New communication technologies have to get faster, better integrated and simpler to use for consumer and business markets, says a leading technology analyst.

Everything from longer-life batteries and bigger visual displays to seamless invoice and payment systems on wireless devices are among the next generation of services already in demand by technology users – and the IT sector is already facing the challenge of developing a level playing field for data exchange, says Terry Retter of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

Retter, the director of strategy and technical programs at PWC’s Technology Centre in Menlo Park, Calif., is a contributing editor to PWC’s annual Technology Forecast: 2002-2004. The second volume in the forecast to be released in November will deal with emerging trends in IT infrastructure.

Terry Retter

“The whole telcom industry is a shambles of good intentions and bad delivery,” Retter told a business
audience at the University of Calgary last week.

New technologies must also complement, not drive behaviours of a company, its employees and customers, Retter added. The more complex and less intuitive, the less likely software or networking systems will be adopted widely by users.

“We have to get computers, communications technology as insightful, as easy to use so it merges back into the woodwork,” Retter added. “The technology has to get easier and simpler to use, and it has to fall into our behaviour models and comfort zones.”

But companies don’t always need the latest high-tech toys to ensure their success, the seminar heard.

Alberta IT companies are finding that if they can show their customers real savings through their products, the contracts will follow, says Brad Pierce, a partner with Borden Ladner Gervais and director of the Venture Capital Association of Alberta.

Brian Pow

“Businesses don’t necessarily need all the new whiz-bang technology. They need the technology that is going to save them eight or nine cents a barrel, or five or 10 cents a unit of production,” Pierce told the seminar, which was organized by Partners In Technology, a volunteer non-profit group that supports Calgary’s advanced technology community.

Brian Pow, vice-president, research with Calgary-based Acumen Capital Finance Partners, agreed with Pierce, adding despite the gloom in the media over the condition of the markets, companies with solid business plans – not just technology fads – are not only surviving, but thriving.

“The companies that are successful, the ones we are making money for our clients with, are the ones with track records in management. They can show through financial reports they can run a business.

“The technology we see today is all great stuff,” Pow added. “But the reality is, from a public market view, it’s not just the sex that sells – it’s pure business models that really sell.”

Meanwhile, Calgary is in the running this week for the title of World’s Top Intelligent Community, awarded by an international group that promotes the use of broadband technology for economic development at the community level.

Earlier this year, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named Calgary as the only Canadian city in its Top 7 Intelligent Communities. The winner will be chosen by the ICF in Moscow this Friday.

“We believe we’ve provided the judging panel with some excellent reasons to make Calgary their choice,” said John Masters, president and CEO of Calgary Technologies Inc. “This city is set apart by its drive to create universal access to information technology and at the same time, empower all of its citizens to prosper in the digital age.”

The ICF will select the top intelligent community based on excellence in a number of areas, including significant deployment of broadband communications to businesses, government facilities and residences, a labour force able to perform “knowledge work,” and government and private-sector programs to overcome the so-called “digital divide.”

Other communities in the running include Bangalore, India; the Florida High Tech Corridor; LaGrange, Georgia; Seoul; Singapore; and Sunderland, U.K.