ICT and e-business: what developing countries stand to gain

Taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICT) is an increasing challenge for developing countries. There is now growing evidence that enterprises benefit substantially from e-business. New technologies, and in particular the Internet, transform economic sectors and allow them to do business faster and better.

In the tourism sector, local tourism providers use the Internet to market their offers directly online. Take, for instance, Thailand. The website www.tourismthailand.org markets Thailand's tourism and an online booking facility (www.thailandebooking.com) receives around 1.8 million visitors a year. But unfortunately, as is the case in most developing countries, Thailand's e-tourism websites do not allow online payment.

Outsourcing is another promising economic activity for developing countries. Companies in industrialized countries are taking advantage of the growth in ICT capacities in the developing world to commission online services. PrecissPatrol, for instance, is a successful Kenyan company that offers back-office services, such as data mining and specialized research, to customers worldwide. This kind of e-business is no longer an exception in Africa and every month new ones are being set up.