Having an e-business certificate is important for success in today’s economy. This article from The Brunei Times describes how the growth of the Internet has changed the way companies do business.
The highly competitive economic environment today demands businesses to strive to create, to invent and to innovate not only products but also business models and processes to ensure their survivability.
Dato Hj Yusof Hj Abdul Hamid, deputy minister of communications cum cochairman of the 11-Business Leadership Forum (EBLF) stated this during the first ever dialogue session between private companies in the ICT sector and board members of the Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei (AiTi) at Empire Hotel and Country Club yesterday.
He said that the existing competitive environment highlights how e-business can be used as a tool to help companies progress.
“We have made many achievements thus far, and I am confident that we will keep on doing so,” he said, adding that with better planning, consultation and socialisation between relevant players, any challenges that lies before them can be resolved and turned into opportunities.
The deputy minister gave a brief history of the development of ICT in the country, stating that ICT development initially began with the Telecommunications Department being the only service provider that offered voice telephony.
The advent of Internet services has changed the entire telecommunications landscape as it became the basis for communication, changing into a global infrastructure of increasing value in many dimensions.
“Its ability to absorb new technologies and to support an increasing variety of applications
are indicators of the power of its simple, clear and well-defined architecture,” he said.
The government, he added, was aware of the country’s advancement towards ICT, as they made changes by corporatizing the telecommunications department and creating AiTi.
“Since its inception, AiTi has played an important role as the promoter for the development of ICT industry in Brunei and through the dialogue, I hope that the agency will be able to acknowledge and understand the voices and challenges of the industry in order to create a blueprint specifically for the development of the local ICT industry.”
The deputy minister pointed out that the formation of the EBLF, a proposal by BIT Council was approved by His Majesty in February 16 this year, with its main function is to monitor and make decisions on e-business initiatives and programmes in Brunei and is accountable on its total effectiveness.
“The dialogue is the first of its kind and is an initiative that provides a platform for those industries involved in ICT, be it users or developers, to participate and suggest the way forward for the development of the ICT in the country,” he said.
He went on to say that the event can he seen as part of the business process management life-cycle which contains the elements of design, modelling, execution, monitoring and optimisation where he hoped that the consultative effort would not be wasted, stating that its focus should be in getting clearly defined solutions for development.