Collaborative Opportunities for Icts Development in a Challenged African Environment

Abstract

The emergence and convergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has remained at the centre of global socio-economic transformations. The required ICT revolutionary technological change or productivity levels in Southern Africa is a function of both skilled labour (high technical competence) and capital for investment. Technological progress in Southern Africa can be measured as an index composed of measures of personal computers, Internet hosts, fax machine, mobile phones and television, etc., across the various member countries. The paper presents a synopsis of the ICTs indicators for Southern Africa and the opportunities therein, together with an analysis of technological progress and opportunities for ICTs development in Southern Africa. A regional ICT collaboration strategy is proposed, underpinned by best practice elements. The proposed Regional ICT Collaboration strategy largely depends on human resource development, information sharing platforms, and the degree of development of the ICTs industry and support services in the individual member countries. The design of virtual collaborative systems is a useful paradigm for the development and sustainability of virtual collaboration for Southern African countries, so that higher levels of collaboration may be achieved among geographically dispersed work groups. Knowledge may be shared between people through face-to-face or through technology, either asynchronously or synchronously, commonly known as virtual collaboration.