26 Digital transformation in emerging economies
“For governments, standards are a practical and agile tool to keep up with the pace of rapidly evolving digital technology, complementing legislation and regulation ”
confidence in new technology through the adoption and implementation of international standards.” Until recently, the focus of international organizations attempting to help developing countries build a secure and resilient digital infrastructure has been on reinforcing their legal and regulatory frameworks. This is beginning to change thanks to initiatives from BSI and key partners that are addressing the lack of understanding about the role of standards and NQI in delivering policy outcomes and driving transformation. “The power of standards is woefully under-used and they could be what’s missing in building the bridge to a digital society,” Cindy said. The United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has created ‘eTrade for all’, a community network of 31 organizations – including the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization – all focused on
helping developing countries harness eCommerce and digital trade for development.
“Like other international
organizations, UNCTAD initially looked at the legal and regulatory framework to address the issue of trust,” said Cindy. “However, legal and regulatory solutions can’t keep up with the pace of a fast-moving digital world. “While legislation and regulation
are good starting points, to effect real change you need deep and consistent engagement with all groups, including government, regulators, businesses, consumers, academia and well, all parts of society – and that is what the standards infrastructure can offer. “For governments, standards are
a practical and agile tool to keep up with the pace of rapidly evolving digital technology, complementing legislation and regulation. For the private sector, they are a voluntary, consensus-based and stakeholder-driven tool which can be used to demonstrate compliance
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with market requirements.” Following BSI’s engagement with
UNCTAD, it joined ‘eTrade for all’ as its de-facto standards advisor. “What I am particularly delighted about is that UNCTAD has incorporated a standards lens into its comprehensive eTrade Readiness Assessment Tool, which measures a country’s readiness to digitally transform its economy”, said Cindy.
This version of the assessment tool was applied for the first time in Kenya.
Emerging economies are starting to understand the power of standards to drive transformation
The results demonstrated that the Kenyan public and private sectors view international standards as ‘very important’ in promoting trust in e-commerce. For areas such as system security, it is as high as 89%. “The results speak for themselves; two-thirds of respondents see capacity building on international standards as one of the top four priorities for eCommerce skills development, which is a really strong and compelling message,” says Cindy.
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