E-government for a faster, smarter world

The advances that have been made in communications networks, particularly over the past 20 years, have been so rapid and vast that it is difficult to imagine a life unconnected. Sometimes though, we do find ourselves in situations where we don’t have access to communications, and sometimes those occasions are exactly when we need communications the most. It is easy to take communications for granted until the network goes down. At times of extreme peril though, the ability to communicate suddenly takes on absolute importance. If the general population cannot communicate, the situation is bad, but if a government’s communications network goes down, the situation becomes dire.

Crisis is a well worn phrase in the world of corporate communications but in reality the crises under consideration tend to be financial rather than humanitarian. Scenarios of true crisis do not bear thinking about, though responsibility rests with governments to think long and hard about exactly the scenarios for which they must prepare and the solutions they need to have in place in order to care for the people they govern.

Governments need end-to-end security for calls, video monitoring, video conferencing and other integrated services, along with high-speed data transmission, positioning, command and control, emergency response and intelligent data analysis. Governments need to protect against and promptly respond to all kinds of disasters and emergencies, and to help maintain a safe environment for their populations.

This is why events such as ITU Telecom World are important on the communications calendar and why ZTE is so pleased to be involved. Seeing many heads of state and influencers from the public sector mixing with leading innovators from private enterprises demonstrates how vital communications are for world security. We’re a business, of course, and we’re here to help our business grow. So we’ll be making announcements of relevance on the world e-government stage.

But we’re also here to learn from others in both the public and private sectors. Telecom World is a very special event on the technology conference calendar. No other technology event pulls together such a diverse gathering of people and organisations under one roof. Technology and communications might have changed beyond all recognition in the space of just 20 years, but people have not.

The world is not a smaller place, it just seems smaller thanks to technology. I’m sure the next 20 years will bring plenty of surprises, but I predict it will also bring a period of growth and social harmony. Governments will govern, and technology enabling faster, smarter and more efficient communications will result in faster, smarter more efficient societies.

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