Digicel has been supporting HEART/NSTA Amber Coding Academy’s efforts to transform Jamaica into a tech hub in the Caribbean through coding and software development skills training, primarily targeting young people.
After a period of rapid growth, economic uncertainty, rising cases of cyber resource theft and vandalism, energy price shocks, and the normalization of consumer habits in the COVID-19 era weighed on the tech industry in 2022. While the past year has presented us with challenges to become more resourceful and resilient, we remain optimistic as we continue to see signs of increased digital adoption, significant investment impact and sustainable growth in emerging local innovations .
As we move into 2023, we expect governments and private companies to continue with many of their digital transformation initiatives, likely at a modest pace, while they factor in the lingering effects of inflation and forecasts of a global recession this year. While consumers will also consider the impact of these potential headwinds on their wallets, we predict they will still be looking for smarter devices and highly modern virtual services that allow them to live their best digital lives.
Expect a highly personalized AI experience
I predict that we will rely more on computer systems to perform additional tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, visual perception, decision making, and language translation. Artificial intelligence (AI) will become more commercialized in a way that will reshape interactions with employees and customers, while opening access to new markets in the digital space.
For Digicel, we are using AI to improve the customer experience when chatting with Ruby, our MyDigicel applications; to obtain answers to frequently asked questions; through lead generation when site visitors register, submit information, or express interest in our services.
AI is part of the broader customer lifecycle that businesses of all sizes and industries will take more seriously in 2023 as they leverage data-driven decisions to scale offerings, create hyper-personalized experiences, and accelerate products and services The pace of delivery to their customers. This is an aspect of business transformation, and our Digicel Business Innovation team has been actively working with business operators focused on going deeper with their customers.
In this regard, the government of Jamaica is also showing some encouraging signs by launching a digital healthcare management system in 2023. We applaud this effort, which, in addition to improving operational efficiency, could support the testing and development of AI technologies to respond more quickly to public health emergencies and treat a range of health conditions.
As of this writing, the latest AI innovation, Chat GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer), is taking the digital highway by storm, using deep learning to generate human-like responses in the form of text, code, poetry, stories and more. Millions of people have been taking advantage of this technology, and it has transformed the way we present information as the product of real human input. This is because Chat GPT is capable of writing and rewriting thousands of variations of, for example, a thesis topic in seconds.
“Application Opportunities” in 2023
Latest State of Mobile 2023 review from data.ai, a leading provider of digital analytics and data science for the mobile industry, highlighted the growing impact of mobile applications on consumption in verticals including gaming, retail, food delivery, ride-sharing, edtech and fintech.according to data.ai, in the mobile-first market, the time spent in apps per user increased by 3% per day to 5 hours, or a third of our waking hours. New app downloads surged 11% to 255 billion, while App Store spending fell 2%. Advertisers spent 14% more, or $336 billion, on in-app ads — another clear sign of a further shift toward targeting specific audiences based on user preferences.
As a mobile-first market, Jamaica’s app developers and businesses of all sizes have the opportunity to better position themselves in 2023 to capitalize on the global boom in consumers’ increased in-app time and spending. profit. In addition to their traditional role as customer engagement tools, apps are evolving into powerful hubs for lead generation, sales, and revenue generation.
As a digital operator in Jamaica, we have been supporting the HEART/NSTA Amber Coding Academy’s efforts to transform the country in the tech hub of the Caribbean by training them in coding and software development, primarily for young people. Through 2023, I expect we will continue to nurture the talent and digital capabilities of these budding innovators until they develop at least one groundbreaking app that will top the download charts and influence the next wave of digital interactions wave. I still believe we can get it done.
IoT and social will become more personal
Gadgets that help us manage our homes efficiently and make our lives easier were among the top Christmas buys last year. More consumers will be able to lay down the digital building blocks for their smart homes when they connect to our true fiber optic internet service. This evolution will continue through 2023 as Wi-Fi connectivity becomes standard in more home appliances. Additionally, 24/7 surveillance of homes and businesses will become commonplace as remote cameras and sensors become more affordable.
Social media will make greater use of artificial intelligence to tell short, impactful stories about our lives based on the images and videos we record throughout the day. AI will learn what our friends and followers want to see in those reels and stories by curating photos and videos on our devices. The highly engaged Gen Z audience is committed to creating more user-generated content, providing valuable insights to proprietary AI algorithms, providing valuable insights to mobile operators, advertisers, data analytics businesses, digital retail channels and app developers opinion.
Opportunities for Content Creators to Have a Larger Audience
Subscription communities already established in the digital space will become ubiquitous and influential as they develop more direct relationships with content creators who would normally follow on traditional platforms. By truly owning these relationships, content creators can also leverage new technologies to further monetize their interactions and become a valuable gateway to sales leads – the result of AI-generated insights into customer preferences and behavior.
This is an exciting field for our local content creators to collaborate and build sustainable online communities, helping them generate new revenue and grow their business models.
Cybersecurity will remain a top priority
Threats will continue to proliferate through 2023, but best practices will still provide the strongest form of protection. Cyber attackers who see the pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the vulnerabilities of homes and organizations are not giving in. Their persistence requires swift countermeasures, especially as we increasingly move into the digital realm through our banking, service delivery, business collaboration and transformation, and national utility infrastructure.
On the defender side, at Digicel, our Cyber Response teams, backed by the latest methodologies, technology and talent to address the most sophisticated threats, will remain vigilant in delivering the best defense and protection for our enterprise and government customers. We will continue to work with them to identify vulnerabilities while addressing emerging threats, even as we anticipate new extortion tactics by ransomware groups.Consumers are a major part of our consideration; through engagement around Safer Internet Day, Cyber Security Awareness Month and regular cyber security tips @Digicel Jamaica On social media, this year, we will continue to raise awareness and protection for them.
Our investment will drive Jamaica deeper into the digital arena
With our massive $200 million ($31 billion) investment in “Digital Jamaica” in 2023, we’ve made a huge commitment to making Jamaica a digital hub. To date, we’ve spent $100 million to deliver ultra-fast LTE data speeds and coverage, extending our fiber optic network to homes and businesses to more rural parishes, including Clarendon and Manchester.Additionally, we will complete the final stages of installing a state-of-the-art broadcast facility Athletes During 2023.
To date, our Digital Jamaica investment has achieved 99% LTE coverage and provided true fiber-to-the-home Internet and TV services to over 100,000 homes or over 500,000 Jamaicans. Over the coming months, we will expand our deployment and strengthen these networks as we deliver the most powerful and comprehensive connectivity solutions that enable consumers and businesses to take full advantage of the technology trends that will emerge this year.
While the life-changing impact of these investments will take place throughout 2023, we look forward to leading the industry in solving the problem of interception of stolen mobile phones on all mobile networks in Jamaica. We will also go a step further in advocating for tougher penalties for theft and vandalism of telecommunications equipment – we cannot put all the technological gains that Jamaica has achieved over the past decade at any further risk.
We believe 2023 will be the year Jamaica makes significant progress towards creating a truly digitally connected society, driven by a favorable economic environment, favorable legislation, a growing workforce of digital creators, more digital learning and Opportunities for upskilling, and progressive digital thinking.
As I bid farewell to Jamaica and its extraordinary people, I would like to especially thank our team of hardworking and dedicated employees, our customers, stakeholders and friends of the Digicel brand for being a part of our extraordinary digital journey. I am confident that by working better together, our incoming CEO, Stephen Murad, and our highly motivated team will make a positive contribution to securing Jamaica’s digital future.
— Jabbor Kayumov is the outgoing CEO of Digicel Jamaica.
Digicel uses AI to improve the customer experience when chatting with Ruby, the chatbot in the MyDigicel app.
