THE use of wireless technology will become increasingly important for governments around the world within the next few years, a computer expert advised a technology conference in Kingston.

Rizwan Khaliq, who, as Worldwide Business Development Leader for International Business Machines (IBM), has responsibility for supplying wireless broadband and sensing solutions to the public sector, said wireless technology had the capacity to enhance the skills of government personnel, particularly those whose jobs entailed a good deal of fieldwork.

He was speaking on the topic, 'Regional Services: Wireless in the Public Sector' as part of the Central Information Technology Office (CITO) regional summit held Friday at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

Citing the example of social care workers, Khaliq noted that instead of having to go to the office after case visits to file reports, by using a wireless device, the social care worker would be able to document his/her reports from outside the office, leaving more time for case visits.

If the office is fitted with a wireless network, then the report could be uploaded to the network.

"Those social care workers are not in the government to do paper work; they are in the government to do social services type of work. They want to be visiting as many clients as is possible per day," said the computer expert.

"If that individual has a hand held device that has case management applications on there ... he or she can pull that information down, get the case information of the individual that they are going to go see ... all that information is right in the palm of the hand."

Khaliq also observed that as technology use becomes more prevalent in the workplace, governments around the world would have to adapt, as they would have difficulty attracting qualified workers.

Citing the case of South Korea and its successful adaptation of broadband technology, Khaliq said that 15 years ago, the Asian country was no different than Jamaica in terms of the accessibility to cellular phones and with broadband range reaching only one per cent of citizens.

Now, "over 71 per cent of Koreans actually have access to broadband" as of 2004.
"That's huge," said Khaliq. "The reason that is important is because the Korean government (made) broadband access and wireless technologies core centres to economic development."

The South Korean government, he added, "realised that with the population it has, it won't be able to compete with countries like China and India on the price point of manufacturing something (but) it was going to have to compete in a global economy based on what type of workforce they put into the marketplace."

Khaliq also pointed out that any government workforce that opted to use wireless technology on a broader scale, would have to be technically savvy, understand how to harness the power of wireless technology, and be able to do business transactions at a global level.

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