In our January 2023 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Chartered Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor, Allison James, and Matthew Cowen of dgtlfutures, the panel discusses: The transformation of the IT profession; Is the world going sour on big tech?  Where do we see Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning going?

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Stitcher!

Welcome back to our first Community Chat episode for 2023 on the ICT Pulse Podcast!

One of the frequent challenges we experience in preparing for the Community Chat session is identifying topics that could be discussed. Our approach has been to invite our guests to submit topics, thus giving them an opportunity to shape the discussion and highlight issues that interest them. To some degree, the topics would either be related to their areas of expertise, or something that they are passionate about. However, two difficulties have emerged. First, over time similar topics tend to be proposed, or second, guests do not have topics or issues that they would like to discuss.

So, to start the new year, and help alleviate those challenges, we have slightly changed the format of the Community Chat. Instead, we want to focus on topical issues – issues snapped from the headlines – which we hope will take the pressure off guests and allow us to still enjoy a conversation and share diverse views.

 

Introducing our guests and the topics we discussed

Allison James (KPMG)

Allison James is a manager at one of the Big Four accounting firms and has a hybrid background as a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor and has over ten years of experience in the IT Audit and Assurance industry. Her focus is on the digital agenda: specifically, the wider adoption of cybersecurity and data analytics within the region.

Allison holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Accounting from the University of the West Indies, and a Master of Science in Management and Information Systems: Change and Development, from the University of Manchester. She is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA).

 

 

Matthew Cowen

Matthew Cowen was one of the researchers for the study and is an IT Specialist, Researcher and Digital Analyst, who specialises in ICT in the Caribbean region. He is also the Founder of dgtlfutures, a consulting firm that helps small businesses across the Caribbean develop and implement their digital transformation strategies. And he is also the author of The Future is Digital newsletter and is based in Martinique.

Matthew has been on the Podcast quite a few times, In his most recent stints on the show, we discussed how technology can perpetuate bias the emerging issues and opportunities of Artificial intelligence, and most recently, FTX, Bitcoin, stablecoin and the state of crypto.

 

This month’s topics

For January, we were ambitious and chose the following three topics:

  1. The transformation of the IT profession – as it has been observed that other fields and disciplines seemed to have encroached on IT space; and may even have usurped the role of the IT expert.
  2. Is the world going sour on big tech? – as over the past few years, the lustre on big tech could be fading. The promises they made may not have been realised and more governments are angling for greater oversight and regulation.
  3. Where do we see Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning going? – which was precipitated by the attention that is being given to chatbots, such as ChatGPT, and AI-generated image platforms, such as MidJourney and Lensa AI.

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit: :  A James;  M Cowen;  IT services EU (Pexels);  rawpixel.com (freepik);  rawpixel.com (freepik)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez