E-verdict: slow, timid, but a promising start

By MICHAEL FOREMAN, CHRIS BARTON and ADAM GIFFORD

The Government needs more aggression in setting and achieving measurable e-commerce goals.

It also needs to realise the internet world works in three-month time-frames rather than the six months to a year - and longer - plans now being proposed.

It must also understand that constant monitoring of progress and the ability to adapt quickly to change in the market are also necessary.

Those were recurring themes from people attending the Government's two-day e-commerce summit, which ended yesterday.

Another common thread was concern about the state of the telecommunications infrastructure - in particular the growing "digital divide," not between rich and poor but between urban and rural communities.

Mostly, the Government ducked for cover on these issues, saying it was still formulating its response to the telecommunications inquiry, which it would announce midway through next month.

It was the same story on the digital divide.

Information Technology Minister Paul Swain said the Government was committed to securing internet access for all - but rather than ensuring it was available to every home, the first step would be to provide public access at community level, in libraries and maraes.

Anne-Marie Mulder, from the Dairy Group e-commerce offshoot RD1.com, said she found the summit useful in giving an overview of the fragmented e-commerce scene.

"It shows it's a wave that's happening and you are part of something bigger.

"There has been a lot of communicating of people's views, their frustrations, questions.

"People are inventing a new way of doing business."

She said the Government could do more to overcome problems within the telecommunications industry.

Hugh Mckellar, the general manager of internet provider Asia Online, said: "The best thing the Government can do is get its own house in order - get itself online: all its transactions, internal and external administration.

"If it does that, then by default it will be providing impetus and leadership for others to follow."

He was pleased with the direction the Government was taking, but would have liked more "deliverables and dates."

On improving skilled workforce immigration, for example, Mr Mckellar would have liked to see quotas, timeframes and how the right people would be assessed.

"We've just had a guy from Britain working for us - he was brilliant at internet stuff. But because he was originally trained as an actor, he's not allowed to stay.

"The rules to attract the right talent have to recognise work experience, not just qualifications."

John Quirk, the chief executive of IT systems company Mi Services, said the summit was a good start to getting the issues talked about, although its perspective was not as global as he had expected.

The e-commerce strategy was good, but should have gone much further.

"There is a problem in that business is operating at three times the pace of Government and the knowledge economy is operating at three times the pace of business, so the knowledge economy is going nine times as fast as the Government."

Long term, he said, the Government could have a huge impact in education and encouraging Kiwi children to develop talents which were highly marketable around the world.

Mr Quirk said that as a nation of exporters, New Zealand should embrace the brain-drain.

"Our people may not live in New Zealand forever but they can always come back for lifestyle, or send dollars back, or hopefully bring software projects back to do here."

Vinnie Kihirini, of the Nga Kakano Foundation, a Te Puke-based primary healthcare provider, said he came along to see how e-commerce could open up opportunities.

"To date we've looked at e-commerce and the internet as web sites. This summit has been eye-opening in the sense that e-commerce means we can take all our operations to electronic media."



Mr Kirihi said the Government should heed messages coming from the summit about the need for more e-commerce-related education and for the Government to move more of its own business online.

Dr Jonathan Tomlinson, the business development manager at Dunedin pharmacy company Express Group, said a few of the speakers were "inspirational ... particularly from overseas."

"Some speakers could encapsulate a whole internet strategy in a single phrase."

An example was John Sifionis's concept of the "global day" - people in global companies could start working on a project in London, and then hand over to colleagues in New Zealand at the end of the day.

Dr Tomlinson was not entirely convinced by the Government's e-commerce strategy.

"I'd have liked to have seen the same statement made three years ago."

Cheryl Breen-Morine, a final-year applied-information systems student at Northland Polytechnic, said she had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ms Breen-Morine hoped to do postgraduate studies in e-commerce and wanted to "get a feel for it."

She believed New Zealand should follow the model of Ireland, which has cross-(political) party agreements on information technology policy for the next 20 years.

Tarah Nikora, of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, said she had travelled from Wellington with "no expectations."

Her company was about to use the internet to enter the Asia-Pacific market, and she wanted to hear from others already active in the region.

The Government's e-commerce strategy was conservative, she said.

"They could have done a lot more, but I agree with the 'B' rating they were given by delegates at a session this morning - above average but could do better."

John McVicar, from Lignus Corporation, said he was heartened by a United States presenter's comments that business-to-business electronic marketplaces, such as his company has developed for the timber industry, were the wave of the future.

Mr McVicar said the Government must do more to encourage the growth of e-commerce, with tax breaks for research and development and building software systems. It could also reduce compliance costs for new companies.

"New Zealand has the opportunity to be a place for developing software and being an e-commerce hub. It has all the right ingredients but a Government which supports it," he said.

Simpl Group consultant Doug Bailey said the summit had included some excellent presentations "which raised our level of vision above the mundane, particularly in respect of new business models, positioning for success, the new shape of the firm.

"One corollary to that is the new shape of Government.

"The question was left begging because Government is still operating in existing paradigm and that has to be challenged."

He said the strategy document "covers most issues and at least there is now a basis for debate."

Keith Phillips, the managing director of listed technology investor IT Capital, said the Government was showing good leadership but an enormous amount was still to be done.

"The fundamental problem is that the leaders, the general managers, the boards of directors are non-information-age people trying to lead the country into the new economy, and there is a huge education process needed right at the top level.

He said new economy developers in New Zealand were channelled overseas because "business doesn't value what they do."

Mr Phillips said the strategy was very broad - "the devil is in the implementation."

IT industry consultant Doug Wilson said the summit was a coup for Mr Swain.

"His energy is catching."

Herald Online feature: e-commerce summit

Official e-commerce summit website