Colombian-born Claudia Bermudez grew up in a typical Latin American household in which she enjoyed shared experiences at the intersection of tradition and modern life. She recounts that her upbringing formed the basis of her values, such as working hard and earning respect which she has continued to uphold throughout her life.

Bermudez appreciates the opportunity to travel extensively after graduating from university and later working at multinational corporations in sales, marketing, operations, and logistics. She regards these experiences as key to broadening her perspectives about business and life.

She came to Jamaica to organise a UNICEF “Children of the Americas” Conference for almost a year, ultimately landing a role at the newly established Jamaican office of Intcomex. Through hard work and determination, Bermudez rose through the ranks from operations manager to her current capacity as sales and senior business development manager at Intcomex Jamaica.

Intcomex is an affiliate of the Intcomex Group, known to be the largest information technology distributor of products and services in the Caribbean and Latin America. The entity currently operates in 14 territories, including the local operation in Jamaica.

Bermudez regards her role as challenging but equally rewarding, thanks to the company’s commitment to the professional development of its employees. In addition, she is happy to connect with different stakeholders, sharing the common aspects of Jamaican and Colombian cultures.

A typical day in Bermudez’s capacity at Intcomex is focused heavily on business development. She noted that the role entails engaging Intcomex’s customers and value-added resellers and forming relationships with end-user companies and individuals through consulting and advisory services. Bermudez’s job allows her to connect with people to intimately understand their needs and find technology solutions to improve operational efficiency and thrive in the digital First World.

She asserted that the novel coronavirus pandemic forged a greater need for digital transformation, accessing and arranging the logistics of receiving devices needed for commercial and educational purposes. However, the challenges were also an opportunity for Jamaica to be more proactive about being digitally enabled across all sectors.

Bermudez believes that access to digital technologies and becoming a digital society are interrelated. She is convinced that an entirely digitally enabled ecosystem comprises technological and communication infrastructure, accessibility to the Internet, development of digital platforms, and the development of skill sets to start and grow digital economies.

Bermudez added that to achieve this, “sectoral leadership” is required, whereby industry leaders use their access to data and insights and influence to champion the transition to a digital society. The business development manager insists that mobilising technology-focused strategies and skill sets for digital transformation will be critical.

She sees Jamaica’s institutional capabilities are innately available in the ICT sector, but recognises the need for an investment in digital literacy to retain talent by allowing the individuals to adapt to these new technologies to work in the future.

As vice-president of advocacy and governance at the JTDA, Bermudez focuses on peer advocacy within the ICT sector by taking an inclusive approach to representing the interests of the technology community. She is convinced that this will provide the community with the opportunity and the platform to contribute to enabling a digitally empowered Jamaican society through their businesses and individual talents.

Ultimately, Bermudez wants to continue making tangible contributions to the sector by working towards “pushing the envelope” to integrate technology in the education sector, which she believes will have a global impact.