soil PH at the middle of the farming season and have the audacity, creativity and or know how to alter it to suit their particular choice of crop in Zimbabwe and yes Africa? How many farmers have a direct relationship or link with their intended market and not the middle man if any? Who determines the PRICE of the crop and why? Does the farmer have autonomy over such a complex decision as to how to arrive at the last PRICE? Why not, if he doesn’t, I thought he was the one sweating it out day in day out tilling the land and all that? I almost forgot there that I am talking of the PRODUCT. Surely ICT is a big savior this one, remember I don’t talk of devils, I’m too cognizant of whose side I’m on. I love people who can imagine, picture this, a farmer who can control the amount of water that goes onto a plant, the amount of fertilizer (to the dot) which will go into the plant, the underlying soil PH of the soil supporting the plant, (in short the whole process is in the hands and under the control of the farmer), even for a lazy cellphone farmer the crop would be phenomenal. Yes cellphone farmer, why else would you need to wear gumboots and tread on some brown soil when you can just phone the control room and speak to a computer and give it full instructions as to what needs to be done to the crop. I beg you to stretch your imagination don’t focus on trivia.
PLACE
What PLACE now you say with almost a Nigerian accent what with the mai Azuka craze that just hit us. If you have been reading this page you would know by now that the thing we call PLACE has drastically evolved. I can almost visit anywhere, any PLACE anytime, in the world without moving an inch from my desk in the corner office that I occupy, for now at least, lest I get fired. From 21 Downing Street to Number 1 without moving an iota a furlong a foot a a a whatever. That’s amazing stuff right there forgive my unbecoming language but that’s amazing stuff. Can someone tell me which is the shortest route or easiest way to send a parcel optimally to America sorry China lest I forget about looking in the right direction? The easiest answer would be however the national bus would choose. The answer doesn’t matter if you have a monopoly on whatever PRODUCT you are selling but not if deadlines are in place and competition is rife ask me. If there is a DOHA conference in a week and you are the one tasked with supplying flowers to that conference and have to make sure that those flowers are as fresh as the Zimbabwean |Independence, then routes will definitely matter to you and PLACE will be as significant as TIME and the start of the world. How do you find out in the first place, about the DOHA conference when you depend on a black muscular dude who has to take whatever communication you want to make with the external world in a letter attached to a stick lest he touch the letter and adulterate the contents by smudging the envelope? Don’t forget this guy has to run across Africa from village to village on foot if you want to go back to basics. How many months will it take him just to get to some sea where he realizes that unfortunately he can’t swim across the great river depicted in Mr.Bones 2? What a laughing matter if you ask me! I don’t need to trek to the west or the north or the east at least I can sell my A Grade mbanje (no English explanation needed) from here at least it’s organically grown – says my brother from the other side of the law. PLACE! Where is my customer or would be customer located and how do I get the product there cheaply – notice this is the only time I will ever use the word, I strongly believe this word should be taken out of man’s vocabulary because cheap things are the most expensive things period.
PROMOTION
I like the way the South Africans do their advertisements, a big pam pam. Look at the craziness that goes into their humor, a dude laughs out loud at hearing the reduced PRICE of airtime (KNK – Kufa Nekuseka) etc well I not talking of a new position at work for those who have a strong work ethic ever applying for jobs but never thinking of enterprising. Sorry! I think I have run out of pen and paper here let’s talk about PROMOTION some other time there are serious issues right here. I am tempted to just give you a bit of a teaser on what direction we would want to look at what with Barnes and Noble, Amazon and the like hitting it large on the Internet scene. What about street TVs somebody had started that noble idea at Throgmorton House but I think they have somewhat taken a back seat on that one. Is there a way of broadcasting adverts on mobile phones and how do we narrow down to our target market and avoid the rest of the mobile phone community from receiving adverts on anti-bald head creams when they recently had their weave done (27 pieces for that matter)? Let’s get our creative juices flowing!
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
ICTs for Productivity
ICTs for Productivity
“Innovation”: creativity; novelty; the process of devising a new idea or thing, or improving an existing idea or thing. Although the word carries a positive connotation … innovation, like all human activities, has costs as well as benefits. These costs and benefits have preoccupied economists, political philosophers, and artists for centuries. Innovation can turn new concepts into realities, creating wealth and power. For example, someone who discovers a cure for a disease has the power to withhold it, give it away, or sell it to others. Innovations can also disrupt the status quo, as when the invention of the automobile eliminated the need for horse-powered transportation. Joseph Scumpeter coined the term “CREATIVE DESTRUCTION” to describe the process by which innovation causes a FREE MARKET economy to evolve. Creative destruction occurs when innovations make long-standing arrangements obsolete, freeing resources to be employed elsewhere, leading to greater economic EFFICIENCY. For example, when a business manager installs a new machine that replaces manual laborers, the laborers who lose their jobs are now free to put their labor into another enterprise, resulting in more PRODUCTIVITY. In fact, in many cases, the number of jobs available will actually increase because the machinery is introduced.
Coming to think about it, there are some things that now come as second nature to this generation which have changed the way we conduct our daily lives. I am reminded of a friend who had to walk all the way to Chitungwiza because she had missed an appointment with her boyfriend, and yes her return ticket, at Harare Post Office which was then their usual rendezvous back in the day when Mobile phones were an unfathomable thought, a somewhat out of this world imagination like that of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is quoted as having challenged Africans to leave Entebbe and go “a honeymooning” to space. According to one of our dailies this week, the President is reported by AFP to have said (that) “Africans must travel to the moon to investigate what developed nations are doing in outer space…The Americans have gone to the moon, and the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go soon. Africans are the only ones who are stuck here…”. I think I know a bit about what those guys are doing in Space, its there somewhere on the internet or World Wide Web just download Google Earth 5.0 from http://earth.google.com and you also will soon find out a part of what these guys are doing. The only pity is that the good President was talking to lawyers I would have hoped he were talking to some Scientists or some Avionics Engineers or even some Professors’ of Robotics or something. I have nothing against lawyers but wasn’t that a deep subject for my learned brothers and sisters, or maybe they had to ponder on the legalities of such an “out of earth experience”?
Forgive me for tending to think aloud, but at least I’m being “PRODUCTIVE”. In the girl from Chitungwiza loses boy story I have alluded to above, can one imagine and quantify the time lost by both parties who as it later appeared where waiting patiently at opposite ends of the same building. Trivia, hey! Can you then take your imagination a little further and think of the loss had it been two important people, one learned brother who has traveled all the way from Masvingo by chicken bus, with the intention of meeting another important brother from Mutare and they get to the same place and can’t locate each other so that they can conclude a worthwhile transaction in person. Enter GSM, and the above scenario would become unimaginable from this end point as one student from an elite school would say “they just phone or text each other and they rock”. Now picture this, instead of traveling all the way from the two divergent locus points, again enter 3G and or video conferencing, the same two geeks “Video Call” each each say on Skype enabled by broadband internet access and the transaction happens pronto (there and then). Don’t worry about money changing hands, if we are wise enough soon we will have an e-wallet “happening”. I guess you are wise enough to calculate how much time would have been saved by opting to go ICT than go a-driving to meet in H-Town by the two strange bed fellows. Doesn’t one method enhance or lead to “more PRODUCTIVITY” and the older, oh sorry, other method lead to unnecessary tourism?
Productivity is one area of consideration which is difficult to quantify though its benefits and presence can be felt and seen. It is a fact and a reality that computers “speed up” various processes and hence lead to more work being done in a shorter work cycle (kufambisa nekurerutsa ndima). Examples abound, for good measure lets again use the power of imagination and visit a daily work routine, the routine being a filing exercise. With a manual system the process of filing is quite easy but talk of retrieving say 2 flat files from a whole room of flat files. Even if you are an organized Librarian that task may happen to be a mouthful, but convert that into two files on a server or computer and the ball game is heavily tilted in your favor. You just go onto the target computer and “search” for the two files and things happen in real time. “Search”, implying that on the target computer (the assumption here is that you are running on Windows) you go on the start menu, then go to search and a pop up appears with “For Files or Folders…” and on another pop up you then type your file name and hey everything else becomes history as various files or folders with the search name appear on screen. If what would take you several minutes or hours is accomplished in less time by aid of a computer, then isn’t that a direct translation into PRODUCTIVITY? My own unschooled definition of PRODUCTIVITY is more or less how much time is left to do other things after completing a given task optimally, that is with little effort and resources. They say in Shona “murimi haaonekwe nekukura kwebadza asi nendima yasakurwa” loosely translated “a farmer is not counted by the size of the hoe but the amount of land covered”. Just to put that in perspective it’s not a matter of completing tasks anymore but completing tasks without breaking a sweat and becoming unnecessarily muscular in the process. Why go back to the days of the manual steering when we can use a power steering in our cars and let the machines do the work?
When it comes to miraculous happenings, then broadband and yes the Internet is the worst culprit as a productivity tool. Many thanks to the guys at ZOL I am now on broadband and hey hey life is good. Before then I was on dial-up and it truly was killing me, I was truly lost and now I am found. Now with the super speed I have when accessing the Internet not even a second is lost in idle time when I do my research so that I don’t give you hearsay on this column. The funny reason why you don’t value the net like we would want to call it, is simply that you have not added anything of value on it hence your total disregard for its impact and importance. There is no reason why we should remain mentally deprived as a people because all the things that pertain to this age are readily available either for “free” or at a cost. I can’t preach enough about us being in the Information Age and the informed being masters over the uninformed. Those who neglected Industrialization or were too poor to move with the flow have found themselves at the end of the line. Isn’t that what will happen to those who continue to neglect the Information Age? When a family undertakes to build a house, the norm is that they neglect all forms of luxury including meat and go green (live on a diet of vegetables) what more we, who are to build a legacy and move from the last to somewhere, should we not put all our effort into real issues?
Just ponder on this extract: “ICTs enhance all forms of information exchange. Observation, learning and decision-making are facilitated, and business transactions are expanded and speeded up with ICTs. Opportunities can be identified and acted on more easily. Markets operate more efficiently and are more accessible. These lead to business-related efficiencies and faster turnover, increased PRODUCTIVITY, especially in the services sector, and profitability. As eBay has demonstrated, virtually anything can be bought or sold over the Internet using online marketplaces. Asia-Pacific countries have recognized this and so have many entrepreneurs. Several online markets – the so-called horizontal marketplaces – have been established to expand access to Asian goods and services. Indeed, for China, facilitating access to international markets for Chinese goods and services is one of the most important drivers of ICT policy. The expectation is clearly that e-commerce will become essential for international trade. Early adopters will win. Countries must transform themselves into information economies and knowledge-based societies. For many countries, including many Asian countries, this is the basis of their ICT policies.
It is not just large corporations that have realized the advantages of the Internet. In
Huoshan County, one of the poorer counties of Anhui province in China, an agricultural
information service connects several townships and villages. A network combining door to-door information collection and exchanges (sneaker nets), telephone, Internet via dial-up, small single operator agricultural information offices located in townships, and larger Web-enabled centres in municipalities have been established. In the municipalities, the county Web sites market local produce nationally and internationally and match needs for agricultural produce, especially cash crops such as medicinal plants, prized mushrooms, bamboo products, etc. This service facilitates contact and promotes exchanges between buyers and sellers, and helps extend and enhance the local agricultural market while helping small-scale farmers to bypass middlemen and obtain valuable information.” The two paragraphs above were taken from the UNDP ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development A Comprehensive Guidebook by Richard Labelle just to get you thinking in an ICT frame of mind.
My prayer for Africa is that GOD would transform us from being educated to being informed, from being clever to being wise, from being rich to being wealthy, from being first to best. How I long that our mental rape would stop!
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
“Innovation”: creativity; novelty; the process of devising a new idea or thing, or improving an existing idea or thing. Although the word carries a positive connotation … innovation, like all human activities, has costs as well as benefits. These costs and benefits have preoccupied economists, political philosophers, and artists for centuries. Innovation can turn new concepts into realities, creating wealth and power. For example, someone who discovers a cure for a disease has the power to withhold it, give it away, or sell it to others. Innovations can also disrupt the status quo, as when the invention of the automobile eliminated the need for horse-powered transportation. Joseph Scumpeter coined the term “CREATIVE DESTRUCTION” to describe the process by which innovation causes a FREE MARKET economy to evolve. Creative destruction occurs when innovations make long-standing arrangements obsolete, freeing resources to be employed elsewhere, leading to greater economic EFFICIENCY. For example, when a business manager installs a new machine that replaces manual laborers, the laborers who lose their jobs are now free to put their labor into another enterprise, resulting in more PRODUCTIVITY. In fact, in many cases, the number of jobs available will actually increase because the machinery is introduced.
Coming to think about it, there are some things that now come as second nature to this generation which have changed the way we conduct our daily lives. I am reminded of a friend who had to walk all the way to Chitungwiza because she had missed an appointment with her boyfriend, and yes her return ticket, at Harare Post Office which was then their usual rendezvous back in the day when Mobile phones were an unfathomable thought, a somewhat out of this world imagination like that of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who is quoted as having challenged Africans to leave Entebbe and go “a honeymooning” to space. According to one of our dailies this week, the President is reported by AFP to have said (that) “Africans must travel to the moon to investigate what developed nations are doing in outer space…The Americans have gone to the moon, and the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go soon. Africans are the only ones who are stuck here…”. I think I know a bit about what those guys are doing in Space, its there somewhere on the internet or World Wide Web just download Google Earth 5.0 from http://earth.google.com and you also will soon find out a part of what these guys are doing. The only pity is that the good President was talking to lawyers I would have hoped he were talking to some Scientists or some Avionics Engineers or even some Professors’ of Robotics or something. I have nothing against lawyers but wasn’t that a deep subject for my learned brothers and sisters, or maybe they had to ponder on the legalities of such an “out of earth experience”?
Forgive me for tending to think aloud, but at least I’m being “PRODUCTIVE”. In the girl from Chitungwiza loses boy story I have alluded to above, can one imagine and quantify the time lost by both parties who as it later appeared where waiting patiently at opposite ends of the same building. Trivia, hey! Can you then take your imagination a little further and think of the loss had it been two important people, one learned brother who has traveled all the way from Masvingo by chicken bus, with the intention of meeting another important brother from Mutare and they get to the same place and can’t locate each other so that they can conclude a worthwhile transaction in person. Enter GSM, and the above scenario would become unimaginable from this end point as one student from an elite school would say “they just phone or text each other and they rock”. Now picture this, instead of traveling all the way from the two divergent locus points, again enter 3G and or video conferencing, the same two geeks “Video Call” each each say on Skype enabled by broadband internet access and the transaction happens pronto (there and then). Don’t worry about money changing hands, if we are wise enough soon we will have an e-wallet “happening”. I guess you are wise enough to calculate how much time would have been saved by opting to go ICT than go a-driving to meet in H-Town by the two strange bed fellows. Doesn’t one method enhance or lead to “more PRODUCTIVITY” and the older, oh sorry, other method lead to unnecessary tourism?
Productivity is one area of consideration which is difficult to quantify though its benefits and presence can be felt and seen. It is a fact and a reality that computers “speed up” various processes and hence lead to more work being done in a shorter work cycle (kufambisa nekurerutsa ndima). Examples abound, for good measure lets again use the power of imagination and visit a daily work routine, the routine being a filing exercise. With a manual system the process of filing is quite easy but talk of retrieving say 2 flat files from a whole room of flat files. Even if you are an organized Librarian that task may happen to be a mouthful, but convert that into two files on a server or computer and the ball game is heavily tilted in your favor. You just go onto the target computer and “search” for the two files and things happen in real time. “Search”, implying that on the target computer (the assumption here is that you are running on Windows) you go on the start menu, then go to search and a pop up appears with “For Files or Folders…” and on another pop up you then type your file name and hey everything else becomes history as various files or folders with the search name appear on screen. If what would take you several minutes or hours is accomplished in less time by aid of a computer, then isn’t that a direct translation into PRODUCTIVITY? My own unschooled definition of PRODUCTIVITY is more or less how much time is left to do other things after completing a given task optimally, that is with little effort and resources. They say in Shona “murimi haaonekwe nekukura kwebadza asi nendima yasakurwa” loosely translated “a farmer is not counted by the size of the hoe but the amount of land covered”. Just to put that in perspective it’s not a matter of completing tasks anymore but completing tasks without breaking a sweat and becoming unnecessarily muscular in the process. Why go back to the days of the manual steering when we can use a power steering in our cars and let the machines do the work?
When it comes to miraculous happenings, then broadband and yes the Internet is the worst culprit as a productivity tool. Many thanks to the guys at ZOL I am now on broadband and hey hey life is good. Before then I was on dial-up and it truly was killing me, I was truly lost and now I am found. Now with the super speed I have when accessing the Internet not even a second is lost in idle time when I do my research so that I don’t give you hearsay on this column. The funny reason why you don’t value the net like we would want to call it, is simply that you have not added anything of value on it hence your total disregard for its impact and importance. There is no reason why we should remain mentally deprived as a people because all the things that pertain to this age are readily available either for “free” or at a cost. I can’t preach enough about us being in the Information Age and the informed being masters over the uninformed. Those who neglected Industrialization or were too poor to move with the flow have found themselves at the end of the line. Isn’t that what will happen to those who continue to neglect the Information Age? When a family undertakes to build a house, the norm is that they neglect all forms of luxury including meat and go green (live on a diet of vegetables) what more we, who are to build a legacy and move from the last to somewhere, should we not put all our effort into real issues?
Just ponder on this extract: “ICTs enhance all forms of information exchange. Observation, learning and decision-making are facilitated, and business transactions are expanded and speeded up with ICTs. Opportunities can be identified and acted on more easily. Markets operate more efficiently and are more accessible. These lead to business-related efficiencies and faster turnover, increased PRODUCTIVITY, especially in the services sector, and profitability. As eBay has demonstrated, virtually anything can be bought or sold over the Internet using online marketplaces. Asia-Pacific countries have recognized this and so have many entrepreneurs. Several online markets – the so-called horizontal marketplaces – have been established to expand access to Asian goods and services. Indeed, for China, facilitating access to international markets for Chinese goods and services is one of the most important drivers of ICT policy. The expectation is clearly that e-commerce will become essential for international trade. Early adopters will win. Countries must transform themselves into information economies and knowledge-based societies. For many countries, including many Asian countries, this is the basis of their ICT policies.
It is not just large corporations that have realized the advantages of the Internet. In
Huoshan County, one of the poorer counties of Anhui province in China, an agricultural
information service connects several townships and villages. A network combining door to-door information collection and exchanges (sneaker nets), telephone, Internet via dial-up, small single operator agricultural information offices located in townships, and larger Web-enabled centres in municipalities have been established. In the municipalities, the county Web sites market local produce nationally and internationally and match needs for agricultural produce, especially cash crops such as medicinal plants, prized mushrooms, bamboo products, etc. This service facilitates contact and promotes exchanges between buyers and sellers, and helps extend and enhance the local agricultural market while helping small-scale farmers to bypass middlemen and obtain valuable information.” The two paragraphs above were taken from the UNDP ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development A Comprehensive Guidebook by Richard Labelle just to get you thinking in an ICT frame of mind.
My prayer for Africa is that GOD would transform us from being educated to being informed, from being clever to being wise, from being rich to being wealthy, from being first to best. How I long that our mental rape would stop!
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
African Culture or E Culture
If the medium is the message, the user is the content. Is the computer revolution more like a musical instrument or more like the printing press? …If it’s like a musical instrument, then we don’t have to worry about it too much, because people who are tuned to the music will find it, and good things will happen as a result. But if it’s more like the printing press, then we absolutely have to understand what it is about the music and what it takes to learn that music.
It is not my primary aim to educate you on the meaning of culture though to grasp this discourse some definition will suffice. The first definition would be that the word is a noun denoting the appreciation and understanding of literature, art, music etc, customs & traditions it could also be used to mean improvement by care & training. Another source gives a more exhaustive definition though starting at defining “Cultural” recorded as relating to the culture of a particular group, country or society: an improved understanding of ethnic & cultural diversity * respect for racial or cultural identity * the cultural traditions of our society * relating to music, literature, & other arts. The source would then continue to define Culture as activities involving music, literature & other arts. A set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving of a particular organization or group of people or a society that has its own set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving…,or a set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving of a particular society, societies that share the same language & culture. In Science, Culture would mean a group of bacteria or cells that have been grown in a scientific experiment. Another Scientific explanation is the process by which a group of bacteria or cells are grown in a scientific experiment. Technical – the process of growing crops or BREEDING animals as in the culture of genetically modified crops.
You might now be asking what that has to do with ICT and yes this column? It has everything, everything to do with ICT as our Culture also forms a basis of how we relate to ICT and its use. To understand the level of impact we would also need to take a look at Hofstede’s model on culture depicted in the Onion Diagram but first things first, Hofstede defines organizational culture as “the collective programming of the mind, which characterize the members of one organization from others,…” and national culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members in one human group from another” ... By “collective programming” Hofstede refers to four concepts that together make up culture and can be viewed and explained by using an “onion” metaphor. These concepts are: Symbols, Heroes, Rituals and Values. (See diagram below for a graphical representation of these concepts.)
DIAGRAM HERE
Symbols: The words and jargon of language, gestures, dress, pictures, objects, and status symbols
all carry a particular meaning to people of the same national culture. Symbols disappear and new
ones are easily created or copied from other cultures, thus symbols are placed at the outer and
most superficial layer in the “onion” as they are not always unique to any particular culture.
Hence, they are less significant when comparing culture.
Heroes: People, dead or alive, real or imaginary, have the ability to influence behavior based on
their status, skills, or charisma. Managers can be examples of heroes if they have qualities that
are highly valued and hence they actually model expected behavior in a given organization.
Rituals: These are activities that supposedly are unnecessary to the achievement of organizational
goals, but they are something within a culture that is considered socially essential.
An example of Practices, a ritual can be daily coffee-breaks in the morning, a pay-day beer, or a manager that is known for walking around talking to employees throughout the day.
Hofstede calls these three concepts practices. Practices are observable and visual to an outside
spectator, and can thus be measured and compared to practices in other cultures (Hofstede, 1991).
Values: At the core of the onion are values, or in Hofstede’s words: “broad tendencies to prefer
certain states of affairs over others” (Hofstede, 1991, p. 8). These values form the most hidden
layer of culture, and represent the ideas that people have about how things “ought to be.” As such,
Hofstede emphasizes the assumption that values strongly influence behavior. Basically, values
deal with feelings or preferences (e.g. evil vs. good, ugly vs. beautiful, abnormal vs. normal, etc.)
and they influence the choices we make as we act in everyday situations.
Contrary to practices, values are acquired at an early age—in the home, from friends and kin, and
at school. As values are not learned consciously, people are not mindful of them, nor can they be
directly observed by outsiders. The only way to “measure” values is by inference—observing
how individuals act in particular circumstances. Therefore, by observing or talking about actual
practice—such as ICT user behavior—the values component of culture is included.
What can be summarized so far is that organizational culture can best be studied and compared by
its practices, while national culture is best suited for study and comparison at the values level.
With that background, let’s now get into the meat of things and see how ICTs, their adoption and use continue to suffer under the burden of our Culture.
1. There is a lack of follow through in our Policies at the Implementation Stage.
We do not have a problem in coming up with well researched, rationalized and well polished policies. If only policies were the final product, Africa would be a Utopia, heaven on earth, but nothing could be further from the truth as the well documented policies do not see the light of day as regards implementation. If they are implemented, this takes ages, but don’t forget that in ICT the only constant thing is change. By the time the relevant people want to implement, chances are that it will be too late and all the research has gone to waste.
2. Our Value System needs a major shift as we live for today and not the future.
We have consumer tendencies and as such would rather major in the minor and minor in the major. To showcase our disregard for productivity, one of our clients approached us with a view to discuss a deal for some odd 300 or so computers costing in the region of US$300 000. The intention was to spread such technology acquisition over a period of one year. What boggles my mind is that at the same time they were trying to “organize” such transaction the entity in question went ahead and bought a top of the range, luxury SUV for “one” of their key people valued at over US$150 000, and a fleet of brand new cars for other members of staff with a networth of over US$200 000. Here is an organization which is not operating to full productive capacity as they have realized that they truly need to beef up their ICT infrastructure, but hey because of misplaced “VALUES”, that can wait as one senior manager has to drive to and from work in “style”. Don’t worry about the three hundred people at least their Pentium 3 computers can still boot up though it takes an hour or two that will sort itself out! Our oversized egos and flamboyance comes first before real bread and butter issues. We would rather make a public showcase of how good we look outside though our undergarments are too worn out for wear. Cause for thought hey!
3. Lack of a cohesive and deliberate development framework from the grassroots.
There is need for an E-culture from Nursery School through to University level if we are to harness and fully exploit ICTs in their entirety. It is a positive move that Central Government through the President’s Office, has started the ball rolling by donating computer equipment to various schools within the country. There is need therefore for other entities Private and Public to step in and augment such effort thereby creating a culture of E-awareness from an early age within the country. Just to fire a broadside, I wonder why we are still trying to electrify some remote areas using the standard method which might just prove too costly and will not guarantee a consistent supply in the longer run anyway. Why can’t we focus on alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar to create a win-win situation for all involved? The simple point to be noted here is that we need to as a matter of urgency create an E-culture. It’s a known that we are among the most educated societies in the world but why can’t we re-engineer our education to focus on what the world is crying for? The direction which the world is taking is that of E-education with the drive being towards wall-less classes. Therefore to continue to focus on brick and mortar systems of education and ignoring Cyber learning will be to our demise. I am forced to wonder why we would worry about where to get salaries for our teachers when we can augment such through export of E-based learning material developed by the same teachers hence benefiting both the country and the individuals.
4.Duplication of duties and lack of information sharing.
ICTs have the impact that they can eliminate duplication of duties and hence leading to major labor lay offs. The concept used in ICT lingo is “being laid off to do better things” as opposed to retrenchment. African systems, impacted by our inherent cultures, tend to favor duplication of duties which has an adverse effect on productivity and general effectiveness. Consider the situation where one imports a car from Durban say, (that being a good example due to our inherent culture that there is little of car manufacturing in the country and yes the continent though our good people love the act of driving, especially muscle cars), the unnecessarily tedious and questionable process would be that the same vehicle is cleared at three different levels before it can be driven as duly registered and licensed in the country. A long process occurs firstly at the Zimbabwean side of the border, regardless of the fact that an almost similar process has occurred at the other side of the border on the South African side. When the relevant officials are satisfied that all conditions have been met the vehicle is “cleared”. The owner has to take it to yet another authority, for yet another process of “clearance” deriving and using the same data as that obtainable from the first authority. After that, the owner has to take the same vehicle to yet another authority, where the same vehicle is again “cleared”, and this time is given a set of number plates and is now fit to drive on our “roads” not before which it is taken to yet another authority for a temporary paid up permit to be able to drive on our “roads” for a set period of time. In contrast, that whole process ladies and gentlemen can be computerized or digitalized and be done at one entry point thereby eliminating the issue of redundancy and duplication of roles. Why can’t one clear their car at the border, get a set of registration numbers as well as the temporary disk at the same point and have all the four “systems” updated with the relevant information in real time?
5. Culture of ubuntu, hunu (I am because we are and you are because we are) while pursuing personal interests.
To date Africa has about 10 fibre optic cables linking it to the rest of the world. Compare that with Europe, North America and Asia which boast of over 500 cables. South Africa currently boasts of one cable the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/SAFE) with the East African Marine Cable System (EASSy) being expected before the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. At face value that seems to be unworthy of your reading, but consider that markets have evolved with the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) providing a borderless market for commodities. The simple implication would therefore be that if our Internet connection is slow, that’s if we have such connection, by the time we find out which product is on demand in the world we would already be late in reaching such a market. By the way I am yet to find a Zimbabwean product selling on E-bay, Barnes and N’oble or Amazon. If there are any, the number is negligible in contrast to the amount of trade that takes place in those on-line stores on a daily basis. If only we would learn to do things for the common good of all and future generations our continent would develop and even at a faster rate. The long and short of things is that these cables are expensive to install but remember “chara chimwe hachitswanyi inda” (two is better than one) if we all put our resources together as Africans imagine the colossal damage we can inflict on the lack of technology.
GOD surely forbid if we are to keep such CULTURE and at what cost to us.
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
It is not my primary aim to educate you on the meaning of culture though to grasp this discourse some definition will suffice. The first definition would be that the word is a noun denoting the appreciation and understanding of literature, art, music etc, customs & traditions it could also be used to mean improvement by care & training. Another source gives a more exhaustive definition though starting at defining “Cultural” recorded as relating to the culture of a particular group, country or society: an improved understanding of ethnic & cultural diversity * respect for racial or cultural identity * the cultural traditions of our society * relating to music, literature, & other arts. The source would then continue to define Culture as activities involving music, literature & other arts. A set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving of a particular organization or group of people or a society that has its own set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving…,or a set of ideas, beliefs & ways of behaving of a particular society, societies that share the same language & culture. In Science, Culture would mean a group of bacteria or cells that have been grown in a scientific experiment. Another Scientific explanation is the process by which a group of bacteria or cells are grown in a scientific experiment. Technical – the process of growing crops or BREEDING animals as in the culture of genetically modified crops.
You might now be asking what that has to do with ICT and yes this column? It has everything, everything to do with ICT as our Culture also forms a basis of how we relate to ICT and its use. To understand the level of impact we would also need to take a look at Hofstede’s model on culture depicted in the Onion Diagram but first things first, Hofstede defines organizational culture as “the collective programming of the mind, which characterize the members of one organization from others,…” and national culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members in one human group from another” ... By “collective programming” Hofstede refers to four concepts that together make up culture and can be viewed and explained by using an “onion” metaphor. These concepts are: Symbols, Heroes, Rituals and Values. (See diagram below for a graphical representation of these concepts.)
DIAGRAM HERE
Symbols: The words and jargon of language, gestures, dress, pictures, objects, and status symbols
all carry a particular meaning to people of the same national culture. Symbols disappear and new
ones are easily created or copied from other cultures, thus symbols are placed at the outer and
most superficial layer in the “onion” as they are not always unique to any particular culture.
Hence, they are less significant when comparing culture.
Heroes: People, dead or alive, real or imaginary, have the ability to influence behavior based on
their status, skills, or charisma. Managers can be examples of heroes if they have qualities that
are highly valued and hence they actually model expected behavior in a given organization.
Rituals: These are activities that supposedly are unnecessary to the achievement of organizational
goals, but they are something within a culture that is considered socially essential.
An example of Practices, a ritual can be daily coffee-breaks in the morning, a pay-day beer, or a manager that is known for walking around talking to employees throughout the day.
Hofstede calls these three concepts practices. Practices are observable and visual to an outside
spectator, and can thus be measured and compared to practices in other cultures (Hofstede, 1991).
Values: At the core of the onion are values, or in Hofstede’s words: “broad tendencies to prefer
certain states of affairs over others” (Hofstede, 1991, p. 8). These values form the most hidden
layer of culture, and represent the ideas that people have about how things “ought to be.” As such,
Hofstede emphasizes the assumption that values strongly influence behavior. Basically, values
deal with feelings or preferences (e.g. evil vs. good, ugly vs. beautiful, abnormal vs. normal, etc.)
and they influence the choices we make as we act in everyday situations.
Contrary to practices, values are acquired at an early age—in the home, from friends and kin, and
at school. As values are not learned consciously, people are not mindful of them, nor can they be
directly observed by outsiders. The only way to “measure” values is by inference—observing
how individuals act in particular circumstances. Therefore, by observing or talking about actual
practice—such as ICT user behavior—the values component of culture is included.
What can be summarized so far is that organizational culture can best be studied and compared by
its practices, while national culture is best suited for study and comparison at the values level.
With that background, let’s now get into the meat of things and see how ICTs, their adoption and use continue to suffer under the burden of our Culture.
1. There is a lack of follow through in our Policies at the Implementation Stage.
We do not have a problem in coming up with well researched, rationalized and well polished policies. If only policies were the final product, Africa would be a Utopia, heaven on earth, but nothing could be further from the truth as the well documented policies do not see the light of day as regards implementation. If they are implemented, this takes ages, but don’t forget that in ICT the only constant thing is change. By the time the relevant people want to implement, chances are that it will be too late and all the research has gone to waste.
2. Our Value System needs a major shift as we live for today and not the future.
We have consumer tendencies and as such would rather major in the minor and minor in the major. To showcase our disregard for productivity, one of our clients approached us with a view to discuss a deal for some odd 300 or so computers costing in the region of US$300 000. The intention was to spread such technology acquisition over a period of one year. What boggles my mind is that at the same time they were trying to “organize” such transaction the entity in question went ahead and bought a top of the range, luxury SUV for “one” of their key people valued at over US$150 000, and a fleet of brand new cars for other members of staff with a networth of over US$200 000. Here is an organization which is not operating to full productive capacity as they have realized that they truly need to beef up their ICT infrastructure, but hey because of misplaced “VALUES”, that can wait as one senior manager has to drive to and from work in “style”. Don’t worry about the three hundred people at least their Pentium 3 computers can still boot up though it takes an hour or two that will sort itself out! Our oversized egos and flamboyance comes first before real bread and butter issues. We would rather make a public showcase of how good we look outside though our undergarments are too worn out for wear. Cause for thought hey!
3. Lack of a cohesive and deliberate development framework from the grassroots.
There is need for an E-culture from Nursery School through to University level if we are to harness and fully exploit ICTs in their entirety. It is a positive move that Central Government through the President’s Office, has started the ball rolling by donating computer equipment to various schools within the country. There is need therefore for other entities Private and Public to step in and augment such effort thereby creating a culture of E-awareness from an early age within the country. Just to fire a broadside, I wonder why we are still trying to electrify some remote areas using the standard method which might just prove too costly and will not guarantee a consistent supply in the longer run anyway. Why can’t we focus on alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar to create a win-win situation for all involved? The simple point to be noted here is that we need to as a matter of urgency create an E-culture. It’s a known that we are among the most educated societies in the world but why can’t we re-engineer our education to focus on what the world is crying for? The direction which the world is taking is that of E-education with the drive being towards wall-less classes. Therefore to continue to focus on brick and mortar systems of education and ignoring Cyber learning will be to our demise. I am forced to wonder why we would worry about where to get salaries for our teachers when we can augment such through export of E-based learning material developed by the same teachers hence benefiting both the country and the individuals.
4.Duplication of duties and lack of information sharing.
ICTs have the impact that they can eliminate duplication of duties and hence leading to major labor lay offs. The concept used in ICT lingo is “being laid off to do better things” as opposed to retrenchment. African systems, impacted by our inherent cultures, tend to favor duplication of duties which has an adverse effect on productivity and general effectiveness. Consider the situation where one imports a car from Durban say, (that being a good example due to our inherent culture that there is little of car manufacturing in the country and yes the continent though our good people love the act of driving, especially muscle cars), the unnecessarily tedious and questionable process would be that the same vehicle is cleared at three different levels before it can be driven as duly registered and licensed in the country. A long process occurs firstly at the Zimbabwean side of the border, regardless of the fact that an almost similar process has occurred at the other side of the border on the South African side. When the relevant officials are satisfied that all conditions have been met the vehicle is “cleared”. The owner has to take it to yet another authority, for yet another process of “clearance” deriving and using the same data as that obtainable from the first authority. After that, the owner has to take the same vehicle to yet another authority, where the same vehicle is again “cleared”, and this time is given a set of number plates and is now fit to drive on our “roads” not before which it is taken to yet another authority for a temporary paid up permit to be able to drive on our “roads” for a set period of time. In contrast, that whole process ladies and gentlemen can be computerized or digitalized and be done at one entry point thereby eliminating the issue of redundancy and duplication of roles. Why can’t one clear their car at the border, get a set of registration numbers as well as the temporary disk at the same point and have all the four “systems” updated with the relevant information in real time?
5. Culture of ubuntu, hunu (I am because we are and you are because we are) while pursuing personal interests.
To date Africa has about 10 fibre optic cables linking it to the rest of the world. Compare that with Europe, North America and Asia which boast of over 500 cables. South Africa currently boasts of one cable the South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/SAFE) with the East African Marine Cable System (EASSy) being expected before the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa. At face value that seems to be unworthy of your reading, but consider that markets have evolved with the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) providing a borderless market for commodities. The simple implication would therefore be that if our Internet connection is slow, that’s if we have such connection, by the time we find out which product is on demand in the world we would already be late in reaching such a market. By the way I am yet to find a Zimbabwean product selling on E-bay, Barnes and N’oble or Amazon. If there are any, the number is negligible in contrast to the amount of trade that takes place in those on-line stores on a daily basis. If only we would learn to do things for the common good of all and future generations our continent would develop and even at a faster rate. The long and short of things is that these cables are expensive to install but remember “chara chimwe hachitswanyi inda” (two is better than one) if we all put our resources together as Africans imagine the colossal damage we can inflict on the lack of technology.
GOD surely forbid if we are to keep such CULTURE and at what cost to us.
“Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12 verse 1.
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