Continued….

Q: What would you recommend to the small Aragonese companies that have decided to embrace new technologies?

RB: Of course this depends very much on the kind of business that they are in. However I can give some advice that is very important. If you use any of the newer technologies you must monitor how your customers or staff make use of them. It needs to be understood that the best ways to use most new technologies is usually not understood when these technologies first come to market and sometimes the technology even proves to be ineffective.

Of course those who are selling the technology will always claim that great benefits will arrive, but often these claims are based more on marketing visions than proven realities. Companies must be sceptical and investigate the technology by discussing it with those who already use it. If they choose to buy and deploy new technology then they must monitor its usage.

It took many years for the successful Internet sites to get an idea of which technologies to deploy and how to use them effectively. During the dotcom boom they had the advantage that investment money was easy to come by and very cheap. This is no longer the case. Companies cannot afford to spend on technology that is ineffective and once an investment has been made it needs to be closely watched.

Q: The Government of Aragon, through Walqa, disseminates the use of Internet among the companies of the region. Do you believe that this type of initiative contributes to the boom of the new technologies? What other measures could be taken (subsidies, visits to companies…)?

Well it certainly helps in establishing new technology. The first thing that needs to happen is for the knowledge of what is happening in various parts of the world and particularly what technologies work well to be passed around. Education in this is more important than anything else.

This, by the way, needs to be cleaned of IT vendor influence. All the major vendors Microsoft, IBM, HP, Oracle and the rest, have their own agenda and tend to misrepresent and distort what is happening. All of them try to sell technology before it is mature and they often confuse the business user by making unrealistic claims.

In reality there are two areas where government can act, and in my opinion should act. The first is to encourage the development of the right electronic infrastructure to support the advanced use of Internet and related technology. At the moment this means the installation of broadband links and the proliferation of wireless technology. Anything that the government can do to make these things happen faster will benefit Aragon, and Spain, and ultimately both the Spanish speaking world and the rest of Europe.

The second is to encourage the development of a venture capital industry that will help to launch new start-ups. Venture capital oils the wheels and it is worth noting that where the venture capital industry is strong in every region of the US where the technology industry has prospered. The hot beds of technology in the US are in Silicon Valley, around Boston, Austin Texas, New York and Seattle. In all these places the VC industry is strong and there are local Universities which feed educated workers into the technology sector.

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