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Certainly this pandemic brought with it new habits and terminologies in which they did not make part of the Angolan vocabulary such as: Telephone, Webinar, Lives, Fake News, Cybersecurity among others that will be marked in the generation that experiences this Pandemic (COVID-19). The World of ICTs is experiencing an acceleration in the search for the best solutions since people spend less and less time outdoors staying in their homes benefiting from the services that are based on ICTs.
Main technological trends
In the face of the pandemic, there are technological trends in which they can influence the level of business and our lives. Nowadays the competitiveness in the scope of the market, companies must integrate the ICTs with their business stratagems and mention the innovations in which they can influence. According to experts, several employees have gained a taste for working remotely which will implicitly encourage the emergence of technologies that optimize remote work. In general, I describe the main trends in ICT's that have led, namely:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI).
- Cybersecurity
- Internet of Things (IoT)
Within Angola
In our country, the use of new technologies is already a very clear reality and used in everyday life. Second INACOM (National Institute of Communications) of the almost 30 million inhabitants 15 million are mobile phone subscribers, 7 million are Internet users and another 2 million pay-TV subscribers. Based on this statistic, we conclude that not all people have access to these tools, but what determines that they are essential and that they are functional and useful for the peaceful citizen in the search for services, since even India, which has the best technicians in the field, the country has a large number of insipience on the subject in its population.
The graph below shows approximately that since the moment of confinement due to the state of emergency, there has been a significant increase in Internet use as events such as: Webinars, teleworking, lives, using apps at wen served as indicators for this paradigm.
To see how important and to be aligned and invest in information technologies, the Government of Angola in its National Development Plan (PDN 2018-2022) includes it in almost all Programs such as:
- Program 1.2.7- Improving the quality of higher education and developing scientific and technological research, emphasizing the objective of training researchers and training 40 new PhD researchers in the areas of science and technology by 2022.
- Program 1.4.4- Strengthening the health information system and the development of health research which includes improving the level of health information and epidemiological surveillance, through a digital platform. By 2022 at least 95% of Hospitals, Municipal Health Directorates, Provincial Parental Health Directorates are part of the DHIS2 digital health information platform and produce monthly reports, 40% of health information technology academies are implemented.
- Program 2.2.4 - Promotion of innovation and technology transfer which aims to promote scientific and technological advances in the country to respond to the needs of companies, foster rapprochement between researchers-higher education institutions-the business environment. Creation of Technological hubs until 2022. By 2022, 70 public and private institutions integrate a technology transfer and innovation network (RTTI); by 2022 10 agreements are established for collaborative research, development and innovation projects (University-Company).
- Program 3.4.1 - Development of Telecommunications Infrastructures and Information Technologies which aims to ensure communication via the mobile network at affordable prices to the entire population; Coverage rate of the rural population's digital network increases from 34% in 2017 to 98,7% in 2022; The rate of mobile tele-density increases from 54,46% in 2017 to 59,33% in 2022. Build 7 media centers where they already exist in Benguela, Soyo, Saurimo, Cunene, Lubango, Huambo.
- Program 4.2.1 - Deepening Public Administration Reform where does the smart government where ICTs are still instrumental in this model, which presupposes a new attitude and a close relationship between the executive and the citizens, with an impact on the interoperability of all public services.
Angolan Mobile Applications
The points concluded above may spread digitalization to spread this sector in order to help and fill holes where the government needs it. Despite some minority, it is already our habit to use Angolan mobile applications that aim to help in the provision of services without leaving home, I will name the following applications:
Appy Health: offers information on more than 1.700 health establishments across the country, namely: Hospitals, clinics and pharmacies and users can find and book medicines from nearby pharmacies.
Express ATM: application belonging to EMIS where users must have multi-box cards associated with their personal phone number and the application can perform all types of operations that they do physically at an ATM.
Go to e-store: pioneers of E-commerce in Angola allow users to buy products of various categories with an expansion in 18 provinces, in which he has already been presented with a publication in the newspaper New York Times.
SSD: Application that aims to reduce the distance between doctor and patients where these two entities register. Already on the air with more than 20 doctors registered in different areas, namely General Practice, Internal Medicine, Neurosurgery.
Tupuca: Leading application regarding the service of Take Away delivery of meals at home.
Digital inclusion
in the Information Society, which is based on improving the living conditions of the citizen with few resources. Inclusion should include:
- Connection device.
- Network Access.
- Mastery of these tools
In Angola, companies that have gone digital, Startups they should redouble their efforts for their projects to be as comprehensive as possible as the Angolan population is not yet 50% digital and needs inclusion.
As a reflection we can conclude that if digitalization in Angola had a higher index in the populations, many of the difficulties that we face in relation to COVID-19 would be mitigated and processes would be more facilitated. The setbacks such as the acquisition of smartphones among the majority of the low-income population, as well as the lack of skill in the conscious and safe handling of ICTs, contribute to their low affluence.
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