SMALL and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the Caribbean will in May have the opportunity to learn how to maximise the use of available modern technology to effectively compete in the global marketplace at the Central Information Technology Office (CITO) fifth annual Regional Summit at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

The two-day summit that will run from May 7 to May 8 is being held under the theme "E-powering Business-maximising the opportunity".

During the launch Monday at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston, Dainsworth Richards, acting CEO of CITO, said the summit will target business leaders and decision makers in the private and public sector, helping them to understand modern technology in terms of how to use it effectively to improve efficiency and increase productivity.

"We sought to bring forth an event aimed at delivering on closing the gap and leading to an increase in business productivity and results," Richards said. "We are here to raise awareness and deliver some new value, new understanding, new concepts that will change the way business is done."
The CITO summit is supported largely by private sector partnerships. These partners will serve as mentors for the SME.

"We want to focus on matching the resources that are sitting in this room with many companies with diverse schemes, diverse focus, diverse resources to deliver ICT solutions and products and services to companies that need those resources especially the young companies out there," he said.

At the same time, Richards said the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC), which provides business and technical support services, has pledged to support the summit since it is currently engaged in aspects of information and communications technology that can be passed on to the participants.

"The point is that we are looking for those young enthusiastic leaders of the future, many who are clientele of the JBDC who represent an excellent opportunity and would like to come on board," Richards added.

Richards also pointed out that the topic for the summit was chosen to serve as a launching pad for the to E-powering Jamaica 2012 national ICT strategy.

"One of the critical platforms is about how can we in practical ways, do business, change the way business is done, and change the impact that it has on the economy, resulting in growth in the economy and leveraging ICT development," Richards explained.

Meanwhile, Clive Mullings, minister of energy mining and telecommunications labelled the summit a critical map towards development.

"The summit is very critical .we have to understand where we are, where we need to go and once we understand that broad framework, then government can work together to achieve that aim critical for us to learn from each other," he said, adding that a synergy between the government and the private sector and the government is key in order for advancement in ICT. "For far too long, we have focused on what the possibilities are, for far too long we have been amazed by what technology can do and we sit on our verandahs and discuss the possibilities and then .and then five years pass."

He added: "One of the problems we find is that there is a lack of technical capacity and especially now as a globalised world is open for us in terms of the economic policies agreements and so on. If we are not ready, we won't be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are there."

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