THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has urged business locators to invest more in technology to remain competitive, or simply be left behind.
According to SBMA chairman and administrator Wilma Eisma, the companies operating in the Subic Freeport have to strengthen their capacity to interconnect computing systems and application platforms because it is the key to meeting the growing demands in the local and international markets.
“We should always be on the cutting edge,” Eisma said.
“Investors in Subic, especially, should try to keep up with the changing demands of their clients and the global market through faster transaction and real-time monitoring,” she said.
“If they don’t think about connectivity, they’d go the way of the dinosaurs—they’ll be just as extinct as far as competition goes,” Eisma said.
The SBMA official made this exhortation at the sidelines of the first Information and Communications Technology Forum held recently at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC), where the country’s telecommunications giants PLDT, Smart Communications, Converge ICT Solution, and Globe Telecom/Innové showed off their latest products and services.
Among the new offerings by PLDT and Smart Communications were applications on cloud computing and hosting, co-location, and managed security and network services.
On the other hand, Globe exhibited its “Shopify” platform and vehicle tracker, while Converge ICT displayed its pure fiber internet system.
Eisma said the need for speed and computing power, as well as for improved locator operations and customer experience, were the reasons why the SBMA, through its Business and Investment Department for Information and Communications Technology, organized the forum.
“Things have changed by leaps and bounds in the last 20 years,” Eisma said, recalling that when she first joined the SBMA as volunteer in 1992 they were all using pagers and the bulky black mobile phones.
“Back then we thought that was really cool, but who would have known 20 years ago that we will now be chatting on Facebook, or video-conferencing on the phone?” she added.
Eisma said that in these days when virtual interface is already possible, the application of technology has become so essential to doing business anywhere in the world.
“Clearly, connectivity is the only way to go—and this is true in the various growth capitals of the world, as well as in Subic. We should be forward-looking because that’s how we will survive the competition,” Eisma concluded. (Ric Sapnu)