It is good for people to look forward because that is the only way that a nation can plan and dream. But sometimes it is important for a country to stop for a moment and look back, considering the path already taken and whether it has been the best way to reach national goals.
For a decade now we have spoken about the need to step up the implementation of information technology at all levels in our society and within all sectors of our economy. We have made some progress, I will agree, but I wonder whether we are moving fast enough.
In an age when a message can bounce from one side of the planet to another in seconds, I believe that we no longer have the luxury to ignore the fact that we are not moving as quickly in the implementation of IT as countries around us.
That may be a hard blow to our national pride but it should also be an incentive for us to examine what is causing the slowdown and find ways to move ahead.
Yes we have a large population. This is not a handicap. Rather it means we have more hands to work and more minds to think. Of course, these hands and minds need direction. There has been much talk about creating a higher commission to lead in the area of IT. This commission should be formed immediately, led by a figure with a strong voice, advised by individuals with the knowledge and experience in the field so that national goals for IT can be developed, expressed and carried through.
As a people we love detailed discussions on the finer points of every issue. We pass resolutions from committee to committee in an endless round. In the area of IT this is neither practical nor productive. Technologies change so quickly that if it takes us a year to formulate a basic plan, by the time it is brought to fruition it will be rotten at its core. One standard year is the equivalent of four years in the field of IT. We must change our sluggish ways if we are to leapfrog our deficiencies and use information technology as an engine for growth and development.
It is terribly troubling that while we are the largest market for IT sales in the region, we produce almost nothing in this field for ourselves or for export. I hear of IT companies setting up everything from research facilities to assembly plants throughout the region but not in Saudi Arabia. I cannot believe that we do not have young minds on par with any in the Western world. I become despondent when I hear about our young men and women being forced to go to other nations to establish Internet companies or working for the benefit of IT initiatives in other countries where they are welcomed. We have been giving lip service to such issues as infrastructure and opportunity of employment. It has gotten to the point that our unwillingness to take the hard steps necessary to solve these problems is giving strong support to the economies of other nations, to the detriment of our own.
At COMDEX Saudi Arabia, look and see how many products are locally produced. Ask which technologies were developed here. Count how many vendor representatives are Saudi nationals and take addresses for local sales offices and support centers. In each of these areas you will find that the numbers are incredibly low. As a nation we have the ability to change those numbers if we have the will to do so.
