PhD in Technology Management and Innovation Research Essay
Identifying Convergent Needs Across Different Economic Sectors:
A Path To Building a Robust Software as a Service Industry Summary
All existent literature investigating Colombia’s business operations and long term planning policies indicate a significantly lower than average level of national investment in Science, Technology and Innovation and major issues within the software industry.
Because new advances in the capabilities of software to solve business problems are not adopted, in part because of a protective trade regime, Colombian businesses have generally fallen behind their competitors in their ability to compete internationally as well as negatively impacting Colombia’s software service and support sector by keeping it underdeveloped. This is a major issue for Colombian businesses as logistics provided by Software as a Service is a fundamental enabling platform that impacts on the competitiveness of diverse sector activities, as well as on international commerce.
By researching information management systems currently used by specific industries in Colombia with synergistic overlaps or comparative advantages, the needs of these companies are better able to be articulated. Once properly formulated, it is able to be developed for the near future.
Through the use of knowledge and information management research tools as well surveys and interviews with the technology officers of Colombian companies, I will formulate the articulation of business needs as well as outline a specific process for implementation based upon current government human capital development programs.
From the perspective of implementation, it also will be necessary to differentiate articulation between sectoral management and cross-directions, to allow a dual vision as a sector and platform in some cases.
Area and Line
Strategy and Foresight is the area and line that will be guiding my research.
Since many Colombian companies are strategically protected due to existent trade laws, taxes and duties – their short-term vision devalues investment in innovation and miss opportunities to become more competitive (Marin, Aramburo, Velasquez).
Gaining strategic insight into appropriately chosen business operations will allow for the identification of unrecognized needs, poorly performing processes and areas where accelerated integration and modernization can occur with the highest return on investment.
This foresight, if applied, will better equip Colombian businesses to better compete internationally, encourage the development of a stronger SaaS sector. This is imperative, as in the words of PSL CEO Jorge Aramburo, “the main problem in Colombia is that there is still a huge shortage of IT people… Right now, trying to compete without software is the same as trying to compete without electricity, and the world doesn’t have enough people to make the software that we humans now need… When supply and demand are not balanced, prices go up, and that is happening in every country. The problem is serious…” (Kendall)
Problem
Colombia is the third largest provider of IT services in Latin America with more than 5,400 companies. It represents 1.19% of Colombia’s GDP. The American software industry is the most advanced in the world, indirectly accounting for more than 15% of US GDP, with compensation packages so attractive that they are able to draw the best and brightest from around the world (Procolombia).
While U.S. investment into Colombia tech companies, assisted by organizations like ProColombia and others, do provide foreign capital to these companies, it is puts other Colombian businesses at a distinct disadvantage.
Rather than Colombian nationals assisting Colombian companies become more innovative and competitive in the global market, this human capital becomes devoted to assisting U.S. business operations.
My research work would investigate the software needs of appropriately chosen businesses to provide specific insight into the direction they could develop their companies for domestic needs and. It furthermore would provide insight for how existent private-public partnerships could develop educational and retention programs to ensure the formation of a robust software services industry.
The requisites for selection are: latent comparative advantages; sophisticated demand; dynamic global demand; coordination failures clearly identified; lack of existent business investment to address them; and potential to generate dynamic clusters with transformation potential in innovative activities beyond the original central activity.
Hypothesis
My operational hypothesis is that many of the manners in which data and knowledge are currently being gathered and exploited within the United States are not being used by Colombian companies.
Because of these information gaps and the suboptimal co-ordination between appropriate stakeholders, efficiency and potential opportunities – such as reduced costs for equivalent services – are lost (Herrera & Jiminez).
By identification and analysis of current needs, it becomes possible for the articulation of new software solutions for companies to be formed.
With the articulation of specific software needs for companies that would not normally invest in such research and development, it becomes possible to outline policies to attract and maintain software developers.
Justification
The reason that I’ve chosen this particular focus for my studies stems from research into the enormous economic impact of what is commonly called Industry 4.0. Small investments in software and changes in processes are able to create large, positive cumulative effects for businesses.
Software as a Service is a major part of this qualitative shift in the manner in which business is now transacted internally and between businesses. Because of U.S. immigration policies and private sector inducements, Colombia is at a significant relative disadvantage when it comes to developing and maintaining a meaningful software sector able to provide it with initial, innovative products as well as any needed technical support.
The diversification of this sector for Colombia’s economy is imperative for its future and it’s only through an interactive sectoral framework and public-private research partnership that such innovation will take place.
Objectives
Objective 1: Identification of the sectors that will most benefit from applied research and development into their software needs.
Objective 2: Identification of the derived demands within complementary sectors to determine the common technological desire and requirements.
By focusing on a select core of diverse sectors that are part of a cluster strategy, this will generate the opportunity to develop the outline of the technological services and tools that these businesses could use.
Objective 3: Defining a specific long-term vision, shared between the relevant actors, on the human capital factor within which actions aimed at developing and strengthening skills and capabilities can be framed.
Scope
The primary source for my investigation will be businesses currently operating in Medellin and secondarily from Bogota.
The main novelty of my research will be the benchmarking of current usage of software as a service; the determination of their overlapping demands; the formulation of a methodology that, once applied, would best to fulfil these needs; and transmitting to existent institutions in charge of such development the means for implementing such a project.
Relevance
There are many stakeholders that will benefit from my research project as it is fundamentally conceived of as a means of contributing to Colombia’s existent economic and developmental plans as well as regional and sectoral and institutional agendas.
MinTIC, DNP and Colciencias are three of the national governmental agencies that will generally benefit from having this research completed. This is because the project described herein feeds in to Colombia’s National Development Plan 2014 – 2018 and the Programa de Transformatcion Productiva developed by the Ministry of Commerce.
By researching and formulating the specific technological needs of various synergistic economic sectors, these local and national government actors can use my research as a means for informing the shape of public and private investment; business incentives; the projected needs of educational programs to be developed; etc.
The Administrative Planning Department of Medellin, Ruta N and other Medellin-specific CT+I and planning organizations will benefit more specifically given that the research focus will predominantly be on companies in Medellin.
Local private businesses that are within the specifications of the research proposal will also see benefits accrue to them in the form of engagement with best practices and, in the near future, articulated needs.
References
Principles for an Innovation and Competitiveness Strategy for Colombia.
Eduardo Bitrán, José M. Benavente, Claudio Maggi
Colciencieas
http://www.colciencias.gov.co/sites/default/files/innovation-2016.pdf
Declaracion de Importancia Estrategica del Proyecto de Apoyo a la Formacion del Capital Humano Altamente Calificado en el Exterior
Consejo Nacional de Politica Economica y Social Republica de Dolombia – Departamento Nacional de Planeacion.
http://www.colciencias.gov.co/sites/default/files/3835-conpes-formaciondealtonivel.pdf
Promoting the Development of Local Innovation Systems: The Case of Medellin, Colombia.
https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/OECD%20LEED%20Policy%20Review_Medellin_EN_.pdf
OECD LEED Policy
The Growing $1 Trillion Economic Impact of Software
https://software.org/wp-content/uploads/2017_Software_Economic_Impact_Report.pdf
Implementacion de SaaS por Parte de las MiPyMEs En Colombia: Caso Aplicado en el Sector de Sistemas Hidraulicos y Equipos de Bombeo.
Maira Alejandra Plazas Herrera and Fabian David Romero Jiminez
http://repository.ucatolica.edu.co/bitstream/10983/8462/4/Tesis-%20SAAS.pdf
Kendall, M. (2018, April 20)CEO View: Let’s Face It, Colombia and its Neighbors Have a Massive Problem. Retrieved from http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/colombia-massive-talent-english-problem/
Colombia’s IT Industry Continues to Gain Traction in North America as More Investors Fix Their Eyes On The Country.
ProColombia
The Growth of the Software Industry in Colombia: A Systemic Analysis
Sindy Johana Martínez Marín, Santiago Arango Aramburo, Jorge Robledo Velásquez
Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia
http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1794-12372015000100009
Services Sector in Colombia: Relationship Between Innovation and Internationalization.
Suelen Emilia Castiblanco Moreno, Ofelia Patricia Castro Castell, Adriana Patricia Gómez Ramírez35
http://ojs.uac.edu.co/index.php/dimension-empresarial/article/view/927/pdf_91