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The recent seventh meeting of the National Information Society Advisory Council (NISCO) was convened to discuss the e-Business Action Plan as proposed by the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology (MIIIT) and Malta Enterprise. The Action Plan consists of an array of initiatives set for the years 2005 and 2006 with the objective of facilitating ICT adoption by Maltese businesses.
NISCO brings together more than 50 stakeholders from public, private entities and civic society that share a common interest in ICT and the advancement of the ‘Information Society’. The Council meets every two months and meetings take the form of a round-table discussion where participants are invited to present their views on the subject.
The meeting, held recently at the Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC) in Valletta was addressed by Isabelle Bonello from the Information Society Secretariat; Alfred Camilleri from the National Statistics Office (NSO); Marcel Mizzi from the GRTU; Keith Fearne from the Chamber of Commerce (ITTS); and Ian Mizzi representing the Federation of Industries (FOI). Investment, Industry and Information Technology Minister Dr Austin Gatt concluded the meeting, while the session was chaired by John Gatt, Permanent Secretary of MIIIT.
The e-Business Action Plan
Isabelle Bonello opened the meeting by providing a short overview of the Action Plan. In summary, initiatives aim at stimulating the adoption of innovative business processes and at supporting new Internet enabled export opportunities. The initiatives target mostly small and micro enterprises and are categorised into three streams of activity.
‘Capacity Building’ initiatives will seek to equip the business community with the tools, processes and services that form the productive foundation of a ‘knowledge based economy’. Sector Based e-Business Roadmaps will be developed to detail the best ‘adoption routes’ for key business sectors whilst enterprises will be assisted directly through mentoring. The establishment of an e-Export strategy, e-Marketplace and Trustmarks are some of the other e-Business initiatives that are in the pipeline and are to be implemented under this stream.
The lack of awareness and knowledge that pervades the business community and the general public is going to be addressed through ‘Awareness and Training’ initiatives. Nationwide awareness campaigns will promote the benefits of e-businesses amongst entrepreneurs whilst consumers will be enticed to ‘shop online’. Training programmes tackling diverse e-Business topics specifically targeted to entrepreneurs starting or running small and micro enterprises will also be offered.
The ‘MyWeb’ ICT literacy course, a past success story in the fight against the digital divide, will be launched once again later this year. However, this time round it will be specifically tailored to reach the worker on the shop floor.
Ancillary to this, a series of ‘Support Measures’ will also be in place in order to facilitate e-Business adoption. An online business entry portal will be created to provide access to existent public services and further e-Government services will be introduced to better serve business needs.
Ms Bonello emphasised that the Action Plan, as presented to NISCO, was a consultative document and invited all participants to submit their feedback. She concluded the presentation by informing the participants that the Ministry will shortly issue a Request For Proposals (RFP) inviting parties form the private sector to express interest to partner with the Government in the implementation of the various initiatives of the Action Plan.
ICT usage in enterprises
Alfred Camilleri, Director General for the National Statistics Office (NSO), presented results of the survey ‘ICT Usage in Enterprises’. The survey investigated all the large firms (employing an equivalent of more than 50 full time employees) and a representative sample of firms classified as small or medium (employing an equivalent of more than nine but less than 50 full time employees).
Results show that a positive 97 per cent of all enterprises use ICT, 94 per cent are connected to the Internet and 73 per cent have a Web presence. Results also indicate that 46 per cent of employees use a computer whilst 30 per cent access the Internet in relation to their job duties. At contrast, the concept of teleworking is still a novelty amongst Maltese firms with only 11 per cent of employees being reported to use ICT regularly to access their work environment remotely.
Use of the Internet for ‘information search’ and ‘market monitoring’ seems to be high amongst Maltese firms with 86 per cent and 46 per cent of firms reported respectively. One in three firms (33.8 per cent) was reported to use online banking or other financial services whilst only 27 per cent, 23 per cent and 23 per cent claimed to use the Internet for ‘receipt of goods’, ‘after sales services’ and ‘training and education’.
Most of firms use the Internet for marketing purposes (90 per cent) whilst 34 per cent offer online product catalogues or price lists and 18 per cent offer online sales support. As expected, mobile Internet services are still in their infancy with only 2 per cent claiming to offer such services.
Malta fares well when compared with other European countries scoring evenly with top countries such as Denmark and Finland. Malta scores high in ‘Web presence’ (73 per cent) but scores comparatively low in ‘e-Purchasing’ (18 per cent) and ‘e-Sales’ as a percentage of turnover (14 per cent).
NSO is currently administrating a new survey for the year 2005. The new survey has been extended to include firms employing less than 10 employees. The survey will also capture new variables regarding ICT training by enterprises and the benefits and barriers to e-sales. Results will be published later this year.
GRTU’s reaction to the Action Plan
Marcel Mizzi, representing the GRTU, welcomed the Action Plan describing it as ambitious, impressive and that it should place Malta high in the European Union benchmarking exercises.
He invited the Government to avail from the GRTU communication channels which reaches several entrepreneurs and could serve for the dissemination of information regarding opportunities deriving from the European Union.
The GRTU also invited the Government to consider partnering with the commercial education providers for the provision of e-Business courses as outlined in the plan. Mr Mizzi stressed on the importance of broadband access by SMEs as an enabler for teleworking. Concern was expressed on the costs and processes involved in acquiring .mt domain names and the lack of hosting standards offered by Malta based service providers.
Barriers to technology
“Technologies are adopted when perceived benefits outweigh perceived risks. Unless there is an attractive Return On Investment (ROI) whilst resources, expertise and ancillary infrastructures are available, decisions in favour of e-Business would not be taken”. This was the main message put forward by Ian Mizzi, representative from the Federation of Industry.
Mr Mizzi described the diverse barriers entrepreneurs face when adopting e-business models. He gave an insight on cross-border barriers brought about by lack of harmonisation of legislation, lack of interoperable payment vehicles, currency risks and cost of telecommunication.
E-Business: an industry perspective
The Information Technology Services Section (ITSS) within the Chamber of Commerce (CoC) reacted positively to the Action Plan and its initiatives. Keith Fearne pledged full support and on behalf of the CoC expressed interest to be involved in its implementation.
The CoC identified financial services, port facilities (warehousing), tourism, manufacturing and trading as traditional strengths of the country which are key potential sectors that could benefit from e-Business initiatives.
He added that Malta has been one of the first countries to have legislation on e-Commerce. However, he suggested that this legislation might need to be updated so as to reflect recent developments locally and globally. He further questioned the current situation of financial e-services and debated that only more competition could yield a healthier e-Business environment.
Open discussion
Following presentations the chairman invited the floor to an open discussion.
Mr Camilleri (NSO), replying to a Minister’s question on the survey’s methodology, stated that data was captured from various industrial sectors and weighting was given against the sector’s economic strength.
On behalf of the Malta Internet Foundation, Robert Sultana, in reply to a GRTU statement regarding the Domain Name Services (DNS), stated that Malta has adopted a policy that ensures a speculation free environment. He stated that at contrast with other countries that have liberalised domain services, registering domains locally involves the process of ensuring the legitimacy of domain requests. He assured that fees charged for Maltese domains compare well with those of other countries who share similar policy. However, Mr Sultana added that in the near future an online system will be introduced and this will contribute towards a reduction in the processing time involved.
Brian Restall (MCST) referred to the action which will increase participation in EU programmes and stated that Maltese firms can only benefit from EU opportunities if successful applications are submitted. He therefore recommended that such initiatives should not be limited to making businesses aware of the opportunities but should further provide financial assistance to companies who are willing to allocate resources to participate in the programmes.
The minister’s address
Dr Austin Gatt, Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology concluded the meeting by stating that it would be short sighted to consider the proliferation of technology access and connectivity as an end itself. He strongly affirmed that bottom-line success measurement can only be ‘profit’ and added that ICT is no ‘magical solution’ but a ‘management tool’ that enables new business opportunities.
The Minister stated that a common front is needed which consolidates all initiatives and fosters a co-operative and collaborative environment. He referred to e-Marketplaces in particular as an opportunity for Maltese enterprises to join and gain access to previously unexplored foreign markets.
Dr Gatt affirmed that the Government is committed to champion such initiatives, however, it is up to the private sector to bear an entrepreneurial spirit, be proactive and rise to the challenge.
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