'Govt must focus on connected digital economy'
STRONG information and communications technology infrastructure, digital literacy, and sustainable relevant policies are the keys to ensuring successful creation of the digital economy, executives of major private IT firms said.
Vatsun Thirapatarapong, Cisco managing director for Thailand and Indochina, said that a “connected digital economy” was more important than a digital economy. The concept of connected digital economy involves connecting all stakeholders together via digital technology to allow them to interact and collaborate digitally.
“Infrastructure is the key success factor to drive the digital economy. We have to utilise exciting infrastructure and consider how much more we need to invest and to invest under what model. The government should take action on this and invite more players to join in. Large corporates might be able to join hands with the government in driving the digital economy policy. In case of investment, the public-private-partnership is the recommended model.
Meanwhile, Thai software companies should collaborate with other stakeholders and form a cluster of software developers for providing services and solutions to the government, to businesses, and even for going abroad,” said Vatsun.
He made the remark during the “National Strategy on New Economic Base: Digital Economy vs Land Link Strategy” seminar, arranged by Krungthep Turakij newspaper yesterday.
The private sector has to adjust itself to create and develop new and innovative services and products, capitalising on the government’s digital economy policy. Small and medium enterprises, in particular, should take advantage of this policy. [Digital] Human resource is also a crucial factor to drive the business and the country. Currently, Cisco has developed about 50,000 networkers through the past 10 years, but it is not enough to drive the digital economy.
Moreover, the business go-to-market model must be redesigned and redeveloped. There are new business models that have come up because of the beauty of digital technology such as cloud computing, which allows businesses to change their business model from “sales” to “service”.
Sontiya Nujeenseng, Intel Microelectronics (Thailand) country manager, said the three main factors for turning the country towards the digital economy are digital literacy, accessibility, and sustainability.
Digital literacy is a fundamental success factor for a digital economy as that provides the understanding and ability to effectively apply digital technology.
“Digital literacy is a necessary skill for the 21st century. Only reading and writing ability is not enough for people to survive in the digital era. Currently, Thailand is not ready for digital literacy. It needs to invest in basic learning [for students] and adult learning [for workers].
Accessibility [of broadband network] is the second priority for driving the digital economy policy. He said Thailand already has a national broadband plan, which aims for broadband infrastructure coverage of 80 per cent of the country by the end of this year and to have 90-per-cent coverage by 2020. Meanwhile, the mobile network, 3G and 4G, would help widen accessibility [to broadband network].
