Realities and imperatives of the digital age

“Indeed, as Asian digital communities – from Chennai to Chengdu to Cairns – increasingly spend time consuming information and dynamic content from online sources, we are witnessing a shift in magnitude in how companies need to plan and manage communications for the future. The possibilities are exciting”. – Bob Pickard, Asia-Pacific president and CEO, Burson-Marsteller (BM).

I was in the information technology business for 25 years. I never dreamt that I would see the profound transformation that our region is undergoing as a consequence of the rapid uptake of what we now call information and communications technology (ICT). This view was reinforced by two reports that I have recently read: Burson-Marsteller’s Asia-Pacific Social Media Infographics (just released in August) and the UN e-Government Report 2010.

B.M.’s Infographics covered 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific, while the “UN e-Government Report 2010” ranked 192 countries in e-Government development.

The rise of social media

Data shows that the spread of the Internet and the growing use of social media in Asia Pacific are amazing.

Already 58 percent of Asia Pacific’s population of 3.9 billion is online – with Australia and South Korea leading at 80-percent penetration rate; and Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong rounding up the Region’s top five.

ASEAN member-states have also been experiencing spectacular Internet growth rates and reasonable Internet penetration rates. But the real story is the rise of mobile phones in the ASEAN region. Many analysts are predicting that with the increasing widespread use of smart phones, most of ASEAN’s citizens would eventually use mobile devices as the primary tool to access the Internet. The full ASEAN story is seen in this table below.

Growth Rate Internet Penetration Mobile Penetration

(2000-2010)

Indonesia 1,400% 12% 60%

Malaysia 357% 60% 105%

Philippines 1,385% 30% 85%

Singapore 206% 77% 150%

Thailand 660% 27% 120%

Vietnam 12,035% 32% 105%

Filipinos should take particular note that Vietnam has surpassed the Philippines not only in Internet growth rates but also in Internet and mobile phone diffusion.

Social networking appears to be the preferred social media activity in Asia Pacific. It is followed by video sharing. In fact, it is only in China and Japan where video sharing surpassed social networks. Blogs are also used in the region but it is only in Japan where it trumps social networks.

When it came to users, Qzone in China has the biggest number of users at 531 million. It is followed by Facebook (FB) with 132 million users in India, Hong Kong and five ASEAN countries. The Philippines and India have 25.3 and 29.4 million FB users, respectively – clearly an indication of the Philippines’ leadership in social media usage considering that we are one-tenth the population of India.

With respect to the Philippines, 30.3 percent of the 98 million population are internet users. The top five social network sites are: Facebook (FB), Yahoo, Blogspot, Bing and Sulit. Compared to Facebook’s 150 million page views (or even Twitter’s 50 million page views), mainstream media’s page views remain paltry: Inquirer and The Philippine STAR were neck and neck at 12 million viewers; CNET at 7.4 million; GMA News Online at 6.7 million and ABS-CBN News at 6.2 million. The Philippines has the largest percentage of FB users among Internet users in Asia, at 91 percent. We have moved from being the SMS capital to the FB capital of the world.

Why focus on social media? First of all, social media represents user-generated content. Filipinos (or Japanese or Malaysians) in FB are not just consumers of information but also producers of information. As a consequence, social media contributes to the decline of English as the dominant language of the Internet (Qzone’s 531 million users communicate in Chinese). Second, social media allows the creation of communities with members at a distance. As we recently saw in the FB page, “Taga UP Diliman ka kung…”physical location was a not a barrier for UP alumni to reaffirm their loyalty to the alma mater and their uniqueness being “scholars ng bayan”. And third, social media are tools for social change. The power of social media was seen in the current revolutions engulfing the Middle East. From Tunisia to Egypt, Libya and Syria, social media have become the weapon of the weak against strong men regimes. But on the negative side – rioters in the United Kingdom reportedly coordinated their moves using their smart phones and social media.

E-Government

E-Government, simply defined, aims to enhance access to and delivery of government services to benefit its citizens, transforming the relationship between government and citizens from a monolithic bureaucracy dispensing its services to helpless and powerless beneficiaries to that of a customer-focused institution providing service to an increasingly demanding and ICT-literate public. In other words, the citizen, under e-government, will represent the adage “customer is king” – after all, didn’t President Aquino declare that “KAYO ANG BOSS KO”? Moving in this direction requires not only a major shift in the mindset of our government agencies, it also requires a dramatic re-engineering of our government processes to ensure that services are delivered efficiently and effectively. For instance, this would mean linking the databases of at least seven government agencies so that an OFW does not have to line up seven times in seven different locations waiting for hours to get his/her NBI clearance, birth certificate, CHED or PRC certificate, DFA passport, OWWA clearance, etc. just so he/she can get cleared for overseas employment. The President has committed his Administration to fight corruption, by promising “KUNG WALANG CORRUPT, WALANG MAHIRAP”. E-Government makes this pledge more realistic because it reduces the possibility of corruption and leverage from processes where citizens have to interact directly with government agencies.

Former Chairman of CICT, Ramon Sales, lamented the absence of an ICT Architecture for government. We can only hope that the new ICT Office understands what that means!

The UN e-Government Report 2010 stated: “The value of e-Government will increasingly be defined by its contribution to development for all. Citizen-centricity, inclusiveness, connected government, universal access and use of new technologies such as mobile devices are the benchmark against which electronic and other innovative forms of public service delivery will be assessed.”

The same UN Report ranked 192 countries in e-Government development. As usual, South Korea ranked number 1 followed by USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Among Southeast Asian countries, the rankings are as follows:

SEA Rank Global Rank

Singapore 1 11

Malaysia 2 32

Brunei Darussalam 3 68

Thailand 4 76

Philippines 5 78

Vietnam 6 90

Indonesia 7 109

Cambodia 8 140

Myanmar 9 141

Laos 10 151

What is worrisome is that our global ranking fell from number 62 in the 2008 UN e-Government Report to number 78 in the 2010 Report – a fall of 12 spots in just two years!!!

Demotion of CICT

One wonders how the Presidential downgrade of government’s lead ICT office from a Cabinet-level Commission to an Office at the DOST that is led by an Undersecretary will manifest in the next UN e-Government ranking. It also does not bode well that the current ICT Office is still led by OICs. These are no idle musings. A key lesson that all countries have learned in the first decade of implementing e-Government programs is that leadership matters. Can one imagine Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor without Mahathir? The current US effort on open government data is led by no less than President Obama.

The presidential decision to designate DOST as the owner of ICT is a given and accepted. However, it is the collective hope of the industry that the President should have direct involvement in overall ICT policy, particularly in the implementation of key projects such as e-Government. Only then can we take our rightful place at the forefront of ICT enabled countries in Southeast Asia.

Conclusion

Whether it is smart phones, social media, e-governance or other ICT innovations, we must take cognizance of the fact that 21st century technology must be exploited to its fullest potential. The private sector understands this. Sadly, our government has failed to understand the imperatives of the digital age and its attendant outcome towards economic growth and development. The Digital Age is our future and the future is now. –Roberto R. Romulo (The Philippine Star)