Establishing trust in ICT’s

The world has moved from stand alone desktop computers to interconnected, decentralised global networks. The phenomenal growth of the internet and the advent of mobile phones has reinforced the economic and social changes that are transforming business and society today. Billions of people now use the internet, smart phones and thousands of other digital devices that give them instant access to information across continents. In Pakistan, we have entered an age where people are aware of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) empowerment but despite its apparent advantages there is a visible reluctance for wide adoption and large-scale deployment of these technologies. A major reason for this mindset is the deficit of trust.
Trust in economic systems is even more important in today’s context of modern e-commerce where value is created through ICTs that support businesses through various systems including high connectivity, a focus on transactions, importance of information about goods and services, and richness of information.
While embracing e-commerce, businesses need to be sure that ICTs are available and functioning properly whenever and wherever they need them. At the same time consumers also need to have faith that their information and assets are safe online. Without confidence and acceptance e-commerce through ICTs will not be possible.
Confidence in ICTs is a general assessment that affects other perceptions and ultimately results in their meaningful use. After almost sixty years into the digital revolution, forty years after the invention of the magical microprocessor, and twenty years into the rise of the internet, all we need to do is build trust in ICTs. That will help large-scale ICT deployment and create vast new opportunities to enrich our lives with digital communication. So, how can we establish trust between men and machines? For ICTs to become an economic reality, we must first make systems as secure and reliable as they can be. Researchers and the ICT industry are working aggressively to create systems that will be self-managing, self-repairing, inherently resilient and secure. Similarly, governments are trying to create an environment where businesses and public can manage their growing relationship. In Pakistan, the National ICT Research and Development Fund has launched an ICT Venture Capital Fund to attract investments in local startup companies in the Information and Communication Technologies space. Expressions of Interest were sought last month. It is hoped that this fund will generate monetary resources for rapid expansion of its projects in ICT industry and will help resolve issues like lack of ICT facilities and infrastructure in workplaces, uneven distribution of existing ICT facilities, lack of robust ICT policy, under-funding and lack of ICT competencies from the Pakistani perspective.
Despite odds like low literacy rate, availability, affordability and still no coverage in most rural areas (that leaves the agriculture sector out of the ICT bracket), the use of ICTs is significantly increasing. Many companies are adopting real, high-growth, high-margin, defensible systems. Practices like financial transactions, e-marketing and video communications can be seen in corporate, education, and entertainment sectors. Telemedicine and print media are also using rapidly developing ICTs to reach out to a larger audience. Many businesses have already replaced some or all of the interaction with customers which once handled by live personnel, in the process reducing their costs and allowing users to do things conveniently from anywhere across the globe without direct interaction with a human respondent. But all this is not enough since building trust is absolute necessity.
Every organisation in the private and public sector need to believe that the time for an ICT powered revolution has come. Instead of constantly questioning, they need to seek the understanding of how the new generation of ICTs is doing what they do, what the broader consequences for business and the economy are and what can be collectively done to expand the number of innovative solutions being practiced around the world.
Adoption of ICTs, led by the industrialised west and followed by developing Asia, from institutional and entrepreneurial viewpoints suggests that institutional quality is directly associated with the trust in ICT. Building trust is easier in open, accountable and effective societies where there is a stronger rule of law, political stability, regulatory mechanisms, macro-economic balance, and above all, a control on corruption. If these guarantees are not visible, trust can fast erode as a consequence. The strength and integrity of the formal legal, political and socio-economic institutions of any country help create trust that exerts a positive influence to adopt ICT and to support e-commerce. That makes the role of governments in partnership with private sector critical to create an ICT ready society before we can hope to see an ubiquitous penetration of ICT for socio-economic development.

The writer is Deputy Controller of Examination at Lahore School of Economics. He blogs at http://logicisvariable.blogspot.com and can be reached at [email protected]