MaSSSoftech

The Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Aggrey Awori, has halted the process of procuring a firm to manage the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and E-Government Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) project.

According Mr Awori, the reasons for halting the process is based on the need for the involvement of National Information Technology Authority - Uganda (NITA-U).

“As you are aware, the National Information Technology Authority- Uganda (NITA-U) has been operationalised. The Board of Directors has been appointed and has already started carrying out their duties. The appointment of the Executive Director is being handled by the Board and the Minister. One of the key functions of NITA-U is to manage the government Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure including the NBI/EGI,” Mr Awori wrote to the ministry permanent secretary September 3.

He added “I am aware that the ministry has started the process of procuring a firm to manage the NBI/EGI. However, since NITA-U will be directly responsible for managing the NBI/EGI, it is essential that it participates in the process of procuring the said firm. Secondly, we need to rectify the damages that were caused on the optic fibre in Phase I in order to make NBI/EGI fully functional and in view of the above, I am asking you to halt the process of procuring a firm to manage the NBI/EGI on behalf of government until the two have been sorted out.”

However, Sunday Monitor, has learnt that Mr Awori on July 31 wrote to the manager Huawei Technologies confirming that his ministry had accepted Comtel Integrators Africa Limited, to be Microsoft partner in the NBI/EGI project .
“Further to our previous discussion and correspondence about Microsoft software for NBI/EGI, I wish to confirm that my ministry has accepted the nomination of Comtel Integrators Africa Limited to be the Microsoft partners in the NBI/EGI project, after the due diligence. You are authorised to start working with them expeditiously so that this project can be operational,” Awori wrote. But in choosing Comtel there are suspicions of conflict of interest because a senior manager at Comtel sits on the NITA-U board. Sources further allege that the ministry awarded this tender to Comtel in violation of government procurement guidelines that demand that such transactions be advertised.

Last week, this paper reported that there was a fight for senior jobs at NITA-U with Mr Ambrose Ruyooka, a commissioner in the ministry, being dropped from the board. But Mr Awori last week dismissed the rumours that he sacked Mr Ruyooka saying “There is no evidence to show that I sacked him apart from a letter I wrote to him discontinuing him from National Information Technology Board. The truth is that Mr Ruyooka was on two boards…”.

Following our story, the ministry appointed Mr Andrew Lutwama as an interim chief executive officer of the authority. Mr Edward Baliddawa, former chairman of the ICT committee in Parliament but now an ordinary member of the same committee expressed dismay at what is happening in Mr Awori’s domain.
“What is contained in the reports is disturbing and of great concern to all of us in the ICT fraternity, but more so to all of those colleagues who did unreservedly contribute to the process of the successful enactment of the NITA-U Act 2008” Mr Baliddawa’s email posted on I-network, a social networking forum for ICT specialists and which this paper saw on Tuesday. He further noted that “after considering all the contributions, the House passed a law establishing

NITA-U and gave specific guidelines as to the operationalisation of NITA. For example, the law is very specific on who should sit on the Board of NITA and how the Executive Director shall be chosen. The law specifies that among the 7 Board Members, the Ministry of ICT shall be represented by the Commissioner for IT.

When I read in the papers that Mr Ruyooka Ambrose had been appointed on the Board, my understanding was that he had been seconded on the Board on the basis that he was an Acting Commissioner for ICT in the Ministry. Membership on the board is on the portfolio he was holding and not as a person in the name of Ruyooka. I find it strange too; that the minister was never informed that Mr Ruyooka was on another Board although in the law this is not a basis for rejection.”

A better operating performance and favourable currency movements help fetch the tech major better margins.
Infosys posted a 50 basis points increase in operating margins in the September 2009 quarter to 34.6 per cent, surprising the Street which had pencilled in a drop in margins, anticipating higher investments in sales and marketing. A better utilisation rate, up 300 basis points, together with a more favourable offshore:onsite ratio helped push up margins.

The Infosys management, however, remains cautious on margins, indicating it’s possible the 8 per cent increase in wages and salaries for offshore employees and the 2 per cent hike for onsite employees could hurt margins by about 200 basis points over the next couple of quarters. That is, however, not something to be concerned about, because with volumes recovering — up 2.3 per cent sequentially — compared with a fall in the June 2009 quarter, the outlook for the top tier technology firms now appears distinctly brighter.

Better volumes and favourable currency movements helped Infosys post an increase in dollar revenues of just under 3 per cent in the September 2009 quarter. Pricing, which came off by about one per cent, is still a bit of a concern, with the management indicating an upside could be some time away though right now pricing was stable. Nevertheless, the fact that Information Technology (IT) budgets aren’t coming off and are either flat or seeing a slight increase, has perhaps prompted the Infosys management to up its revenue guidance for 2009-10 by about 3 per cent to between $4.6-4.62 billion.

Even if budgets aren’t upped, it’s possible, say industry watchers, that Indian IT firms will gain as customers consolidate vendors. The good news is that the BFSI vertical, to which the bigger IT firms have a fairly large exposure, seems to have seen off the worst. Moreover, there’s traction in some other spaces, like telecom.

That was evident in the fact that Infosys managed to add 35 new clients during the quarter; at the same time the firm was also able to mine its top clients better. At Rs 2,178, the stock trades at 18.8 times estimated 2010-11 earnings and unless the rupee strengthens significantly or is very volatile, does hold at least a 15 per cent upside from current levels.

SAN FRANCISCO, October 10 (AFP) – Information technology (IT) will generate 5.8 million new jobs in the coming four years, according to research released Sunday by International Data Corporation, or IDC.

IDC predicts that the IT industry will help economies out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3% annually.

"Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace," said Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) chief executive Steve Ballmer.

"In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth."

US software giant Microsoft sponsored the IDC research into the impact of IT in 52 countries that represent 98% of the global IT-spending.

"IT spending growth is a good sign as we come out of the recession," Microsoft Corporate Affairs communications manager Scott Selby said.

Employment growth in IT related jobs will be three times that of overall job growth in what Selby said is a "good driver of economic growth."

While the world has been in the grip of a recession, it has also been in the midst of a "technology renaissance," flush with advances in software, devices, and Internet-based services, according to IDC.

IDC expects IT spending in the countries studied to grow at slightly more than 3% annually, three times as fast as gross domestic product between now and 2013.

In good news for Microsoft, spending on software is predicted to grow faster than overall IT spending, rising 4.8% annually.

"Software is a driving force behind this IT growth," Selby said. "IT allows us to do more with less."

New technologies are also ushering in a new "cloud computing" paradigm, in which applications are provided online as services instead of as software bought and installed on home or office machines, according to IDC.

Money saved by using software as needed "in the cloud" instead of buying, maintaining, and updating applications will likely be devoted to bringing new products or services to market faster and cheaper, according to Selby.

IDC estimates that cloud services could add $800 billion in net new business revenues between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013.

"Over the past 20 years, we've seen transformative power in how investments in IT innovations foster economic growth," said Robert D. Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, D.C.

"Continued innovation and investment in information technology will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new businesses."

More than half of US companies do not allow employees to visit social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter while at work, according to a new survey.

Fifty-four percent of the chief information officers (CIOs) for 1,400 companies surveyed across the United States said workers were "prohibited completely" from visiting social networks while on the job.

Nineteen percent said employees were allowed to visit social networks "for business purposes only" while 16 percent said they allowed "limited personal use."

Ten percent of those surveyed said there were no restrictions on visiting social networks at work.

The survey of 1,400 companies with at least 100 employees was released this week and was conducted by an independent research firm for Robert Half Technology, a California-based provider of information technology professionals. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percent.

Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, said "using social networking sites may divert employees' attention away from more pressing priorities, so it's understandable that some companies limit access.

"For some professions, however, these sites can be leveraged as effective business tools, which may be why about one in five companies allows their use for work-related purposes," he said.

Information technology (IT) bellwether Infosys Technologies announced its results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009-10.

As is the practice, the company beat its target (guidance) it had set during the first quarter results on almost all counts. Known to be a conservative company, Infosys likes to set a lower guidance and beat it than set out a high target and not achieve it.

The company’s quarterly revenue stood at Rs 5,585 crore, up 2% from the previous quarter while it recorded net profit of Rs 1,540, up 0.85% in Q1.

The company also raised its full-year revenue and earnings per share (EPS) guidance.

Management speaks

After declaring the results, the Infosys top management comprising of CEO S Gopalakrishnan, COO SD Shibulal, CFO V Balakrishnan and Director – HR Mohandas Pai, among others, spoke to CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview on the company’s business and whether the slowdown in the IT sector was behind it.

“Customers are starting spend more money,” the Infosys management said, but added, “However, we continue to remain cautious on business.” A key challenge for the company ahead would be the volatility of rupee, it said. “The government must manage rupee volatility better.”

Infosys good numbers were a combination of better business and also internal factors, the management said. “We added 35 new clients in the second quarter and revenues from the top-10 clients were up 6%,” it said.

Infosys, which had recently hiked payscales of staff, also said the higher wages would impact the company’s margins by 200 basis points (2%).

It added that even as pricing had become stable and clients were not asking for renegotiations, an upside to pricing was still some time away.

On business ahead, it said: “FY11 [client] budgets are likely to be flat to marginally higher.”

Large corporate offices make a habit of blocking certain Web sites -- particularly personal e-mail, video sharing, and social networking sites. But, according to a recent survey compiled by Robert Half Technology, it appears that smaller businesses are locking out employees, too.

The survey of 1,400 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from across the U.S. found that 54-percent of companies completely block access to social networking sites, while 19-percent block their use outside of "business purposes." Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, noted in a press release, "Using social networking sites may divert employees' attention away from more pressing priorities." Given the recent rash of people being fired over Facebook and Twitter, we imagine such policies might also serve to protect employees from themselves.

Still, despite corporate America's insistence on blocking access to many of these sites, some studies have shown that having access to Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and even YouTube can make workers more productive. Having access to such services can provide a much needed break during the day and can alleviate the stress of being disconnected from friends and family while sitting in your cubicle. Besides, people will inevitably find a way around such restrictions.

There was one disturbing stat from the survey; one-percent of CIOs who responded didn't know their companies' policies regarding social networking sites. This leads us to believe that one-percent got their jobs purely through cronyism and nepotism. One of the responsibilities of a Chief Information Officer (the head of information technology) is to know the company's policy regarding, well, technology. And that does include social networking. [From: Robert Half Technology, via Huffington Post]

A bipartisan group of lawmakers supports legislation that would establish a database of economic bailout information to track, monitor and manage the $700 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

We applaud the efforts of Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for sponsoring H.R. 1242 and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for introducing a companion bill in the Senate, S. 910. In addition, we would like to thank Chairman Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) and ranking member Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) for their leadership in holding a hearing recently in the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The hearing, titled “Utilizing Technology to Improve TARP and Financial Oversight,” shed light on the importance of data and data analytics.

H.R. 1242 would require the Treasury Department to deliver continuous, real-time updates on the status of bailout funds in a centralized database to provide true transparency. Such detailed reporting could support TARP and allow data analysts and government specialists to instantly detect possible systemic risk, waste, fraud and abuse in the future — using software alert notifications and predictive analytics for preventing potential economic disaster.

Currently, information regarding TARP funds has been spread across 25 federal agencies that are using incompatible formats and isolated databases. This makes it very difficult for government officials or taxpayers to gain an understanding of how TARP funds are being used and allocated. The technology proposed in H.R. 1242 would provide powerful new visibility that would benefit everyone — Congress and taxpayers alike.

True transparency and accountability require the integration of frequently-updated information from multiple sources into one centralized, immediately accessible database. This type of technology is what the best companies in every industry have been embracing for years. We call it business intelligence. Such a system would deliver timely, relevant and valuable insight to the financial oversight process, allowing regulators to head off potential problems before they become big enough to threaten the system.

Gathering, integrating and centralizing the right information and making sense of it is certainly a top priority. Intelligence begins with the integrity of information in the database. Financial oversight of the scope and depth required depends on a realistic grasp of the big picture — supported by enough detail to bring attention to potential issues. This requirement would be met with the deployment of an enterprise data warehouse, which would track all data movement to and from banks and the extended TARP network while providing continuous updates to the approved users.

We encourage Congress to pass legislation and establish a database that represents the very best of today’s information technology. True transparency for effective financial oversight depends on it.