A transformation with clearly defined milestones and commitments to the industry and the public is needed to fulfill our tryst with global destiny
Ganesh Natarajan
Pune has truly arrived – on the global map of IT and business process outsourcing. Thanks to the efforts of the chieftains of manufacturing and IT and the support of the powers that be in the government, at city as well as state level, the city has become one of the most talked about destinations for the knowledge industry. And as one worthy American President once said, “you aint seen nothing yet!”
With the right vision and robust implementation, the best is yet to come. The industry after lagging behind superstar destinations like Bangalore, Cyberabad and Gurgaon for a decade has discovered its true destiny in the last few years. Exports revenues clocked in excess of a billion dollars last year and every player worth the name from IBM, Symantec and Accenture to Wipro, Infosys and Satyam and WNS, Zensar and HSBC have set up or doubled their capacity in the city. The morphing of a provincial regional town to a bustling multicultural city with education, entertainment and cultural diversity that compares with the best in the world is nearly complete and with the manufacturing industry now keeping pace with IT, this city can look forward to many years of stupendous growth.
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If that’s the good news, urban planners would do well to look at the issues that plague the city as well, not just to continue the growth story but even to sustain the success that we have already attained. The three major ills are infrastructure, education and vision. The clogging of roads, the pathetic state of public transportation and the delays at the airport are well publicised, but are we fooling ourselves that we are a major education centre? The quality of much of the engineering and fine arts output is so appalling that for companies like Zensar over 60 per cent of the fresh talent and 80 per cent of the lateral hiring has to come from outside the city and even the state. A major overhaul of curriculum, content and pedagogy and rapid replication of the industry-academia partnerships that institutions like Vishwakarma , Symbiosis and Sinhagad have embraced, is essential to provide the talent pool the industry needs.
And what about a better vision than the often repeated McKinsey plan that we hear in various circles? A corporation that has taken forever to do the widening of Nagar Road and talks of elevated road systems along the entire length Mula-Mutha river without a clear calendar for implementation would do well to remember the words of management expert Joel Barker: “Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time and its only vision with action that changes the world.” The knowledge sector has the ability to quadruple by the end of the decade and the Bajajs,Tatas and Kalyanis will ensure that the manufacturing sector matches this scorching pace. A vision for 2020 and an action plan for 2010 with clearly defined milestones and commitments to the industry and the public will be a major step in ensuring that all the good work done so far does not get frittered away. Pune needs a transformation if it has to fulfill its tryst with a global destiny that is there for the taking
(The author is Chairman of NASSCOM’s Innovation Forum and Deputy CMD of Zensar Technologies Ltd)
12/30/2006
Outsourcing IT Development: Advantages and Disadvantages
You can outsource almost anything. Maybe you don't know it yet, but it's true. A couple of days ago, when I was drinking coffee in the kitchen, my wife pointed at the faucet that was leaking big time. The good ole faucet was there when we moved in about ten years ago, and trying to fix it again didn't make sense any more. Since I religiously believe in DIY, I bought a new faucet and set about working. When the old faucet was gone, I found out the metal pipe under the sink had to be replaced, too. There was no way I could do it without recourse to welding. I realized I was ready to outsource that part of the project, so I called the plumber.
If your experience and budget allow you to cope with a task, you should do it yourself. Otherwise, it's about time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing.
IT development outsourcing isn't much different than any other kind of outsourcing. When you face an insistent need to start a new IT development project, you have to weigh your current in-house capacity first. If your experience and budget allow you to cope with the task without resorting to any outside expertise, you should probably take full advantage of your potential and do it yourself. However, if there's danger that you'll bite off more than you can chew, it's about time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing.
Advantages
Basically, outsource service providers offer you higher quality services at a lower cost. This makes the advantages of IT development outsourcing obvious, so let's have a look at just a few of them.
Outsourcing IT development is a most effective way to stretch your budget. When managers plan IT development outsourcing, they usually make it their aim to cut down the company's expenditures by 30%. This is a figure that speaks for itself. Of course, there's always the risk of failure, but if you outsource prudently, you'll afford to implement projects of such a scale that would be impossible for you to reach on your own.
Outsource service providers offer you higher quality services at a lower cost. Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of your services will expand the competitive capacity of your business.
If you need to have state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save you from the nightmare of retraining your employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment.
Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of the services you offer will allow you to expand the competitive capacity of your business. I suppose the state the IT market is in today makes this simple argument a crucial one.
When you outsource IT development to an outside company, you can concentrate on your core activities. You won't be able to completely forget all about the project or its part that you have chosen to outsource as soon as you sign a contract with an outsource service provider, but you won't have to get scattered, either.
If you deal with an experienced and highly qualified vendor, you'll be able to gain valuable expertise in support of your IT capacity. Almost any vendor will surely try to set a dependency trap for you, but it doesn't mean you have to acquire the dependency pattern instead of learning everything you can derive from the vendor's expertise.
Disadvantages
So, you have finally decided in favor of outsourcing. Will it automatically make you wealthy and happy? This is far from true. Various studies show that 20% to 35% of IT outsourcing contracts are not revived after they expire. Needless to say that most customers in these cases are not satisfied with the quality and/or price of the services. Outsourcing as a nightmare was eloquently illustrated by Beth Cohen, president of Luth Computer Specialists, Inc., "There was a company in Dayton that decided to outsource much of its IT and production to a foreign company about five years ago. After about nine months of outsourcing, the company realized that there was a huge loss in quality for both production and IT support. The company decided to cancel the contract and rehire their old employees. They ended up getting most of their old employees back but at a higher wage than before. Most people would think that the story ends there. However, as hard as it is to believe, the company is actually considering outsourcing again. They think it will be different this time. It will be interesting to see what happens."
You will partially lose control over the project you have chosen to outsource. Try to make the whole process of the project implementation as transparent for you as possible.
If you need to have state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save you from the nightmare of retraining your employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment.
Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of the services you offer will allow you to expand the competitive capacity of your business. I suppose the state the IT market is in today makes this simple argument a crucial one.
Forewarned is forearmed. This is why I suggest we discuss the pitfalls expecting a business that puts out to the sea of outsourcing.
You will lose control over the project or at least over the part that you have chosen to outsource. This is the problem that frightens almost any manager who has little or no experience in outsourcing. This is the challenge any business involved in outsourcing faces. This is the risk you have to take. It is inevitable that outsource service providers should take control - at least in part - over outsourcing projects. However, they are not supposed to abuse the confidence reposed in them by their customers. In order to minimize the risk, you have to be extremely careful studying the background of your potential vendor. Once you decide in favor of this or that company and begin negotiating the contract, you should try to make the whole process of the project implementation as transparent for you as it is possible.
It's usually difficult to avoid the inherent problems of communication.
* Telephone conversations are bad enough, but email and communicating via some instant messaging program online takes even more time. You'll have to put up with an endless amount of emails to be sent and received. Besides, if you are dealing with an overseas vendor, the time zone problem will surely arise - the difference between your vendor and you may be seven hours or more. Just imagine: you arrive at the office at the same time when your vendor's employees are going to leave. The best way around this problem is to set the mutually acceptable time for online meetings and to require that your vendor should stick to the schedule. In fact, you can even benefit from the difference in time zones between your overseas vendor and you. For instance, you transmit a rush order to the vendor at the end of your working day, the vendor receives it in the morning (their morning) having those seven or more hours behind, and by the time you arrive at the office, a considerable amount of work will have been done.
* Standards of correspondence may be different to the extent of misunderstanding. If you are having any problems like that while corresponding with your potential outsource service provider, you should try to work out some standards that both of you will find easy to follow, or you'd better start looking for another vendor.
* Language and/or cultural problems might contribute to all kinds of mix-up. For instance, a lot of people knowing some fundamentals of English are sure that when they ask your opinion about something and you say, "It's okay," it means you like it a lot. Don't waste your time on foreign vendors communicating in something like "Pidgin English," and even if the person you're contacting has a fairly good command of English, ask for the resumes of those employees who are going to be responsible for each part/stage of the project to make sure they are fluent in English.
An outsource service provider might be trying to diversify the business so zealously that achieving progress in one particular area becomes questionable. The solution to this problem lies in the company's portfolio. Examine the relevant case studies and success stories, ask the vendor for references, and, if you are still uncertain, do not hesitate to check these references.
Some vendors advertise services and even take up projects having little or no experience in the corresponding areas. Apparently, they intend to farm out at least some parts of such projects to subcontractors - which certainly doesn't look very attractive to the customer. This problem resembles the previous one, and the recommended solution is the same.
Almost all outsource service providers place the highest emphasis on the most advantageous projects. It's only natural, but it surely doesn't make the life of the customers with lower profit potential easy. In order not to become a neglected customer, you should:
* insist on appending to the contract a project implementation schedule that includes as many milestones and deadlines as you find it necessary;
* stipulate for tough financial sanctions in case the vendor fails to meet any of the deadlines;
* agree on some incentive payments for completing the project on schedule (or even ahead of schedule);
* last but not least, build partnership relations with the vendor whose work you are satisfied with and whose high-value customer you want to become.
Most vendors try to accumulate as many projects as they can. It's also easy to understand. However, the burden might appear to be beyond the vendor's strength, and this will most likely wreck the project schedule, if not the whole project. If you don't want it to happen to you, you can:
* find out the scale of the vendor's operations including the approximate number of employees and customers - of course, if it's possible;
* request the resumes of all the vendor's employees that are going to be involved in the project implementation;
* ask the vendor to describe in detail these employees' responsibilities;
* follow the advice given in the previous paragraph.
An unscrupulous vendor may be simply unqualified for the project that an imprudent customer have chosen to outsource. One of the ways to solve this problem is to focus your attention on the expertise of your potential outsource service provider at the selection stage.
A number of problems may arise due to the incompetence of a customer who is a novice in outsourcing. That's right, you don't have to think that an outsource service provider is the root of all evil. Incompetent customers tend to make modifications in standards and procedures that have been long established. A vendor who knows that the customer is always right tries to implement the project the way the customer wants it, which finally leads to a total mess-up. In order to avoid this kind of situation, try to find out as much as you can about IT development outsourcing from your contacts and… from articles like this.
Conclusion
If you are discreet selecting the outsource service provider, negotiating the contract, and monitoring the project implementation, the return on investment might be the greatest you have ever had.
Will outsourcing IT development really profit your business? Uh, maybe yes, or maybe no. In other words, it depends.
If you don't possess in-house expertise and/or budget necessary to implement a vital IT development project, outsourcing it - in full or in part - to an outside company seems to be the best solution you can find.
However, you should be discreet selecting the vendor, examining the vendor's expertise, negotiating the contract, and monitoring the project implementation. In this case, outsourcing IT development will be rewarding, and the return on investment might be the greatest you have ever had.
If your experience and budget allow you to cope with a task, you should do it yourself. Otherwise, it's about time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing.
IT development outsourcing isn't much different than any other kind of outsourcing. When you face an insistent need to start a new IT development project, you have to weigh your current in-house capacity first. If your experience and budget allow you to cope with the task without resorting to any outside expertise, you should probably take full advantage of your potential and do it yourself. However, if there's danger that you'll bite off more than you can chew, it's about time to consider the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing.
Advantages
Basically, outsource service providers offer you higher quality services at a lower cost. This makes the advantages of IT development outsourcing obvious, so let's have a look at just a few of them.
Outsourcing IT development is a most effective way to stretch your budget. When managers plan IT development outsourcing, they usually make it their aim to cut down the company's expenditures by 30%. This is a figure that speaks for itself. Of course, there's always the risk of failure, but if you outsource prudently, you'll afford to implement projects of such a scale that would be impossible for you to reach on your own.
Outsource service providers offer you higher quality services at a lower cost. Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of your services will expand the competitive capacity of your business.
If you need to have state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save you from the nightmare of retraining your employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment.
Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of the services you offer will allow you to expand the competitive capacity of your business. I suppose the state the IT market is in today makes this simple argument a crucial one.
When you outsource IT development to an outside company, you can concentrate on your core activities. You won't be able to completely forget all about the project or its part that you have chosen to outsource as soon as you sign a contract with an outsource service provider, but you won't have to get scattered, either.
If you deal with an experienced and highly qualified vendor, you'll be able to gain valuable expertise in support of your IT capacity. Almost any vendor will surely try to set a dependency trap for you, but it doesn't mean you have to acquire the dependency pattern instead of learning everything you can derive from the vendor's expertise.
Disadvantages
So, you have finally decided in favor of outsourcing. Will it automatically make you wealthy and happy? This is far from true. Various studies show that 20% to 35% of IT outsourcing contracts are not revived after they expire. Needless to say that most customers in these cases are not satisfied with the quality and/or price of the services. Outsourcing as a nightmare was eloquently illustrated by Beth Cohen, president of Luth Computer Specialists, Inc., "There was a company in Dayton that decided to outsource much of its IT and production to a foreign company about five years ago. After about nine months of outsourcing, the company realized that there was a huge loss in quality for both production and IT support. The company decided to cancel the contract and rehire their old employees. They ended up getting most of their old employees back but at a higher wage than before. Most people would think that the story ends there. However, as hard as it is to believe, the company is actually considering outsourcing again. They think it will be different this time. It will be interesting to see what happens."
You will partially lose control over the project you have chosen to outsource. Try to make the whole process of the project implementation as transparent for you as possible.
If you need to have state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save you from the nightmare of retraining your employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment.
Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of the services you offer will allow you to expand the competitive capacity of your business. I suppose the state the IT market is in today makes this simple argument a crucial one.
Forewarned is forearmed. This is why I suggest we discuss the pitfalls expecting a business that puts out to the sea of outsourcing.
You will lose control over the project or at least over the part that you have chosen to outsource. This is the problem that frightens almost any manager who has little or no experience in outsourcing. This is the challenge any business involved in outsourcing faces. This is the risk you have to take. It is inevitable that outsource service providers should take control - at least in part - over outsourcing projects. However, they are not supposed to abuse the confidence reposed in them by their customers. In order to minimize the risk, you have to be extremely careful studying the background of your potential vendor. Once you decide in favor of this or that company and begin negotiating the contract, you should try to make the whole process of the project implementation as transparent for you as it is possible.
It's usually difficult to avoid the inherent problems of communication.
* Telephone conversations are bad enough, but email and communicating via some instant messaging program online takes even more time. You'll have to put up with an endless amount of emails to be sent and received. Besides, if you are dealing with an overseas vendor, the time zone problem will surely arise - the difference between your vendor and you may be seven hours or more. Just imagine: you arrive at the office at the same time when your vendor's employees are going to leave. The best way around this problem is to set the mutually acceptable time for online meetings and to require that your vendor should stick to the schedule. In fact, you can even benefit from the difference in time zones between your overseas vendor and you. For instance, you transmit a rush order to the vendor at the end of your working day, the vendor receives it in the morning (their morning) having those seven or more hours behind, and by the time you arrive at the office, a considerable amount of work will have been done.
* Standards of correspondence may be different to the extent of misunderstanding. If you are having any problems like that while corresponding with your potential outsource service provider, you should try to work out some standards that both of you will find easy to follow, or you'd better start looking for another vendor.
* Language and/or cultural problems might contribute to all kinds of mix-up. For instance, a lot of people knowing some fundamentals of English are sure that when they ask your opinion about something and you say, "It's okay," it means you like it a lot. Don't waste your time on foreign vendors communicating in something like "Pidgin English," and even if the person you're contacting has a fairly good command of English, ask for the resumes of those employees who are going to be responsible for each part/stage of the project to make sure they are fluent in English.
An outsource service provider might be trying to diversify the business so zealously that achieving progress in one particular area becomes questionable. The solution to this problem lies in the company's portfolio. Examine the relevant case studies and success stories, ask the vendor for references, and, if you are still uncertain, do not hesitate to check these references.
Some vendors advertise services and even take up projects having little or no experience in the corresponding areas. Apparently, they intend to farm out at least some parts of such projects to subcontractors - which certainly doesn't look very attractive to the customer. This problem resembles the previous one, and the recommended solution is the same.
Almost all outsource service providers place the highest emphasis on the most advantageous projects. It's only natural, but it surely doesn't make the life of the customers with lower profit potential easy. In order not to become a neglected customer, you should:
* insist on appending to the contract a project implementation schedule that includes as many milestones and deadlines as you find it necessary;
* stipulate for tough financial sanctions in case the vendor fails to meet any of the deadlines;
* agree on some incentive payments for completing the project on schedule (or even ahead of schedule);
* last but not least, build partnership relations with the vendor whose work you are satisfied with and whose high-value customer you want to become.
Most vendors try to accumulate as many projects as they can. It's also easy to understand. However, the burden might appear to be beyond the vendor's strength, and this will most likely wreck the project schedule, if not the whole project. If you don't want it to happen to you, you can:
* find out the scale of the vendor's operations including the approximate number of employees and customers - of course, if it's possible;
* request the resumes of all the vendor's employees that are going to be involved in the project implementation;
* ask the vendor to describe in detail these employees' responsibilities;
* follow the advice given in the previous paragraph.
An unscrupulous vendor may be simply unqualified for the project that an imprudent customer have chosen to outsource. One of the ways to solve this problem is to focus your attention on the expertise of your potential outsource service provider at the selection stage.
A number of problems may arise due to the incompetence of a customer who is a novice in outsourcing. That's right, you don't have to think that an outsource service provider is the root of all evil. Incompetent customers tend to make modifications in standards and procedures that have been long established. A vendor who knows that the customer is always right tries to implement the project the way the customer wants it, which finally leads to a total mess-up. In order to avoid this kind of situation, try to find out as much as you can about IT development outsourcing from your contacts and… from articles like this.
Conclusion
If you are discreet selecting the outsource service provider, negotiating the contract, and monitoring the project implementation, the return on investment might be the greatest you have ever had.
Will outsourcing IT development really profit your business? Uh, maybe yes, or maybe no. In other words, it depends.
If you don't possess in-house expertise and/or budget necessary to implement a vital IT development project, outsourcing it - in full or in part - to an outside company seems to be the best solution you can find.
However, you should be discreet selecting the vendor, examining the vendor's expertise, negotiating the contract, and monitoring the project implementation. In this case, outsourcing IT development will be rewarding, and the return on investment might be the greatest you have ever had.
The great expectations for 2007
The year 2006 closes today with a number of milestones achieved in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) front but also not without challenges standing in the way of development of the sector.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
The great expectations for 2007
The year 2006 closes today with a number of milestones achieved in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) front but also not without challenges standing in the way of development of the sector.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
The great expectations for 2007
The year 2006 closes today with a number of milestones achieved in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) front but also not without challenges standing in the way of development of the sector.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
The new year is expected to take off on a high ICT note, what with plans that are underway to connect Kenya to an optic fibre cable from the port of Sudan via Ethiopia by February.
The cable, which is just 100 kilometres from Moyale town, will be linked to Nairobi through Telkom Kenya’s digital microwave link.
The connection is expected to reduce transaction costs of telecommunication players now utilising satellite technology to link with outside world.
This is expected to be a major boost to the business process outsourcing industry, which is now in its infancy in the country. Kenya is likely to see the emergence of call centres and data processing outfits once the fibre optic cable is in place, and once the Communications Commission of Kenya tackles touchy issues relating to licensing.
The cost of telecommunication has come down this year following the launch of the Voice Internet Protocol (VoIP) services and award of International Gateway licences to the two mobile networks, Sataricom and Celtel.
Mobile service provider Safaricom is expected to introduce a cash transfer service, Mpesa in the new year.
The service will enable subscribers to send and receive from 130 Postal Corporation of Kenya branches countrywide.
The service will enable network’s clients to send and receive modest sums of money (up to Sh10, 000 per transaction) and is meant to be a convenient and much simpler method of making such transactions.
Initially, the service is going to be restricted to local transactions and will be confined to Safaricom subscribers only.
Celtel, the country’s other mobile network is also expected to roll out the service, since it has applied for a licence to offer money transfer services.
As the world strives to move from the industrial age to the Information age, the local ICT sector in 2006 saw new entrants introducing new products, which in many ways took competition a notch higher.
The most recent and laudable move was the going online of Parliament, a step towards creating a knowledge based parliamentary system and an effort to make the House paperless. More interestingly, the new parliamentary web site offers information on parliament’s legislative calendar, programme of parliamentary business, Bill tracker for every year as well as information on every Member of Parliament. It is hoped that all parliamentary activities would be conducted online from 2008.
The year also saw the entry of WiMax, a new standards-based technology which stands for World-wide interoperability for Microwave Access. WiMax is an infrastructure enabling the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to traditional wired service.
Corporates such as Uunet Kenya, Access Kenya and Kenya Data Networks joined the WiMax scene and intend to invest up to Sh45 million in this infrastructure to enable them deploy an Internet Protocol (IP) based network for its clients.
This technology threatens to replace a number of existing telecommunications infrastructures. For instance in a fixed wired configuration, it can replace a telephone company’s copper wire networks, cable television coaxial cable infrastructure while offering Internet Service Providers (ISP) services.
In September, Nairobi hosted the United Nations e-government forum for local authorities. The workshop took stock on the achievements so far made at the local authorities’ level in terms of adoption of e-governance and enabled the sharing of knowledge and experiences and also development of co-operation channels.
The launch of digital wireless television by Oxygen Television Network set the stage for Kenyans to enjoy affordable international entertainment programmes. Being the first wireless digital terrestrial in the east and central Africa region, Oxygen TV network went on air on September 1 after successful trials, which showed that 89 per cent of the viewers were happy with the extra channels and were most captivated by the crystal clear picture reception and sound.
The rise in electronic waste was a concern that topped the government agenda in the year, causing it to seek for ways to control the entry of obsolete electronic gadgets especially computers. The government grappled with what to do with the obsolete computers currently in use in many public and private institutions. This issue arose as reality dawned that the latest Windows XP 2007 could not be installed on Pentium 2 or 3 computers. This latest version of Microsoft’s Windows series can only be installed in Pentium 4 computers and above.
Fixed line telephone operator, Telkom Kenya launched a wireless telephony service to compete with mobile telephone operators Celtel and Safaricom. Unlike Safaricom and Celtel that use GSM cards, the Telkom wireless service uses a RUIM card. A RUIM card is a removable ID chip. Telkom Wireless was launched at a cost of Sh1,000 while SMS services cost Sh2.50 within the Telkom Network.
Popote Wireless, a firm offering wireless internet and telephony services also made its entry into the local market, rivalling Internet Service Providers (ISP) and mobile telephone service operators and fixed line telephone operators.
The firm provides superior services such that they allow people to connect to the Internet using radio waves instead of phone lines. Popote fixed wireless service gives a connection that is far more superior than ordinary landlines. Being wireless, the connection remains unaffected by cable cuts and rains.
A wireless phone installed at your location is connected to a transmitter mounted at an appropriate location on your house or building. The transmitter sends signals to one of its towers which is then sent out to the Internet.
The information from the Internet is then sent back to the tower and sent back to your transmitter and then to your radio and finally to your computer. Sounds like a long and slow process? Wireless Internet is very fast and can transmit information hundreds of times faster than a normal dialup account.
At the end of the year, ICT was clearly in the picture as the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education were released.
Instead of the bulky documents that hitherto used to be delivered to the Minister for Education at Jogoo House by the examinations council, this time everything was reduced to a CD.
At the same time, a faster way for parents to check results was inaugurated via SMS and the web portal of the exams council.
It is expected that ICT will again come to the fore later in 2007, when elections are expected to be conducted mostly on the latest technology platform.
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