ICT Impacting the Bottom Line

Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee

Mona GeoInformatics Institute & Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies

ICT – Information and Communications Technology

What are ICTs and what types of ICTs are commonly used in education?

“ICTs stand for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes of this primer, as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”

These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephones” (Tinio V.L.)

• ICT is often used as the extended synonym for IT (information technology) but the “C” stresses the communication element in information technology.

Audio-visual technology

Computer networking

• ICT addresses the encapsulation of and convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks.

Simple & complicated telephone networks

• ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form. For example, personal computers, digital television, digital cameras, smart phones, email, robots.

A modern televisionAn older television

The modern cell phone

Older cell phones

• In business ICT can be categorized into two (2) general types

1. The traditional computer-based technologies – Tasks that are done on a personal computer.

The personal computer

• 2. Digital communications technology – this type of ICT allow people and organizations to communicate and share digital information.

Modern Communication

The importance of ICT in education

• One of the greatest hardships endured by the poor, and by many others who live in the poorest countries, is their sense of isolation. The new communications technologies promise to reduce that sense of isolation, and to open access to knowledge in ways unimaginable not long ago.

• ICT in education is expected to reduce the gap between those who have access to and control over technology. This gap is referred to as the Digital Divide. Digital divides exist inside countries and well as between different countries.

• The ICT Development Index (IDI) – Published by the United Nations International Telecommunications Union. The IDI is a tool used to measure the digital divide and compare the ICT performance within and across different countries. 

• ICT in Jamaica (Facts from JAMPRO)

Jamaica’s world-class and robust telecoms infrastructure ranks among the most developed in the world when compared to the US and UK. Jamaica has the highest tele-density rate in the entire Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.

• While mobile penetration exceeds the rest of the Caribbean and rivals many developed nations in the world at over 109%. Multiple mobile service providers offer 3G, 4G, WiMax and international roaming capabilities.

• The presence of 3 (now 2) broadband carriers ensures triple redundancy and 99.99% up-time on broadband services.

• Jamaica has seamless connectivity to North America, Latin America and the Caribbean via three parallel fibre routes to the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) submarine cable in the Dominican Republic. There is also a complete fibre ring around Jamaica.

• ICT in Jamaica (Facts from JAMPRO cont’)

The Government of Jamaica has introduced a range of reforms and measures designed to support ICT industries and therefore attract businesses to the island.

The growth of Jamaica’s ICT industry is evidenced by the enacting of new legislation in support of the development strategy, such as the Cyber Crime Act (2010), as well as an overhaul of the existing 2007 Telecommunications Policy. These efforts clearly demonstrate to investors that the necessary measures are being taken to ensure that their operations and investments are secure.

• It is well-known that ICT improves efficiencies in the workplace, expands the reach of companies and its products, as well as enables telecommuting of employees, product deliveries, and service impacts. ICT systems continually need to evolve as market tastes, preferences and demands change and new solutions develop to replace obsolete or ineffective systems.

At Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI) e-mail is one of our most common ICT tools

Electronic Mail or E-Mail is the exchanging of digital messages between persons over the Internet or other computer networks.

• There is a large premium on ICT innovators, who are able to both develop products, systems and services that help individuals and other businesses, as well as thrive themselves as a profitable and effective business.

• This has been the experience of the Mona GeoInformatics Institute and the development of the first GPS navigation system for the Caribbean, JAMNAV.

• JAMNAV is the product of research and development incorporating the collection of primary spatial data – roads and points of interest – that have applications in disaster management, business intelligence, and crime, but also direct applications in consumer products requiring location-based information.

• JAMNAV provides street-level, voice-assisted, turn-by-turn navigation from a start point to any desired destination in Jamaica. We can already see the foundations of ICT here since JAMNAV directly facilitates communication.

• With its high level of coverage, attributes and accuracy, JAMNAV is designed to provide Jamaicans and tourists alike with a faster, safer and easier method to find their destination.

• JAMNAV is a GPS navigation, offering turn-by-turn voice-assisted navigation across Jamaica, with over 21,000 km of roads

• Over 22,000 points of interest, including gas stations, hotels, eating places, shopping places, and attractions.

• MGI is a licensed Garmin map developer, and the system reflects the same quality and content that users would be familiar with when using similar systems in the United States, Canada or Europe.

• Users of the system have adopted this in direct ways; rental car companies are primary users of the system, which conventionally use GPS navigation systems as part of their product and service delivery.

• Other businesses use the GPS navigation system and its constituent database for vehicle tracking, while others use it for safety considerations, a critical element when human resource protection is key for businesses.

• There are also practical applications for local delivery and courier companies, fleet operators, and national security.

• JAMNAV in Fleet Management, courier and concierge services.

The practical application of JAMNAV GPS Navigation to fleet management

• In fleet management systems JAMNAV can be incorporated in such a way which allows for coordinates (as well as POI names or addresses) to be pushed via telephone networks and for two-way messages may to be sent wirelessly, opening up potential avenues of use with compatible GPS tracking systems

The current set up – No communication between the field team and the

client

JAMNAV will bridge the gap between the response

team and the clinet

• JAMNAV fleet management system is a hybrid of the GPS navigation and GPS tracking platforms. This hybrid adds the interactive link which has been absent from conventional fleet management and tracking systems.

This is how a JAMNAV fleet management system would potentially be set up

• More applied uses of this database have extended to the extraction of the data itself for more involved purposes, such as business competitor analyses, correlation with other databases (socio-economic and environmental data are common databases for co-analyses), or security or public health modelling.

• MGI & JAMNAV and Businesses

Since JAMNAV is a compilation of detailed spatial data across the length and breadth of Jamaica the system opens up the avenue for applications in business intelligence.

• Digicel

• Scotiabank

• Island Grill

• Jamaica National

• Victoria Mutual

• GSB Credit Union

• Includes:

• Asset distribution

• Competitor locations (current and potential)

• Customer locations

• Risk locations and proximities

• Advertising and marketing locations

JAMNAV and the Security Forces

MGI has also done and will continue to do work with the police. Our largest portfolio at MGI is crime and on a daily basis we map crime data for the JCF and the ISCF. We have also done extensive work with the JDF

MGI has also used JAMNAV data to create strategy, intelligence and strategy maps to assist the police & the JDF with their operations across Jamaica.

With the JDF in St. Thomas

Training of the Grants Pen Police in GPS technology

Spatial Analysis of the Provision of Early Childhood Services in Jamaica

• MGI was contracted by the Early Childhood Commission to conduct a spatial analysis of the provision of early childhood services in Jamaica.  The ECC sought to understand the distribution of ECIs across Jamaica so that informed decision-making could be facilitated.  

• MGI mapped Early Childhood Institutions (ECIs) across Jamaica, provided GIS training and spatial analyses were also conducted for each ECI in relation to the community population served, the community socio-economic status and available resources.  The analyses also indicated areas that were potentially under-served or over-served by ECIs.

• Here JAMNAV was the tool used to find the locations of these schools do they could be mapped

Conclusions• ICT forms the platform for MGI’s innovations, but these

are paired with science and business knowledge

• JAMNAV is not a single-application product. Uses are market-driven

• Success of JAMNAV has been a function of Jamaica’s ICT progress and maturity; appetite fed by local demand for First-World ICT products

• Evolution of JAMNAV a function of Jamaica’s continued ICT growth – user feedback, technological advances, competing platforms, emerging applications, integrated use

Conclusions• Bottom line impacts have been for MGI clients as well as

MGI directly• Client impacts:• Efficiency improvements – asset distribution, supply and maintenance• Improved customer service – deliveries, response to complaints etc• New business opportunities to diversify into – vehicle tracking, location-based services, etc

• MGI impacts:• Reduce time to realize return on investment in product• Cross-sell other products and increase market awareness• Drive other innovations