It’s time to speak up
No doubt the drums will be beating ...
02 November 2009
Paul Gordon, Voco
"A major new report co-authored by the chair of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand says that independent data from over 6,000 New Zealand businesses shows no positive productivity impact when they adopt high speed broadband services." Communications Day - Monday 2 November 2009.
Although rather dense reading, this report available here, assesses a large amount of data and finds that while there is a definite productivity shift moving from no broadband to some level of broadband, there is little material benefit shifting from slow to fast broadband.
No doubt we can expect this report to be widely (mis)quoted and used as firm evidence by vested interests.
We would encourage those wanting to understand what this may all mean to pay close attention to the final section of the report, where the authors note the finding that a move from fast broadband (cable) to another form of broadband has no estimated effect, should be interpreted with care. One of the four reasons they give includes the explanation that the full future benefits may not be apparent in the existing data.
This reflects our view, that in itself broadband in an enabler. Business must change in order to realise the potential benefits. Without business change we will simply do the same things - faster, but without any significant productivity benefits (beyond a point, the speed of email has no impact on real productivity).
There will be a tipping point and critical mass where enabled groupings of organisations are able to do new work, in new ways. Studies that use historical data will always be looking at existing business models.
But, the point of the report is very salient - if we simply do the same things using faster broadband, then we will not realise true productivity growth. Sector change needs strong leadership to drive.
