Hi Maye For sure u have a good arguement on ict on its not being successful but i lost you on how ict is being commoditized and how this contributes to its failure. Please clarify! thank you Meshack On Mon Aug 8th, 2011 4:17 AM PDT Charles Maye wrote:
Actually, IT on its own cannot create profits. Airtel Kenya has a network that is as good as any. But they are losing cash. Same goes for Telkom Kenya. Africa Online was a great idea born by IT experts. It was ahead of its time and never made money. When a technology is new to the world, it can generate profits. The moment it is duplicated and commoditized and for the rest of its life, it needs another set of skills. That set of skills is what makes organizations select people other than IT experts as CIO's.
Closer home, part of the many reasons the good doctor is so successful at driving our ICT agenda as a country is because he understands how to make technology connect with our aspirations as a people. I stand to be corrected but I believe the good doctor is not an engineer.
Charles Maye
From: kictanet-bounces+cmaye=ke.nationmedia.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+cmaye=ke.nationmedia.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Agosta Liko Sent: 08 August 2011 13:25 To: Charles Maye Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] IT posts for full circle
Toma
About - "Lets face it ICT on its own cannot run or profit an organization"
This is not true, Safaricom, Airtel, Access Kenya, Zuku etc etc etc are ALL about IT.
It can create mad profits or drive them
Look at agency banking - its all about branding, float and a device (android app) ... with that a bank cuts on capex
Look at Mobile Money - its all IT, Money moves from one account to the other and there are fees for that
For old school corporates - IT is gives massive distribution ... an insurance company does not have to have offices and agents all over the country, all they need is mobile/web interfaces
A good CIO is the difference between USD10,000 for SugarCRM and USD3,000,000 for Siebel ... etc etc etc
Thanks On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM, Thomas Kibui <thomas.kibui@gmail.com<mailto:thomas.kibui@gmail.com>> wrote: Initially ICT was considered a necessary cost centre within many organizations. It was usually placed under Operations division or sometimes under the stingy Finance division to control its cost.
Lets face it ICT on its own cannot run or profit an organization. It is a business enabler and unless the ICT division within an organization is able to show the management of that organization that it can operate as a profit centre and actually generate tangible profits OR at least reduce the cost or making profit within other divisions , .. it will never have say in the organization.
Bottom line .. the shareholders want "profits"
Another line of argument that I have heard inside a board room is that .. most of what the ICT team refer to as "ICT Technology" are actually "nice to have" gizmos e.g. iPADs.. But I have reservation about this argument .. simply because those who were saying it were fidgeting with their blackberries ...
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/agostal%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is intended for the use of the stated recipient only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient.
Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Nation Media Group.
‘To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit http://mobile.nation.co.ke to read news on your mobile phone.’