CHOGM (Commonwealth Conference 2011) Official Photograph
It is generally accepted civil servants in Barbados are technology averse. A litmus test would be to ask the question: how many government departments use teleconferencing facilities? The technology is not very expensive and can repay on the investment in short order by generating cost saving from reduced travel and overseas calls. There is also saving time if we were able to reduce the number of man hours civil servants spend on our highways and byways negotiating traffic to attend meetings.
A search of the Internet will toss-out millions of results of ways companies have adopted to reduce cost brought on by the world recession. One of the popular decisions is to introduce teleconferencing. For example, Bayer Corporation is using high-tech teleconferencing, or telepresence, to help cut the cost of travel; local and overseas. BU understands many private sector companies in Barbados have installed teleconferencing facilities in their board rooms to communicate with employees located in different offices. It seems a no-brainer if private sector companies see the benefit why shouldn’t the public sector? The civil service seems to be living up to the label appended to it by a former Prime Minister as an army of occupation.
