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Perspective |
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| ICT
And The Future Of LASU: Imperatives For The Knowledge
Society (Part 5)
- By Chris Uwaje |
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| Today,
a national reconstruction is desirable, using education,
science and technology conduit as a basis for incubating
processes to resolve many contradictions in our society
and developing a knowledge-based society, where fairness,
accountability, transparent justice and equity are enthroned
and merit abundantly rewarded.
There is need to evolve a society where machines and
simple but logic systems are domesticated and efficiently
put to work. We would require abundant courage and foresight
to pull this off and get Nigeria where it rightly belongs
the comity of first-class knowledge nations! This profile
can no longer be wished in today's world, it must be
earned and seen to be earned!
Conclusion And Recommendation
Modern education is now more or less centred on E-Commerce
Management, Internet Education, Business English, Web
Development, Entrepreneurship, Technical Writing and
Communication, Telecommunications, Human Resources Management,
Marketing Communications, Supervision and Management,
Program and Project Management as backbone to all other
traditional domains of education.
However, all these, may not be possible if the necessary
technology tools such as the computer are not provided
at the Tertiary levels of Education especially the Polytechnics.
In order to improve technology development innovation
and creativity in our universities, the followings are
recommended:
The questions that many people are now asking are concerned
with determining where this phenomenon will ultimately
lead. Predictions range from so-called electronic “virtual
communities,” in which individuals interact socially
with like-minded Internet users around the world, to
fully networked dwellings in which electronic devices
and other appliances respond to the spoken commands
of residents.
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From Digital Colonies
to Digital Empires
My prediction is that sooner or later, countries
which are incapable of learning and/or understanding
(or refuse to neither learn nor understand) the
processes of ICT (or whatever it may become and
called in the future IKT, etc), will not only
be left behind, but indeed, will become the digital
colonies of very |
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knowledgeable/powerful
nations.
It is pure and simple, there will be digital colonies,
where all is digitally regulated by external forces and
the citizens digitally manipulated to consume e-services
rather than create. Such countries will become the digital
slaves of the emerging new world.
Consequently, “Digital Lock-in” will occur
and deep down in the farthest depth of the deep tunnel,
there will be no escape. If it took 400 years for Africa/Africans
to be forced to learn English, French and Portuguese it
will take less than half a century to lock-in a nation
in the ICT dark tunnel. The only escape lies in the establishment
and development of indigenous Software applications.
Recommendations
To meet the digital challenges of the 21st Century Education
Development, LASU should consider the following strategies:
-We assume that LASU should declare ICT Capacity Building
and Infrastructure Development as an emergency, deserving
the highest priority and special budgetary |
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allocation.
Also, that Software is recognized as the engine
for sustainable growth and security of future education.
-Establish the LASU Information Technology Development
Policy as strategic imperative for innovative and
sustainable education, improved quality skills,
creation of wealth and competitiveness. Ensure that
IP Surveillance Cameras are installed around the
Campus.
-Develop a special/continuous Train-the Trainer
IT program for all lecturers as well as a universal/compulsory
IT training for all LASU students. -As from 2009,
LASU will ensure that employment of new lecturers
will be based on IT literacy with enhanced skill-sets
in E-Learning and Multimedia e-Leadership, as key
imperatives. -Empower the workforce to innovate
and become the driving |
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force of the organization, by providing major point
of policy focus for rapid IT integration and development.
-Establish effective Institutional Framework such as
Centre for Knowledge Incubation and Management, Centre
for Software Engineering and MULTIMEDIA Modeling - as
instrument for sustainable growth and investment security.
Priority Task: To Digitally Re-model Lagos State Urban
Environment as future Mega City Project.
-Develop uniform sets of standards and operational guidelines
for Campus-wide Intranet IT Infrastructure and local
content.
-Establish a LASU Data Centre a centralized Network
capable of utilizing College-Wide Intranet (Network)
as a bridge for knowledge and experience sharing and
also as repository of future campus knowledge. An Education
Portal with e-learning capabilities should be a priority
infrastructure for LASU.
-Establish an IT Strategy Action Plan (with time-line)
for Technology Lecturers focused at attaining short,
medium and long-term goals in ICT skill enhancement
as a key requirement for promotion.
-The most effective way to provide this focus is to
set up the LASU Committee on Information Technology
Development (LASU-CITD)
-Establish Knowledge Incubators through International
collaboration in Training development issues, Telemedicine
and in RD&D knowledge sharing incubator. Others
include:
1) LASU should develop a sustainable IT Policy for its
21st Century Education goals.
2) Political will is a crucial factor for the successful
acquisition, adaptation and use of Information technology
to address education and knowledge management issues
2) ICT initiatives must be founded on a multi-layer
process that includes generating capacity building,
fostering networks and partnerships among distant communities
3) LASU must strive to make education functions smart,
more efficient & accountable
4) Move beyond the exclusive use of computers and Internet
and integrate other types of media (radio, electronic-newspapers,
etc.) into the Digital framework.
5) ICT Projects must have reasonable incentives. Intellectual
Property Rights (IPRs) of Lecturers must be protected
and a self-sustaining commercial focus should be one
of the driving factors.
6) LASU ICT Lecturers should be granted a special engagement
status to establish and operate a private ICT Consultancy
for Research, Design and Development (RD&D) operational
once a week (every Friday).
7) Establish LASU ICT “Entrepreneur Incubator”
as Maters and/or Ph.D Program}
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Customer
Relations By Listening, The MTN Example
By John Awe |
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The
mood was festive at Sharon Centre, GRA, Onitsha this special
Wednesday. Music from a live band tickled the ear-drum.
Men, women, old and young in colourful attires
trooped into the hall in droves and took positions at
colourfully draped tables and chairs arranged neatly inside
the hall. It all had the trappings of a huge society wedding
reception.
But it was, in fact, a general assembly of key customers
of Nigeria's leading telecommunications operator, MTN
in the East, appropriately tagged, MTN Town Hall Meeting.
It was the first of its kind that any operator would hold
in Nigeria.
Blazing the trail as it has done in Nigeria's telecommunications
sector in the past seven years, MTN has thus stylishly
introduced the concept of constructive customer consultation
and engagement into the country's very competitive telecommunications
industry.
While the telecom industry regulator, the NCC organizes
a monthly forum for telecoms consumers to seek answers
to service related issues from telecom operators, MTN
is the first telecom operator to initiate a forum of its
own where subscribers are brought together from far and
wide to openly discuss service issues and ask executives
questions. |
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The company
has introduced this as part of its ongoing rejuvenation
of its customer relations strategy.
Experts in management and customer relations are
unanimous that a company keen on satisfying its
customers must listen to them. Professor Edward
B. Roberts of M.I.T. Sloan School of Management
in his book 'Developing New Products and Services
by Listening to the Voice of the Customer' |
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writes: “Years
of academic research, consulting practice, and real-world
experience in large and small firms demonstrate that
listening to the “voice of the customer”
is the most productive route for gaining the information
required for effective creation of new products and
services”.
MTN seems to agree totally with this. The company's
officials said the multi-party interactive forum demonstrates
just how important the company regards its
customers.
“We are introducing the MTN Town Hall Meetings
as a tangible demonstration of MTN's commitment to the
concept of customer centricity”, said Mrs Amina
Oyagbola, Corporate Services Executive in a press statement.
“At MTN we are shifting customer appreciation
and care into overdrive. Our ultimate aim is to give
our customers the best experience they can find on any
telecommunication network in Nigeria. The process began
with the aggressive expansion of our service centres
across the nation” she said.
Indeed, determined to make itself a darling of its subscribers,
MTN recently increased the number of its service centres
to 41 across the country with the formal commissioning
of a new centre at the departure wing of the Murtala
Mohammed Airport 2. The centre performs all the functions
of a service centre, including sales of MTN Starter
Packs, Blackberry from MTN and DSTV Mobile from MTN
among others. In addition, customers are able to replace
their SIMs for those who lose or misplace their phones,
learn how best to make use of mobile handsets and get
specialist advice on any MTN product or service.
MTN followed up a week later with a state-of-the-art
online customer assistance facility which runs on Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform, the latest technology
in call centre technology used in developed economies.
The centre, built at a cost of several millions of Naira,
has capacity to handle about 3.5 million subscribers.
It presents a strong alternative to existing walk-in
customer assistance centres and broadens access to help
for customers who have service issues to resolve. Such
issues can now be resolved more quickly using online
media in addition to telephone calls.
The maiden edition of the Town Hall Meetings held in
Onitsha drew attendance from the academia, military,
police, traditional institutions, cultural organizations,
religious institutions, and various trade and professional
associations from across Anambra State, among others.
The Obi of Onitsha was represented by the Ede Gbogbogaga
of Onitsha, Chief (Dr) Okechukwu Areh. And as if to
buttress the opinion of experts that customers appreciate
being consulted, scores of the representatives at the
gathering were full of commendations for MTN for initiating
the forum.
“This is a very nice idea that will yield bountiful
results in the days ahead. Without MTN calling us for
this meeting, it would have been difficult to know the
challenges it faces. It would also have been difficult
for them to get the advice we have freely given here
today as to how the network can be better. The beauty
of this all is that the people you have seen here today
are representatives of groups of people. We will now
go back and spread the news to the grassroots that MTN
truly cares and is making efforts to serve us better”
said Sylvester Odife, President, Anambra State Markets
Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA).
“MTN has blazed another trail by initiating this
laudable session. There is no doubt that the company
has received useful suggestions and feedback that will
enable it to serve its customers even better”,
said the chairman of the forum, Dr (Sir) G.U. Okeke
(Onwa), Chairman of G.U.O Group of companies who chaired
the forum.
Another stakeholder, Dr H. T. Molokwu, president of
Agbalanze Cultural Organisation, Onitsha said: “We
are happy about this initiative. Our concerns have been
tabled and we have received some illumination as to
how MTN operates. There have been very useful interactions.
MTN is clearly ahead of others and what they have done
today is another proof of that.”
The forum indeed provided a platform for MTN customers
in the eastern region to ask MTN executives various
questions ranging from the quality of service on the
network and expansion plans to corporate sponsorship
issues. A great deal of the customers urged MTN to put
more physical installations in Onitsha to provide more
job opportunities to the youths of the area.
All the questions and observations from the customers
were tackled by a panel of MTN executives drawn from
various departments. With all their queries answered,
the customers were later treated to a sumptuous lunch
before taking part in a raffle draw where many of them
went home with many branded gifts ranging from electric
iron to power generating sets.
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