With smart solutions, cybersecurity, and cloud services all being cited by businesses in Guyana as vital to future business growth, the issue may not be one of technology availability and awareness, but of human capital.
That’s one of the key findings from the latest research carried out by Digicel Business with business customers in Guyana.
Conducted with the top decision-makers in 117 businesses in Guyana, 53 per cent of the businesses interviewed had an annual turnover in excess of US$1 million with 32 per cent recording over US$6 million in annual turnover and 33 per cent of the companies were multi-nationals.
Interestingly with 64 per cent of respondents managing and maintaining their technology platforms themselves in-house, only 42 per cent of businesses declared themselves confident that they could secure the technology human capital required to continue to manage their ICT platforms themselves and keep up with the rapid pace of technology advancement and change.
And with 38 per cent saying that they would require a technology partner to manage their ICT requirements in a fast-changing environment, a further 13 per cent of businesses declared themselves to be “struggling” in this area – all of which points to a technical skills shortage in Guyana which, in good news for Guyanese businesses, can be filled with partners like Digicel Business.
“We bring the technology human capital so that our business customers don’t need to. There’s a high awareness among Guyanese businesses of the fundamental need to embrace cloud solutions, cybersecurity and smart solutions in order to stay connected, competitive and customer-centric. And with the explosion of industries like oil and gas, there’s a huge demand for ICT solutions, but there’s a blocker when it comes to finding and retaining that tech talent. That’s where Digicel Business comes in. It’s our job to take the technology headaches away and free up our customers to do what they do best – looking after their customers,” Digicel’s Head of Business-to-Business Sales, ICT Sales, Nalini Vieira related.
