Tag Archives: technology

Time for Mobile Number Portability

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Removing Mobile Competition Obstacles, Facilitating Consumer Choice

By Bevil Wooding

Liberalisation of the telecommunications market and the introduction of new players to the Caribbean mobile landscape were supposed to usher in a new era of competition and choice for consumers. To some extent it has. We are past the dark days of monopoly providers and the take-it-or-leave-it approach to customer service. Consumers are finally free to choose the provider of their choice. Or are they? Continue reading →

The Future of Caribbean Business – Pt 2

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The Future of Business in the Caribbean – Pt 2

By Russell Williams

In an earlier piece I compared the business environment which exists in the Caribbean to that in more developed countries such as the UK and US. Among the key differences were the availability of adequate resources and functioning Business Support Organisations (BSO’s) such as the Small Business Administration service, Chambers of Commerce, Business Link, and charitable organisations such as the Prince’s Trust. Add to that the regular hosting of competitions to encourage the creation of businesses. Continue reading →

“Young People’s Tings!”

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By Russell Williams

An Older Woman at Work

Some years ago while walking in Basseterre an elderly lady stopped me and thrust a phone in my hand and asked me to call a number for her, grumbling she said “this is what happens when you get into young people’s tings!”.

I was reminded of the encounter when earlier this week I had an encounter with a security guard at a coffee shop, again in Basseterre. The guard is very much in his senior years, but when his phone rang he coolly took his Blackberry from his pocket and began his conversation. He hadn’t finished when a very current reggae tune began to play and he promptly removed his Motorola Razr from the other pocket! I teased him and said he was very much up to date and “in tings” as we would say! Continue reading →

Why We can’t Afford Shrink-Wrapped Software, and It’s NOT About the Money

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By Russell Williams

As I conclude this series of articles on why we in developing countries really must break the shackles of “consumerism” especially as it relates to technology and software by giving some examples.

The most important asset a commercial enterprise has is its customers! If you disagree try to run your business without them. A close second is the information that business has about those customers, what they purchase, the frequency, how much they owe and what could we get them to buy. Anyone who has even looked at a product on Amazon, can see how Amazon makes the data associated with not only purchases but also products viewed work for them. Continue reading →

Apple’s iHamster Wheel, Open Source and Mobile Apps Part 2

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Part Two

By Russell Williams

In my last piece I expressed a level of disappointment with the attitude of some IT “professionals” towards open source, while having a healthy optimism for the future.

One of the prime excuses given for resisting the use of open source, is “who supports it?”, or “who do I go to if I or the customer has a problem?” The truth is many of those asking and their “clients” don’t pay for legitimate software in the first place. Secondly if they did then they can always buy support from many of the “open source” vendors. Continue reading →