Digital Nation seminar today (Times of Oman)

MUSCAT — Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM), the Rusayl-based technology park, will host its fourth and final Digital Nation seminar today at KOM.

Panelists for the event include Riyadh Al Balushi, Oman3D; Jeremy Foster, Ericsson; Graham Porter, Cisco; Daniel Pinto, Netsolo; and Tariq Al Barwani, Nawras.

Supported by Ericsson, Nawras, Microsoft, HP, Infoline, SAP Arabia, Infocomm and Omania e-Commerce, the seminar is entitled ‘iGeneration: Embracing the Digital World’.

According to Ibtisam Al Faruji, KOM’s head of marketing, “iGeneration or Generation Y as they are also known were born between 1978 and 1998 and account for a large slice of Oman’s population. Indeed, statistics reveal that the Sultanate’s median age is just 18.9.”

Gen Y is often characterised as ambitious, self-absorbed, gregarious, demanding, confident and believe they can change the world. They are the offspring of baby-boomers, a generation of Omanis now preparing for retirement and relying on their children to produce the wealth needed to finance their old age.

Karim Rahemtulla, MD of Infocomm, an M-commerce firm based at KOM described Gen Y as the “world’s first truly mobile and connected generation”.

He added: “Through our community portal, isurf.co.om, we have a tremendous amount of contact with Gen Y and this is a generation that has grown up with technology, they have access to the internet, laptops, wi-fi, Google, iPods, CD, DVD, MP3, SMS and MMS.”

This multitude of choice, this instant connectivity, this speed of globalisation is all they have ever known. In fact, this is a generation that has never had to memorise a phone number or had to get off the sofa to change a satellite TV channel.

Technology is the buzzword when it comes to Generation Y. Personal computers and the Internet have transformed both the home and school environment. “A recent study predicts that current 10- to 17-year olds will spend one-third of their lives (circa 23 years) on the internet. “You probably won’t find too many of the Gen Y in the library and it’s unlikely that you’ll find them flicking through a ‘real’ dictionary or consulting a thesaurus. It will all be done online,” suggests Mulkie Al Hashmi, marketing officer at KOM.

In 2000, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), a popular form of instant communication, boasted 90 million registered users and 2.4 million simultaneous users. Since then it has gown tremendously. According to Time magazine, a new user registers to join the AIM community every 3.5 seconds.

Cisco’s Graham Porter and moderator for the Digital Nation seminar says: “It’s AOL statistics that indicate how tech savvy Gen Y is. Blogs, e-mail, online games, satellite TV, iPods and smart phones have elevated their mobility tremendously, these folk are truly global.”

“In my view, Oman-based companies must begin to measure, understand and embrace this permanently changing landscape. Research is required into how Gen Y operates. Indeed, if firms neglect this booming and IT centric generation they risk degradation of brand equity and failure to draw new customers,” added Graham.