ORACLE holds Africa Innovation Day in Seychelles |21 November 2014

Richard Branson appears on a giant screen in the conference room of the Eden Bleu Hotel at Eden Island.
“We call the age we are living in the information age. It is not called the PC age. It is not called the smart phone age. It is not called the internet age. It is called the information age” we hear him saying.

Has the writer and actor and guru of entrepreneurship come to Seychelles to share his expertise and vast experiences? This would have been most welcoming as we will recall that, the adventurer who has sailed and flown around the world is the owner of the Virgin Group which includes over 360 companies counting Virgin Atlantic Airlines and Virgin Records.
 
We could be tempted to think so as with the special effects and real life dimensions, the images look live. We are however quick to realise that it is only a video presentation. The projection is only an advert, part of a publicity campaign for ‘ORACLE Corporation’, the American multinational computer technology corporation.

As viable information leads to good communication, this age could also be called the communication age. And for there to be good communication, innovation is an obligatory condition.

ORACLE has wanted to bring the innovation culture to the local ICT (Information and Communication Technology) industry. This is why with the partnership of its local partner ‘Core Technologies’, the company has organised the first ‘Africa Innovation Day’ here.

The event which has been described as “a road show of ORACLE in Africa to offer service to government and businesses” took place yesterday and brought together a group of ICT specialists and operators.  They were joined by the principal secretary in the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) Benjamin Choppy.

In his keynote presentation, the territory manager for the Indian Ocean region Luc Guilliey described ORACLE as a flexible, reliable and secure company, “the leader in key ICT segments”. He said that 71% of companies believe that innovation which increases productivity is the key to success. For this to happen however, he stressed that “we have to simplify ICT”.

For the public sector, Mr Guilliey proposed E-Government solutions and modernisation of the ITC infrastructure to improve communication, service delivery, transparency and overall efficiency.  

He said that E-Government will ultimately bring change and better serve citizens.

He concluded that citizens can also have access to government services through the system known as I-Government.

The managing director of Core Technologies, Jaya Nair, talked to the audience about the benefits of working with ORACLE, of which some local clients are Airtel, Seychelles Commercial Bank, Nouvobanq, and Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS). Some of these advantages are: Defining a long-term strategy, receiving sound advice, making only targeted purchasing (buying only what you need), scaling up at less cost, enjoying the presence of a partner company and benefitting from training and seminars.

“Today’s event is one which is of immense importance for ORACLE. It is a showcase of ORACLE product and services. ORACLE technologies will help your organisation and business grow. ORACLE can quickly develop solutions that allow business owners to see the results of their investments early in the project.

 If you are looking for fast results and low risks in your software implementation projects and a secure and proven platform, ORACLE is there to assist you. It will never let you down. As soon as you have a problem it will send down a team to assist you,” Mr Nair said.

The day’s work included more presentations from ORACLE and Core Technologies representatives. They talked about the ORACLE, application, solutions, and new systems.

The last topic include the use of social media for recruitment and improved performance, better business management and record keeping and easier employment and maintenance.

According to the company’s representatives, ORACLE is now present in each and every industry and can provide software solutions in every sector.

The soft and hardware and business unfortunately did not record a good turnout for the first ‘Africa Innovation Day’. Companies which and been invited and have not turned up have surely missed a great business development opportunity.