Business

“Technology Gives Business ‘That Edge’ ” – Jarrett

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Competition in the global marketplace has put businesses on the lookout for profit-maximizing additions to their operations, while getting good returns on investment from these options.

In this context, Earl Jarrett, General Manager of Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), has hailed technology solutions provider Management Control Systems Limited as giving local entities a “much-needed competitive and productivity boost.”

Speaking at a CEO breakfast, themed ‘Leveraging Technology in Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage’, to launch MC Systems’ 35th Anniversary Technology Exposition and Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel this morning, Mr. Jarrett entreated the high-level attendees to “go beyond the mundane, get that edge and consider more innovative options for advancing their businesses in a global perspective.”

He said “Jamaica has ‘so much and no more’ consumers who patronize products because there are a little fewer than 3 million people here at any one time. We must, therefore, stand on the cutting edge with the aid of technology to meet the customers where they are. As a matter of fact, Jamaica has signed a number of trade arrangements such as the recently negotiated Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that will be essential for the development of entrepreneurship and competitiveness.”

Explaining MC Systems’ role in the process, the JNBS head told the MC Systems clients that they needed “to recognize that the real opportunities for the take-off of their business, will lie in the provision of niche services.

“Through a company like MC Systems you are able to translate ideas into workable solutions, enabling you to provide services that the world requires,” said Mr. Jarrett.


A keen Earl Jarrett, Jamaica National Building Society’s General Manager (right) listens to David Hall, CEO of Digicel Jamaica Limited as he makes a point. Occasion was JN subsidiary Management Control Systems’ Technology Day CEO Breakfast, March 5, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. Hall was the guest speaker.

MC Systems, a JNBS subsidiary, in 2002 developed the e-Money application to provide secure and real time Internet-based transactional service for Jamaica National Building Society customers living abroad. Having a reliable service and having instant access to funds shaped e-Money’s development and deployment to cities with large Jamaican influence.

According to Mr. Jarrett, the application avails transactional data collection and analysis tools to effectively administer JN remittances.

“JNBS customers can access e-Money in all bank branches, but it is also available to the general public via a network of over 50 independent agents servicing London, New York and Miami. The system was built with proven enterprise technology and expert recommendations from our able partners at Microsoft Corporation.”

The CEO breakfast heralded the start of the one day technology event that comprised eight multi-track breakout seminars by MC Systems global partners MITEL, Hewlett Packard, VeriFone and Microsoft from whom the company recently received Gold Certification. Exhibitions were mounted by all these partners.

Rounding out the six exhibits that are to be mounted by the company’s local and international technology clients are Mona GeoInformatics Institute and New Horizons Computer Learning Centers which are based in Jamaica.

Tech-corporate bigwigs Andres Mejia from VeriFone global; Hewlett Packard’s (HP) Matias Matias and Charles King as well as Queenie Ko from Microsoft’s international headquarters attended the event.

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