Train more people in technology use - Xerox boss

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senior manager of service support at ACS Xerox, Montego Bay, Douglas Williamson, has declared that more people must receive information technology training in order to contribute to employment growth, including support for Jamaica's growing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

"What is the biggest industry in Montego Bay right now? It is the BPO industry, but what enables BPO? If we did not have access to the networks and the applications that support this BPO industry, it would not be here," Williamson said in his keynote presentation at a Management Information Systems function held at the Montego Bay Community College (MBCC) last week.

SPECIALITIES

"We need people that are able to understand the intricacies that are involved," Williamson added. "You have to have the various specialities; you have to have the developers who write the programmes, the analysts who conceptualise the designs, and the implementers who roll out the software. You have to have all of that coming together, whether it is a big system or a small system."

Williamson also noted that modern technology was constantly changing how the world functions, and that everyone must take advantage of the opportunities that technology presents.

"For the first time, human beings are going to get a picture of the planet Pluto ... that probe was launched nine years ago, and it travels three billion miles, gets to Pluto, and it is running on less power than it takes to run a Samsung Galaxy phone," said Williamson. "There are things happening around us, as far away as three billion miles away, and they are happening because people are investing themselves in technology. It is a different age, and for those who do not take advantage of it, it is going to be a challenge."

Williamson added: "Technology is literally changing the world for us. It is just for us to understand it and grasp it. I think it is important that, especially here in Montego Bay, so many people are employed in this industry today as users ... there is a critical need for people who understand the technology and can play the different roles in applying and delivering the technology."

The function was hosted by the Professional Public Relations group at MBCC in order to increase awareness of the school's management information systems degree course, which seeks to provide techniques, tools and information on how to adapt to the use of technology in Jamaica's

economic and social landscape.