In our February 2023 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, IT Systems Administrator, Halle Johnson and Business Coach and former Advisory Council Member of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), Kerrie-Ann Vassall-Richards, the panel discusses:  Digitisation of the building applications process; Is the Caribbean ready for work-from-home / remote worker culture? And the security of our critical resources/sectors.

 

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

One of the challenging, yet exciting aspects of technology, is the fact that it is continually evolving. The circumstances and constructs in which it is required to operate are not static. One or more factors are changing, which in turn have an impact on the overall dynamics, and prompt adjustments to be made in order to remain relevant and perform optimally.

It, therefore, means that we, in the tech community, need to be agile in our thinking and not unduly wedded to any specific situation or outcome. In this month’s Community Chat session, topics discussed generally highlight a change in the status quo and the implications emerging from those changes. As expected, the situations are still unfolding and there are no definitive answers, but a broad range of issues emerged during the conversation, with points being highlighted that merit further thought and discussion.

 

Introducing our guests

Kerrie-Ann Vassall-Richards is the Founder of the Business Growth Rocket, which offers business coaching, training and advisory services. She is also a former Advisory Council Member of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and a Founding Member of the Internet Society (Jamaica Chapter).

Kerrie-Ann’s background is in business and in education, where she has led non-profit and commercial enterprises. Her specialities include policy and technical writing, e-learning, curriculum development and career development. Currently, she is on the Board of Advisors of the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Jamaica, an Entrepreneurship Development Specialist for Kingston Creative, and a Mentorship Consultant for UWI Ventures Trinidad/ Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust.

 

Halle Johnson

Halle Johnson is the Systems Administrator of The University of The West Indies, Five Islands Campus, and is based in Antigua and Barbuda. He has over 20 years of experience within the IT field and has worked in the sectors of online gaming, hospitality, border control, E-sports and now academia.

Halle holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Computing from the University of London and a Master of Business Administration with a specialisation in Information Systems Strategy and Governance from Edinburgh Napier University. Halle also holds a myriad of industry certifications from Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco and many others. His current interests include Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency.

 

The topics discussed

In this Community chat episode, the following topics were discussed:

  1. Digitisation of the building applications process.  A bugbear for many, as the process for getting the requisite building permits and planning approvals can be protracted, taking between 2 and 6 months in many countries. Recently, it made the news in Jamaica that the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation is implementing an internal system to streamline its building applications process.
  2. Is the Caribbean ready for work-from-home / remote worker culture?  Although from 2020, remote work and work-from-home had been embraced and were ushering in a new paradigm in the workplace, in the past the last 6 months or so, it appears that organisations are not as gung-ho about remote work as they once were.
  3. The security of our critical resources/sectors.  With the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados experiencing a cyber-attack in December 2022, and more recently, one of the regional health authorities in Jamaica was hacked, it is becoming increasingly evident how vulnerable some of our critical services are to digital threats. But many of these sectors/services are grossly under-resourced, which makes the requirements to maintain adequate digital security even more worrisome.

 

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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: K-A Vassall-Richards; H Johnson; Adhy Savala (Unsplash); Windows (Unsplash); Engin Akyurt (Pexels)

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

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez