Plaudits for ICT sector

BRUNEI has an "impressive" private sector ICT industry as everything can be accessed through the local industry players, remarked the CEO of an Australian organisational-optimisation consultancy firm on Thursday during a workshop to bolster Brunei and India cooperation in ICT.

Brian Galbraith, CEO and Lead Consultant of Perth-based Optimise International, has been working with Brunei for the past three years and has had the chance to familiarise himself with elements of the ICT industry here "very, very well". "I have to say that this is an impressive private sector ICT industry. In my opinion there is nothing that the government or the rest of Brunei needs that cannot be accessed through the local industry," he said.

"The industry is impressive because of the local people involved, because of its capacity, its commitment, (and) its passion. The industry is growing; its professional organisation is expanding from quite small beginnings to substantial organisation now," he added.

He said that in addition to local people and content, many of the local industry players have established international connections and "therefore, can draw together any quantity and quality of resources to deliver" to the rest of the country. Galbraith was the facilitator of the "Interactive Workshop on Optimising ICT: Brunei-India Cooperation" held at the AiTi building in Anggerek Desa. The workshop involved participants from the private and public ICT sectors of both India and Brunei, who shared their views and suggestions on developing the ICT industry in the Sultanate.

Hj Yahkup Hj Menudin, Information Technology (IT) Manager at Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) Company Sdn Bhd, suggested that under the Brunei-India cooperation, India could assign experts, knowledgeable in ICT best practices, to local professionals in Brunei in order to "close the gap" between local professionals and competent project managers in the ICT field.

He said that on education, "blended learning" was an area that Brunei needs to move forward in. He had been informed that the Ministry of Education was looking into this and was currently in the entry stage.

He highlighted the need to address data security as the private sector and the country moves towards "digitisation of data". "In BSP, for example, it is a requirement that the data remain in the country, so we cannot export our data out of the country. Therefore, our information security has to be stringent in terms of who has access, who should be able to read it, and who should have a copy of the data," he said adding that this was one area India's assistance is needed.

The Brunei Times