The Networked Economy is Becoming the New Normal - Edet

Richard Edet, Cisco’s general manager for Nigeria as described network as crucial to driving growth, innovation, efficiency and productivity for the nation and its people.
This, he said is a platform for creating intelligent, sustainable solutions for public safety and security, transportation, buildings, utilities, healthcare and education.
Edet, in an article discussed the lessons learned from the recent economic downturn and how working closer with African governments, placing technology at the core of economic growth, and environmental and social sustainability are high on the agenda.
“New business models that came to life during the downturn will, most likely, be here to stay. Even from a go-to-market perspective, many businesses were prompted to explore new revenue channels and services,” he said.
Edet added that sustainable competitive advantages will be realized by organizations that move quickly to embrace collaborative processes and the tools that allow their employees, customers and partners to intelligently connect and interact anytime, anywhere, via any device – along with services that can save time, money and deliver better results in today’s global environment.
In moving toward a global economy, he explained that the power of Web 2.0 and social media is giving end-users the capability to share their own personal experience of the goods and services they invest in, and in many cases this offers a real time return on those investments.
“This interconnected environment of sharing knowledge and ideas helps many businesses around the world – those that are listening and engaging with their customers in one hand, and to continue developing innovating, and offering better products and more valuable services that can meet these demands, on the other.”
He opined that an economy built on intelligent technology architecture has the potential to help organizations and individuals to be productive and drive innovative collaboration irrespective of where they or their teams happen to be located.
The Cisco general manager said there is also a growing recognition in the Nigerian business community around the importance of public-private partnerships for driving economic growth and prosperity. While the private sector will play a significant role in catapulting the upturn, government and the private sector also need to work collaboratively, now more than ever.
“Technology is primed to take a leadership role as the economic catalyst. Health systems globally are challenged to meet increasing demand for quality services. In Nigeria for example, patients in both urban and rural settings, often have limited access to health care, particularly when they require specialty services or need care for chronic illness, healthcare workers are under similar pressures were more is needed from them in terms of information availability, reliable access and inter-collaboration capabilities within the healthcare facility environment.”
Edet however explained that: “In the very near future, with solutions like Cisco TelePresence technology healthcare professionals will be able to collaborate more easily, regardless of location, thereby improving both the timeliness and the quality of care delivered. Patients will have access to physicians and specialists from remote locations. The infrastructure is also ideal for applications of telemedicine such as specialist or radiologist consultations”.
He said holistic transformation can also be applied to the educational system. “Enabled by collaborative technologies that allow individuals to create, adapt and share content and best practices; by providing access to high-quality educational opportunities through public and private partnerships with educational leaders, can help create a knowledge economy by imparting vocational training to rural youth and preparing students to become members of the global 21st century workforce. In the future, technology solutions like the Cisco TelePresence Classroom will help transform the learning environment in Nigeria by providing a means to bring education to remote locations and also connect with colleges, institutions and tutors from around the world”.
Edet affirmed that intelligent and innovative use of this technology can increase productivity, reduce overall costs and ultimately help transform companies, cities, countries and subsequently, individual lives. Countries that prioritize national networking readiness can enjoy a higher competitive advantage and help capture a bigger share of foreign direct investments.