{"id":164568,"date":"2022-07-08T06:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=164568"},"modified":"2022-07-07T18:05:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T23:05:40","slug":"where-is-the-caribbean-region-in-its-digital-transformation-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2022\/07\/where-is-the-caribbean-region-in-its-digital-transformation-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Where is the Caribbean region in its digital transformation effort?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few years ago, \u2018digital transformation\u2019 was not just a popular buzz phrase in the Caribbean region, it also signified the urgent and major paradigm shift in the use of ICT and technology that both the private and public sectors needed to undertake. Now, digital transformation is not mentioned as often, but does it mean the effort has been abandoned?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you compare the posture of policymakers and industry leaders between 2020 and now, one of the terms that you are not hearing as often is \u2018digital transformation\u2019. In 2020, digital transformation was a popular buzz phrase, which although trendy, also signified an urgent change that both individuals and organisations needed to adopt to better navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, and although the pandemic still rages, to a considerable degree, the lockdowns, school closures and stay-at-home measures have become the exception rather than the norm. So although hand sanitising and social distancing when going to offices may still be required, depending on the country and organisation, the wearing of masks is no longer mandatory. In essence, some semblance of normalcy has returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current state of digital transformation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the current relaxedness in the pandemic-related safeguards, it could be argued that the speed at which public and private sector organisations are digitally transforming is no longer as urgent. Furthermore, organisations are reverting to some of their pre-pandemic practices, such as requiring all employees to work onsite, instead of the work-from-home or hybrid work arrangements that had been allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding customers and depending on the organisation, the experience has remained largely unchanged from what it had been over the past two years, and in some instances has not improved from what it had been pre-pandemic. The only difference now may be that customers are no longer required to queue outside due to the headcount limit that had been in effect until around December 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, in observing the posture that many Caribbean organisations have adopted over the past several months, it appears that a \u2018new normal\u2019 has been established. The digital strides that had been made by mid-2020 to allow organisations to continue to operate, which in many instances were ad hoc and driven by urgency and exigent circumstances, have not been distilled into a  cogent and comprehensive approach to complete the transformation that was started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change in culture, change in mindset<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the key pillars of any digital transformation initiative that is frequently emphasised is that of organisational culture, which is seen as the most critical component of the process. Invariably, and to transition an organisation not just from certain processes and the integration of digital solutions as appropriate, the attitude, mindset and behaviour of employees and customers also need to be managed. To that end, it is often recommended that change management efforts be introduced early in the digital transformation process so that internal and external clients are adequately prepared to embrace and adjust to the changes that will occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, and in hindsight, it appears that many Caribbean organisations, though adopting some digital tools and processes, did not include adequate change management and culture transformation in those efforts. As was noted earlier, urgency and survival were top of mind, and so the longer-term impact, and the need to make more comprehensive plans, do not appear to have been core considerations for many organisations \u2013 over the past two years, or even now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital transformation is still crucial<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As much as Caribbean organisations no longer appear to be aggressively pursuing digital transformation, it is important to highlight that it is still crucial across many fronts. For example, comprehensive digital transformation is essential to improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity, both organisations-wise and nationally, and to foster innovation, and job creation, along with increasing Caribbean countries\u2019 global competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the country level, it is likely that many reports and roadmaps have been prepared to address either government-related digital transformation, such as under e-government or with a national focus on realising a digital society. However and over the years, individual initiatives in these plans have been pursued and are in various stages of completion, which has resulted in a number of gaps, and challenges in aligning those efforts into a coherent approach or strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within organisations, and in the absence of a long-term and time-bound commitment to digital transformation, as was noted earlier, there has been little emphasis on the change in corporate culture that ought to underpin such a major transition. Further, digital transformation can be costly, not just in money, but also in the commitment, time and effort needed to execute it well. And unfortunately, many of our organisations do not have the wherewithal to mindset or the resources to truly embark on such an initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, thanks to fintech and Caribbean countries’ growing focus on digital currency, in particular, the impetus may begin to emerge to more aggressively tackle the digital transformation needed to become a digital society. In seeking to fully leverage a digital currency, for example, financial inclusion, matters related to digital identity, and more seamless processes and transactions with government and across government, among other issues, will need to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what might be the timeline in which more meaningful digital transformation-enabled results will be realised? Your guess is as good as mine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image credit: \u00a0Gerd Altmann (Pixabay<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, \u2018digital transformation\u2019 was not just a popular buzz phrase in the Caribbean region, it also signified the urgent and major paradigm shift in the use of ICT and technology that both the private and public sectors needed to undertake. Now, digital transformation is not mentioned as often, but does it mean the effort has been abandoned?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[71,330,50,15],"class_list":["post-164568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ict-tech","tag-businesses","tag-digital-transformation","tag-productivity","tag-trends","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Web-Network-Digitization-Transformation-Digital-Gerd-Altmann-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C686&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-GOk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164570,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164568\/revisions\/164570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}