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Bridging the Digital Divide and Accelerating Digital Transformation Strategies in the Philippines

The Covid-19 pandemic is pushing countries to adopt digital technologies to better deal with the enormous consequences of this health crisis. Nevertheless, when it comes to digitalisation, the Philippines continues to face challenges such as an expanding digital divide and a lack of access, to name a few. Experts, government officials, and technology leaders recently convened to discuss digitalisation’s critical role in the country’s economic growth.

The online forum also launched the release of a white paper titled “Overview of the Development of the Digital Economy in the Philippines”, which was the result of a study conducted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

According to the Vice Dean and Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, as mobility restrictions and social distancing measures have limited face-to-face interaction, the availability of digital technology has emerged as a key determinant for resilience and continuous growth. He said for a developing country like the Philippines, “digital technology ensures better governance, improves the quality and reach of e-learning, and creates and/or retains jobs and industries. It could also aid pandemic response by facilitating safety protocols, vaccine rollouts, and accessible health and non-health services to curb Covid-19 cases.”

The government, he felt,  should invest in both infrastructure and people to promote the digital economy. This also includes government policies and projects that can supplement commercial initiatives to ensure equal access to technology and training for all Filipinos.

OpenGov Asia in an article reported on the CHIP framework which stands for Connect, Harness, Innovate, and Protect is to implement plans, programmes, and initiatives aimed at accelerating the digital transformation to strengthen the country’s digital economy in the new normal, said the agency. Through this framework, they shall strive for the economy to come out of the new normal stronger and more promising than before, they added.

The CHIP framework was adopted from the World Bank Digital Economy 2020 report, and it outlines and restructures the DICT’s plans and initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation of the country in the new normal.

The CHIP framework is composed of the following initiatives:

  • The Connect component contains the DICT’s digital connectivity and infrastructure programmes.
  • Harness pertains to capacity-building initiatives to upskill Filipinos for the digital economy.
  • Innovate highlights the Department’s government modernisation and digitisation projects.
  • and lastly, the Protect component focuses on the mitigation of risks and threats as the country transitions to a digitally enabled economy.

As the DICT rallies its efforts under the framework, the agency aims to enhance its plans to be more responsive to the actual needs and demands of the Philippine ICT landscape.

The Free Wi-Fi for All Programme, on the other hand, will improve internet access to bridge the digital divide and expand socio-economic opportunities for the public. The Department intends to establish a total of 10,069 live sites by the end of 2020, with 2,588 sites to be formed in government hospitals and rural health sites to support COVID-19 recovery efforts. A total of 23,100 sites are planned for this year. The Free Wi-Fi for All Programme also adapted its implementation to the most pressing need during the pandemic, installing around 50 government-designated quarantine facilities nationwide with Internet access to provide connectivity for both patients and doctors.

The Philippine’s lawmaker meanwhile stressed that “while there are people with access to the Internet, there are grossly underserved or unserved,” she said, noting that “broadband is still a challenge, considering that broadband speeds in the country average 16Mbps, which is far from the average of many countries.”

Ultimately, a technology firm added that digital transformation is an ongoing process, and the Philippines ranks first in the world for Internet usage and social media usage.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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