PymesprácTICas

Nueva versión de Firefox

La Fundación Mozilla lanzó la nueva versión del navegador Firefox 1.5, el software gratuito en código abierto que está incursionando (la penetración está por encima del 10%) el mercado de navegadores dominado por Internet Explorer. La nueva versión de Firefox es más rápida, permite la puesta al día automática del software (sin nececidad de bajar el software cada vez), reesfuerza la privacidad gracias a una aplicación que permite de cancelar datos referentes a la navegación (cookies, cache, historial, etc.), y mejora la compatibilidad con nuevos estándares como Java 1.6 y otros. Más. Ver versiones en otros idiomas.

Just out: two reports by the IDB

The IDB recently pusblished two reports:

• The Role of Information and Communication Tchnology in Building Trust in Governance: Towards Effectiveness and Results, edited by R. Vitro (download page)
• The Knowledge Economy in Development: Perspectives of Effective Partnerships, Chrisanti Avgerou et al. (download page)

Brasil: crecen las compras B2G en línea

Según el índice e-licitaçoes elaborado por la firma Florencia Ferrer Pesquisa & Consultoria en colaboración con la Cámara Brasiliana de Comercio Electrónico, en agosto y setiembre de 2005 a través de la plataformas de compras públicas del gobierno federal de Brasil y de los gobiernos de algunos estados se realizaron compras en línea por aproximadamente R$740 millones (US$336m), que corresponden a, respetivamente, 3.8 y 3.96% del total de las compras públicas. Más.

E-Commerce Survey Trinidad and Tobago

The National E-Commerce Secretariat(NeCS) issued a Survey, realized in 2003, on E-Commerce Usage and Awareness among Businesses and Households in Trinidad and Tobago. Of the 800 businesses randomly selected 55% responded to the survey. 86% indicate that they have computers. Of these 90% had Internet access. Internet is used for email (98%), business research (84%), software download (54%), on line procurement (42%), customer service support (36%), Intranet/Extranet (26%), and on line sales (22%).

As for e-commerce activities, 43% of respondents said they had a company web site mostly for marketing and customer service purposes. Among the surveyed 24% declared that they did some on line sales, mostly for B2C (27% of the companies were retailers). Internet is used very intensively in the value chain, although not necessarily with actual transactions. 29% of the interviewed declared that they saw an increase due to the web presence (42% among smaller businesses), 40% did not know or answer and 31% claimed that the presence did not increase sales. Almost half of the respondents said that the growth was between 5 and 25%.  The surveyed indicated that the main divers for e-commerce adoption were:  improving customer service (30%); increasing sales (29%); improving way of doing business (25%); increasing profitability (22%); developing new customers (21%); and cost savings (19%). Interestingly, only 11% said that their e-commerce strategy was developed on the basis of competitive pressure.

Businesses are wary of issues related to trust and confidence over the Internet. Many consider that the payment systems are not ready to support e-commerce; 72% percieve security as a barrier to adoption; 53% find e-commerce too risky, and 49% require stronger authentication systems.

Finally 40% of the businesses would like the government to engage in public awareness campaigns, while others point to the need to pass laws aimed at protecting customers (24%) or ensure privacy (17%).

Download [PDF 1.3MB]

Apalancar el web para las pymes

La revista colombiana Dinero dedica un artículo (registrarse) a dos proyectos financiados por el FOMIN en el ámbito del Cluster de Tecnología de la Información y Comunicación (TIC): uno de los proyectos, "Prymeros", está ejecutado por Confecamaras, una organización que reúne cámaras empresariales de varias provincias del país. Este proyecto ha logrado desarrollar 21 comunidades sectoriales a las cuales se ofrecen servicios basados en Internet para agilizar sus transacciones b2b. El segundo proyecto, PVL, fue seleccionado en el ámbito del programa ICT4BUS y consiste en la creación de un portal en Internet y servicios logísticos relacionados, que reúne a 39 proveedores y 750 comerciantes. Según datos que nos ha enviado Fenalco, desde el mes de mayo a la fecha (17 noviembre), en el portal PVL se realizaron 880 transacciones por 115 millones de pesos (US$53.000), con un volumen de 35 millones en el último mes. Información sobre los dos proyectos: Prymeros, PVL.

Entra 21 - Un programa que funciona

El martes 15 de noviembre se organizó una reunión de participantes al Programa Entra 21 financiado por el Fondo Multilateral de Inversiones y otras agencias internacionales y donantes corporativos. El programa, que fue aprobado en 2001, está gestionado por la International Youth Foundation (IYF) con sede en Baltimore, EE.UU. Entra 21 es una iniciativa cuyo objetivo es de favorecer la inserción laboral de jóvenes desfavorecidos de 16 a 29 años a través de cursos de capacitación en áreas relacionadas con Tecnología de la Información y Comunicación, una formación sobre aptitud profesional y pasantías en empresas participantes. El programa financia proyectos individuales en los países beneficiarios de América latina y del Caribe a ser ejecutados por ONGs en colaboración con empresas y asociaciones empresariales. Ya se han financiado 30 proyectos que han beneficiado a 17.000 jóvenes y se prevé que el programa se terminará con un total de 35 proyectos aprobados. Un promedio de 55% d los estudiantes encontró trabajo después de haber finalizado el curso y la pasantía; otro 25% volvió a estudiar para profundizar sus conocimientos en temas de negocios y/o de TIC. Otro aspecto importante es la replicabilidad de las iniciativas: varios de los proyectos siguen operando o se están replicando en otras áreas.

Entre las lecciones aprendidas más destacadas cabe señalar: la importancia del componente de pasantías; el rol del sector privado - la demanda - en las varias etapas del proyecto, incluyendo su diseño de los cursos; el papel fundamental de la formación en aptitud profesional en preparar jóvenes que puedan integrarse al mundo del trabajo. Más información sobre el  programa se encuentra aquí.

WSIS Started

Opening day of the second phase  of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which takes place in Tunis from November 16th to 18th. The first phase culminated adoption by the Summit in Geneva in 2003 of a declaration of principles and plan of action (download from here). The second phase will, among other, tackle issues related to financing ICT and Internet governance. Within this framework, WSIS will also consider the thorny issue of the control over domain name registration, currently ensured, under the supervision of the US government, by the Internet Corporation for Assigned  Names and Numbers - ICANN. Under current conditions the US government could decide to shut out a country from the Internet by blocking access to its domain names: so far this has not happened and did not even occur during the Iraq war. We will report later on the main results of the Summit. WSIS site.

Knowledge-based Economy?

It is often stated that, with Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the world has entered a new economic era, dubbed the knowledge-based economy. Is this view correct? Up to a point.

While the evolution and spread of ICT in the past decades has been staggering, can we state that past economies were not knowledge-based? Absolutely not: all these societies used knowledge in their social and economic activity. Furthermore, without knowledge storage and transmission of generations past (from songs to print and telecommunications) we would not be writing about this topic in a blog. So, knowledge has always been an essential factor in human development.

We would argue that, with time, the need to securely preserve knowledge beyond the human brain, to process ever growing information, and ensure rapid circulation have stimulated technology changes that adapt to and enhance the complexity in economic activity and social interaction.

Still, the question lingers: does a significant growth of information and knowledge and acceleration and broadening of its circulation translate into a paradigm shift? Are changes in the underlying economic activity, closely interlaced with the technology, such that a shift might be in the working? And if yes what would be the characteristics? Would the all-encompassing term of globalization help explaining new trends? The debate is open...

UNCTAD releases the 2006 Information Economy Report

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published its 2006  Information Economy Report, just in time for delegates from all over the world who are heading to the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis (Nov. 16-18) to download the 276 page document and scan it in search for ideas and data. As always the report includes some compelling topics, such as financing ICT, statistics on ICT use and tourism. The new title of the yearly book is in my opinion much better than the old E-Commerce and Development Report: too many people understood the term e-commerce as just trading over the Internet. We will touch upon some of the findings in the coming days. Meanwhile, should you have missed it, here goes the link to download [PDF, 9.9MB] the report.

SCM: From Linear to Networked

The new paradigm in sofwtare computing is the service oriented architecture (SOA) [Spanish], an architecture that requires the use of services to support the requirements of software users. Software based on SOA is being adopted by many companies that have to rely on complex networks of suppliers/customers, as it is considered easily adaptable to the firms' evolving needs and does not require excessive investments in software programming. A service oriented architecture is based on web services [Spanish], a software system that relies on standardized computing language like XML to support machine-to-machine interaction over a network.

In its simplest form, service oriented architectures (SOA) are defined as self-contained modular applications of business process logic or services that can be mixed and matched; are platform independent; and can be dynamically located, invoked, and called into use by whoever needs them from anywhere within a platform infrastructure. SOAs make developing, structuring, and using an enterprise system much more efficient and flexible. It is this type of flexibility that is required in an interdependent supply network.

SOA programming is allowing the migration from a concept of "linear" to "networked" supply chain management (SCM) [Spanish]. According to an article in TEC (registration required), firms will increasingly have to rely on the supply chain to profitably deliver value to customers:

The dynamic nature of customer-driven demand, along with the adaptive nature of SCM networks, will make the process of synchronization more complex. As customer requriements become more demanding, supply chains will be forced from linear to dynamic configurations of supply chain networks. In a non-linear model, core competencies and capital asset utilization and efficiencies come into focus. This will concentrate attention on how enteprises work and integrate with partners to extend visibility through multiple tiers of the supply chain.

Such concepts are being implemented in Latin American and Caribbean countries as well and might eventually facilitate collaboration among enterprises, even small ones, in value chains. To this end development of local capacity and spread of standards for interoperability will be crucial.