Study: IT pros poorly treated in TT

Trinidad and Tobago has received the lowest ranking in the world, coming in at number 50, regarding its consideration for IT professionals, according to the recently published National Information, Communication and Techno-logy (ICT) benchmarking study. This was revealed by president of the TT Manufacturers Association, Anthony Hosang, as he addressed an Infotech Manufacturing seminar at the Hilton Trinidad on Wednesday. Speaking on the topic of ICT competitiveness in manufacturing, Hosang revealed that TT had failed to promote and support the ICT sector, ultimately banishing the “brightest and the best” ICT professionals to other countries where their skills are more readily recognised. “TT must do more for its IT professionals to feel welcomed, challenged and rewarded,” he asserted.

Quoting from the National ICT Benchmarking Study, Hosang disclosed that TT companies have been slow to adopt corporate web page usage, ranking 60th in the world, which appeared to be the norm among the less developed countries in the survey, including Jamaica and Costa Rica. In terms of buyer-supplier Internet coordination, which he explained, is a more sophisticated application of ICT to business, TT ranked among the worst of the 80 countries surveyed. “It appears that the population of TT is not being adequately prepared for ICT development,” Hosang asserted, adding that while other countries were investing in the education and training required to enable persons to take advantage of ICT for social and economic development, TT was slipping behind. He revealed that while TT’s telephone use was high for business and residential customers, competitiveness in the telecommunications sector and broadband availability rankings were very poor.

According to the study, all was not lost for the ICT sector in TT, since, it stated, TT was in a position to greatly improve its ICT intelligence and overall competitiveness. Hosang urged businessmen to take their companies into the “realm of global connectivity” as a prerequisite to global competitiveness. He said, “the new global economy requires us in the Caribbean to open our borders in a marketplace of close to 800 million people. How much more efficiently we would be able to learn and trade through the connectivity of the Internet.” Hosang was of the view that the ability of local businessmen to embrace the ICT sector would impact greatly on the country’s success in the Free Trade Area of the Americas. “It will affect our relationships with customers, locally and across the Caribbean and also with the rest of the world,” he said. “Our traditional trading relations with India, China, Africa and Europe will be enhanced and new businesses will develop through previously unforeseen ways.”