THE effective use of new business technology to enhance competitiveness is the aim of Horizon 2003 technology showcase, which opened at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston yesterday.
The exhibition, which will run for two days, will be open each day from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and, while targeted at the business community, is open to all at no charge. Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) opened the fifth annual technology show yesterday.
"It is my vision that this will become the number one technology show in the Caribbean," said Gary Barrow, C&WJ president at a pre-show presentation on Wednesday. "The focus of this year's show will be about using technology to increase productivity, efficiency and to cut costs," he said.
Horizon 2003 promises an even wider variety of exhibits than in previous years, featuring 25 leading industry suppliers from the Caribbean and North America. Among the highlights will be live demonstrations of new technologies including vehicle tracking over Cable & Wireless' GSM/GPRS network, sales force mobilisation using a PDA, and remote surveillance over the Internet.
"New technology is being created everyday to make our lives easier and to make us more effective," Mr. Barrow said. "But too often businesses invest in technology which is either not appropriate or not optimised to realise the full value of the investment."
The real challenge is to structure technology to interact with e-business processes so that business efficiency is optimised, Mr. Barrow said.
"We believe that we have the ingredients to allow you to overcome these challenges," he added.
