Dr Monica Musenero
Dr Monica Musenero, the minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, has revealed that the ongoing digital transformation in the country is spurring technological innovations among Ugandans, and that momentum must be maintained.
“All the players here, I want to encourage you to dig deeper; what do we need for that [technology transfer] to happen? What is it that we need to institutionalize technology transfer and begin to build and contribute to digital transfer?” the minister asked.
Musenero was speaking during a workshop that assembled senior records management experts and information technology experts on digital transformation at Golden Tulip Canaan Kampala hotel. The forum was organized by Coseke and partners Kodak Alaris and Rookie Ninja.
She said digital transformation is a big economic push that fits well into the National Development Plan. She added that Ugandans cannot afford to carry on in the analog mode.
Musenero said that with the presence of the internet, innovators now have access to the tools, platforms and safety measures to tap into the opportunities generated by digital transformation. She urged them to focus on technological transfer and technology development rather than mere users.
She said the time is now for Uganda to be a source of digital transformation input. She cited the progress made by Kiira Motors as an example of how far local innovation can go in digitizing Uganda.
While Uganda might be decades behind the developed countries, it is not interested in “trying to crawl while others are running very fast.”
“So, we are going to fill the gaps while we are moving at par with what is moving. We have a national strategy we call loop and leap for digital transformation. The strategy deals with ensuring that gaps we missed are filled,” she said.
Rosemary Kisembo, the chief executive officer of the National Identification and Registration Authority of Uganda (NIRA), said her organization has worked with Kodak products supplied by Coseke to digitalize data at NIRA over the years and the results have been amazing. She noted that today NIRA information is easy to access and is secure.
Josephat Macheta, the country manager of Coseke (U) Ltd, said digital transformation is a matter of urgency because it addresses risks that are associated with the way organizations and government work.
He said the risk of losing documents with important data through theft, fires and other forms of destruction is minimized by transferring data from hard or manual form to digital or soft copy for proper storing and safety. Digitizing data improves its authenticity, and puts in place better security controls that prevent the wrong people from accessing this information.
“This is why we normally talk to our clients and share with them the type of solutions that we can offer. The main purpose is to secure their records and address trust fears.”
Jeff Thuo, the managing director of Coseke Group, said the main challenge in digitization and technology is change management because technology sometimes disrupts how life has been and how things are done. Getting people to do things differently and getting people to trust the system as opposed to the physical people can be hard.
“Overtime, we have learned to take the customer through this journey of change management, how to build the system by showing them audit trails, showing them the authenticity of the system, the security features, and give them the confidence to work with the system.”
He said that automation gives an organization an edge over the competition, saves time, is cheaper and is environmentally clean.
Source: The Observer
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