E-commerce in Bermuda

Few people will be surprised by the findings of the Charteris report on the Isle of Man's e-commerce strategy, which concluded that Bermuda is no longer a viable contender in the e-commerce market.

The report's authors list 12 reasons why Bermuda is no longer a threat: its high cost of living; small size; restrictive immigration policy; poor state education system; lack of IT professionalism and work ethic issues; reliance of IT sector on expats; prohibitive telecoms costs; shortage of accommodation; expensive airfares; "political instability" and racial tension; punitive and indiscriminate customs duties; and the Island's location in a hurricane zone.

This paragraph struck a particular chord:

"Telecoms costs are prohibitive, and still exhibit monopoly-like characteristics. On-island reliability is very poor. ADSL is available, but even slow-speed connections (128kb maximum) cost four times the price of a 2Mb link in the UK, and the service is subject to frequent failures, often for days at a time (eg a complete service failure on Friday night not repaired until a reboot of the servers until Monday lunchtime)."

What's disappointing about all this is that the Government identified many of the same failures in its e-commerce Green Paper three years ago:

"There are, however, a number of weaknesses we have to address, some of which are structural, and by their nature, can be overcome, while others simply reflect our geography and economy and are therefore more difficult to change. The former issues include communication costs and service delivery (particularly for broadband data services), e-business awareness in the workforce, and an emphasis on IT skills in education and e-government."

Yet as the Charteris report notes, the Government has done little to address these points since. Instead, Nancy Volesky, Director of E-Commerce with the Ministry of Telecommunications and E-Commerce, is talking about drafting another Green Paper.

The report does contain some errors, such as the assertion that non-Bermudians are not allowed to have a car and the suggestion that 128k is the fastest DSL speed available. Other concerns seem overblown. I wouldn't describe Bermuda as suffering from "political instability", and I question whether Bermuda's problems with drugs are worse than most other places.

It's unlikely that Bermuda will ever be a major e-commerce hub. Too many of the problems outlined in the Charteris report have no solution. But why is it taking us so long to address the rest?

Comments

[novote on 28.03.06 at 18:54]

Nancy Volesky argues:

“The local IT industry has the expertise to support the billion dollar insurance and financial services industries located here. This means the provision of customised (not just off the shelf) development, solutions and services and network management of global businesses,” she said.

That's why every organisation with any kind of scale in Bermuda is aggressively pursuing ways to shift IT infrastructure, development, maintenance and support to anywhere but Bermuda.

Let's get real.

This isn't a reflection on individual professionals, whose skills may be extensive.

It's a reflection on the suitability of this environment to maintain an industrial strength IT infrastructure when there is so much instability around resourcing.

The ironic thing is that the issues that are making Bermuda uncompetitive for ecommerce are increasingly making it uncompetitive for other industries inlcuding the international business sector.

Anybody that has to deal with staffing in Bermuda (and that's pretty much anybody in management) knows what a nightmare it is.

Forget the ludicrous costs of recruiting and retaining people, but the illiquidity of the labour market alone makes running a business (particularly smaller businesses) an ongoing headache.

At some point soon the costs/pain will start to outweigh the benefits.

[ace on 28.03.06 at 19:58]

Stick a fork in e-commerce in Bermuda. It's done.

[Turd Pillar on 28.03.06 at 21:35]

Lots of talk, no plan, no action.

[Ralph on 28.03.06 at 22:13]

The prime reason for doing business is Bermuda is tax 'efficiency' and an advantageous legal framework. But remove the tax savings and there is not a sufficiently compelling business rationale for locating here.

I beleive (and someone correct me if I'm wrong!) that in order to gain the tax advantage the sales have to settle to a local bank. After the huge fraud suffered by Bank of Bermuda both they and BNTB enacted very stringent risk measures that almost no ecommerce merchant could meet (and ecommerce acquiring can be a risky business). Then they both pulled the plug on ecommerce as the business just wasn't there. The other banks never entered this market.

As a result the prime reason for ecommerce coming to Bermuda never materialized, and the high costs and other issues simply compounded the problem.

[Bandit on 29.03.06 at 05:30]

You may be right about the banks but the telecoms infrastructure and monopoly in Bermuda is certainly a factor. The Isle of Man had ADSL before the UK, as it gets most new telecoms technology before the UK as it is often used as a test ground.

If you lived here (IOM) and wanted to convert to ADSL at home today, the minimum you can get now on a new installation is 2mb bandwidth.

[Macboho on 29.03.06 at 07:19]

So the problem is diagnosed. What is holding back reform? Is it that these issues are just a low priority for the politicians? Do they 'get them' or not? Is the business community pushing on them or does it have higher priorities

[Of Many Words on 29.03.06 at 08:14]

The island needs Nigel Hickson back, if anyone should have been given the position of eCommerce Director, it was Hickson - at least he knew a thing or two about eCommerce, let alone being strategic.

Why rewrite the green paper if you're only going to sit on it.. and shove it around between a number of committees trying to figure out who should do what!

Seriously, what does Nancy Volesky know about eCommerce? In fact, I have yet to be impressed by anything the Ministry of eCommerce has done since Hickson left. Just look at the state of the portal: document not found; spelling mistakes; lack of useability; its ugly; and its navigation is useless.

Just my $.02.

[Rev. Goat on 29.03.06 at 08:42]

Volesky has only been in e-commerce for a year. These problem go way back and they wont be solved overnight. I dont think they will ever be solved because the problems are fundamental from Bermudas restrictive size and policies.

When it comes to the nitty gritty Bermuda's tax position will blow IoM away any day and at the end of the day who cares if the IT is a few milliseconds slower....the bank balance is getting bigger.

[Zoom on 29.03.06 at 08:53]

The Isle of Man appears to look at ecommerce from a big picture; they set their targets, defined a plan, and coordinated a government-wide response. That's something that official Bermuda is rarely able to do. Each Ministry seems determined not to work with other Government departments. Bureaucratic lockjaw.

[Bandit on 29.03.06 at 09:48]

Zoom is exactly right. However, in addition, IOM works with other jurisdiction like Jersy and Guernsey in many area, they help each other. Can you imagine Bermuda actually cooperating with another country even if it is for mutual benefit?

Rev. Goat - Don't be too sure about that. Most businesses in IOM are "zero tax rated" just like Bermuda. Also, with the income tax capping and other benefits being introduced IOM becomes a very attractive place to bring business of all sorts.

[Murmur on 29.03.06 at 09:55]

eCommerce as a notion is dead and never should have been promoted in its own right. Truly successful ecommerce businesses are tied to bricks and mortar establishments in first world markets. Amazon, eBay, Google. No island paradise (even IoM) can possibly ever compete at that level.

So the two real issues for "ecommerce" promoters should be (1) whether there is sufficient infrastructure to support business, and (2) whether there is an environment that gets people keen on learning network technology. If there is general apathy about networking, forget ecommerce as a viable economy booster.

On No. 2 Bermuda falls down hopelessly and appears lame. Government doesn't seem to want to make it a priority to get kids interested in the Internet. If they had foresight, they would be strongly pushing to democratize fast internet access for every household. Few disadvantaged kids get access now at home even though they might be fascinated to learn more .

A Government with true interest in ecommerce would work daily to bring down barriers to access and in particular pressure all providers in the chain to lower their charges. Cut through the excuses and go straight to an analysis of profit margin for all service providers.

[hotspur on 29.03.06 at 10:13]

The post 9-11 US Patriot Act stiffed a lot of company’s plans to offer off-shore Ecommerce solutions. With that and everything listed above the various companies that were well situated in the dot com era simply never had a chance to compete and closed – and some after sinking tens of millions into the venture.

Gumment just stood by and watched it all crumble to dust. Probably too busy spell-checking their portal.

[Zoom on 29.03.06 at 10:20]

Murmur, you have it backwards. You say we can't attract e-commerce because we don't have IT resources. It's not that simple. The overall regulatory and tax environment is more important.

For example, the IOM tailored a regulatory and tax regime to attract online gaming. I read that the resulting business has quadrupled their bandwidth utilisation! That is leading to investment by the telecom, IT, and hosting companies.

[Bandit on 29.03.06 at 10:33]

Zoom again has hit the nail on the head, speculate to accumulate and all that.

Something I forgot to say earlier, on IOM if you want ADSL at home it is actually subsidised by the Government, in fact they virtually pay for it.

E-gaming over here is now very big business. I know several people who work in that industry and they are finding it hard to keep up with demand. They also find it quite hard to get staff as it is a 24 hour business. If we are having trouble finding 24 hour staff here, imagine trying to find the staff in BDA!

[SmokingGun on 29.03.06 at 11:59]

Didn't Bermuda have the opportunity to lay some fat pipe to the island in conjunction with Tyco or Global Crossing running off the cable from Ireland to Boston where they turned down the offer saying the price they were asking was too much? Forward thinking? I think not.

[His Excellency, Uncle Elvis II on 29.03.06 at 12:02]

"...lay some fat pipe..."

BWAH ha HAAAA!

Coffee just snorted out of my nose.

Sorry. Back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

[Murmur on 29.03.06 at 12:29]

Zoom, really what I'm saying is not that we lack resources -- can always import those, just that we lack interest, and a public sector that will really step in to stir up some entrepreneurial gumption in the field. How did international business develop here? Clever Bermudians saw opportunities in banking, trusts, investments and insurance and to their eternal credit they rolled up sleeves and made it happen for Bermuda. Where there is sufficient interest, favourable regulation will follow. IB didn't just fall on top of us from the sky because of a few words on the statute books. You have to work to get business, not just write laws.

[SmokingGun on 29.03.06 at 12:35]

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Isle of Man is to abolish company tax and cap personal income tax at £100,000 from April 5 in a bid to attract the super-rich and budding entrepreneurs. Tax experts said the 33-mile long Crown dependency would become "one of the most favourable tax regimes in the world".

Allan Bell, the Treasury minister, told the island's parliament yesterday he was "inviting the enterprising and the ambitious to come to our island".

Meanwhile in another world.....

The Investment Executive magazine in Canada reports that the provincial government in Nova Scotia is giving tax breaks to a Bermuda company to encourage more outsourcing of jobs to Halifax!

A Bermuda based hedge fund/insurance group, apparently has legal, accounting and software staff in Halifax - because qualified people are paid less there and it is difficult to get work permits on the Islands of Bermuda (and then difficult to retain good staff on the Islands).

[ace on 29.03.06 at 15:28]

"A Bermuda based hedge fund/insurance group, apparently has legal, accounting and software staff in Halifax - because qualified people are paid less there and it is difficult to get work permits on the Islands of Bermuda (and then difficult to retain good staff on the Islands)."

One day in Halifax:

Knock, knock, knock

Hello, we are from Revenue Canada and are here to seize all of your files and computer records. Here is a court order. Please step out of the room and allow us to conduct our investigation.

Dave...bring that photocopier in here...lots of file cabinets.

[Denis Pitcher on 29.03.06 at 17:33]

I happen to know the exact company SmokingGun is referring to, and yes they are a legit Canadian Business. There are also others and not just to Halifax.

The thing to realise is that jobs are being outsourced from Bermuda to other destinations. The really serious impact of this is that it's the lower and entry level jobs that are being outsourced. When you put two and two together you will realise that young Bermudians are being screwed out of opportunities to work from the bottom up and are being forced to go abroad for experience. What impact will this have?

But of course, "there will be no mass-exodus"

- - -

The sad truth is that e-commerce in Bermuda is dead. I knew it when I watched a Bermudian originated e-commerce company get driven off the island due to lack of support from the government and tourism association.

This company was dedicated to making everything (dolphinquest, golf tee times, restaurants, boat trips, horseback riding, you name it) in tourism online bookable and utilizing the reach of technology to extend that bookability out to not only the big players in industry, but all the way to hotel websites, concierge desks and even "mobile concierges" who could walk around the tourist spots on the island and assist you with information on Bermuda as well as make bookings for you.

Very sadly this was one of very few ingeneous ideas that could develop and flourish on an island like ours to expand globally. Not only was it not supported, the company was nearly driven into the ground and subsequently has migrated focus as well as business off island and is achieving considerable success in destinations other then Bermuda.

Imagine that, something that would have helped Bermuda e-commerce and tourism.

- - -

I sat down with the directors and Minister of Telecommunications and got the general impression that their hands are tied and it's Bermudian beurocracy that holds us back from achieving forward movement.

Ministries and departments don't want to work together to standardize practices, software and equipment and beleive in their mandate and it only. It has no matter if it benefits the island or government overall if it's not what that ministry wants in the first place.

Our government needs an overall top down review and unification of the technology that drives our country.

Without it, we are very likely to fall far behind in much more then just e-commerce.

[Bdacurler on 29.03.06 at 21:19]

Can someone please explain to me how the following (true or not) would negatively affect e-commerce?
- its high cost of living;
- small size;
- restrictive immigration policy;
- poor state education system;
- work ethic issues;
- reliance of IT sector on expats
- shortage of accommodation
- expensive airfares;
- racial tension

If these things have killed the e-commerce industry in Bermuda, wouldn't it have killed reinsurance as well? The 10 new post-Katrina start-up companies should be testament enough to Bermuda's reputation in the business world.

Granted, we should all be working harder to improve Bermuda in all of these areas but I would think that if e-commerce is dead in Bermuda, then it must be realted to other factors.

[Andrew on 30.03.06 at 01:00]

Electronic commerce is a high-volume, low margin type of business. You need a zillion transactions to be profitable. I know of one large online operation that has no on-island presence but chose to host their infrastructure at C&W. They struggle with availability of seasoned technical resources to deliver the uptime numbers that their business demands. Labour, bandwidth, costs to e-commerce companies are all major components of the cost of doing business. Electronic companies are virtual and can operate anywhere the infrastructure permits. The increased cost of these overhead items is prohibitive and prevents Bermuda from being a competitor in this area.

Reinsurance, however, is a different story. These increased incremental costs amount to little more than a rounding error on a single deal.

[Bdacurler on 30.03.06 at 09:50]

Andrew,

I agree. The increased cost of these overhead items is prohibitive and prevents Bermuda from being a competitor in this area. This is probably why CGI announced yesterday that they are cutting 1,000 jobs in Montreal and Toronto but expanding in Prince Edward Island where the cost of living is very cheap and there is a larger than average unemployment rate (abundance of relatively cheap labour).

However, if racial tensions, work ethic issues, poor state education system and all these other non-economic factors are contibuting to the failure of e-commerce, it is presumably because it negatively affects the lifestyle of employees. Workers in the reinsurance and other industries would then be affected by it as well. If this is the case, it doesn't seem to be driving them away from here.

[Denis Pitcher on 30.03.06 at 11:48]

Bdacurler

Unfortunately you seem to have a superficial view of the insurance industry that is clouding your view of how well we're actually doing.

Despite there being 10 new reinsurers, that doesn't mean we have 10 new companies with 100 people each on island. These new companies are startups and for much of them they are establishing only a minimal presense in Bermuda with many resources being located off island.

We are in heavy competition with other jurisdictions like Cayman and some of our own insurance industry is researching into as well as migrating workers there. They are also looking at migrating lower level and back office work to places like the east cost of Canada for the low cost of living.

"Workers in the reinsurance and other industries would then be affected by it as well. If this is the case, it doesn't seem to be driving them away from here."

Your not seeing the outsourcing that is occuring as companies are growing tired of the hassles and are looking at ways to save money and time by outsourcing off island.

All those factors you mentioned surely do have an impact on our industry and don't let the 10 new startups fool you into thinking otherwise.

It is becomming increasingly harder to convince foreign people to choose to come to this island to work. It is very difficult to attract senior talen with families to come here.

If you caught the article in yesterday's paper regarding expat workers from developing nations "Visa snag frustrates employer" you'll note that it is becomming more difficult and Bermuda isn't even to blame in some instances.

All of the points you highlight do impact our local industry. That impact won't appear instantly, but it will as it has time to filter through. If you've had any dealings with trying to recruit in talent to the island you'll know how frustrating it can be.

Here are a few truths from an expat point of view that are hard to swallow. Noone will like me saying them, but we as Bermudians need to be more realistic in accepting them and less negative in suggesting that if they don't like it they should leave, cause thats what is happening.

- its high cost of living;
* means they don't save much

- small size;
* means there isn't much to do

- restrictive immigration policy;
* means they can't stay here long
* means it may take 6 months of waiting just to find out if they got a job... thats 6 months of other offers to turn down

- poor state education system;
* means its hard to find local talent and you often have to fill your office with poorly educated people who arn't as capable at menial tasks just to meet quotas to be able to get foreign talent in.

- work ethic issues;
* some take their jobs forgranted because there are an abundance of opportunities. Bermudian employment is like one big union. Unions have their purpose, but if you follow what they've done to the american auto industry, you can see how they can become too powerful when a poorly educated labor worker can demand the same wage as someone who has worked hard to become highly educated. Poorly educated people are replaceable, highly educated ones are not.

- reliance of IT sector on expats
* it is very hard to train someone to be familiar with your company and entire system and have them leave after 3 years. It would be hugely more beneficial if you could find locals with the talent to join your company and not be as restricted.

- shortage of accommodation
* even if you get them here, where can you house them? At what cost?

- expensive airfares; (attempts are being made to resolve this, as is evident by all the low cost carriers bringing in competition)
* when they want to leave to visit family and friends, it's expensive to do so
- racial tension
* some locals naturally don't like you and blame you for their own circumstances. It is getting worse where disruptions and potential for violence are making Bermuda seem less safe of a place to be and foreign workers are at times uncomfortable.

In regards to e-commerce:

Some of the key impacts are those outlined that truly effect us. First of all e-commerce companies that house infrastructure here have to be well supported, just as Andrew pointed out.

When trying to support your infrastructure with many Bermudians having not been well edudated in, nor familiar with, technology in comparison to many other nations, it means you have to turn to foreign resources to fill your needs.

On top of all that our internet costs are horrendous.
Lets compare:
- a 1 meg internet connection costs $2000 a month here on island.
- a 1 meg internet connection costs $100 a month in places like atlanta.

That means for the cost of 1 meg locally in corporate scenarios, you could have 20 abroad. These costs add up quickly for not only e-commerce companies but insurance as well. When costs outweigh savings AND you have to deal with the above issues, we will have serious problems.

It won't happen overnight, but we will see more outsourcing and similar that will slowly degrade our industry until Bermudians wake up and realise there are fewer jobs with most being in the support industry.

Most companies will only have executives on island and there will be a tremendous divide of rich and poor as most of the middle class have left.

[JJ on 30.03.06 at 13:58]

Excellent post Denis!

[ralph on 30.03.06 at 22:32]

There's one issue that many have touched on- outsourcing, something that ecommerce in its broadest sense enables.

It is very easy to outsource most of your operations these days. I know of one company that had a key employee denied a work permit renewal despite there being no other applicants for the job (it was in fact a fairly specialized job). So she moved back to the US and she did exactly the same job for the same company. Another company I know has less than 10% of their staff here, all operations are overseas.

Ecommerce, despite early claims by some, could never and didn't become the 'third pillar of the economy' when the only thing you need here is some rack space, a bank account and a lawyer. And ecommerce has now enabled companies to keep a minimal footprint here and that I think has economic and social significant implications.

[Denis Pitcher on 31.03.06 at 10:30]

Ralph,

I would argue otherwise in terms of e-commerce's potential.

The issue is structuring our infrastructure, economy, tax and legal framework towards a model that compliments it.

E-commerce is built out of a few key business areas. These are primarily
- sales supported by brick and mortar stores or warehouses
- services such as business to business or business to consumer

Islands cannot compete in terms of physical sales, but can however in terms of services.

The Isle of Man has had considerable success with e-commerce having exploited two areas that we cannot touch. These being, the adult entertainment and online gambling industries. Bermuda's culture is too conservative to allow either of these industries to establish themselves here.

Other industries that Bermuda can compete in however are the online service based industries.

This would include any service that essentially sells a service online and collects money for it. Companies would prefer to locate in jurisdictions like Bermuda for the tax savings rather then deal with high taxes on profits in places like the US.

Prime examples in use today would include:
Online payment processing
Online billing
Online Gaming.

Online Gaming is an industry with huge future potential. It should be something that our island is gearing itself towards supporting.

Imagine every online gamer connecting to a virtual environment and paying not only monthly membership fees, but also extra fees for virtual merchandise in a virtual economy.

All of these payments contribute to income and subsequently profit for gaming companies that is taxed heavily in other jurisdictions.

We, as Bermuda could be gearing ourselves towards supporting and promoting this industry locally.

We could:
- remove duty on e-commerce related infrastructure.
- subsudize internet connectivity
- revise our tax structure to be profit based for e-commerce yet still hugely competitive
- market ourselves heavily to encourage startups and new businesses to locate here for the savings

Imagine a ton of extra government revenue coming in just for hosting "some rack space, a bank account and a lawyer". Imagine being able to cut the tax costs for our people and overall drop our cost of living just a little bit while still relying on our existing industries.

I don't see e-commerce as a big negative. I see it as a big missed opportunity.

[JJ on 31.03.06 at 11:01]

Isn't this what Bank of Bermuda and First Atlantic lost loads of money trying to do?

[Denis Pitcher on 31.03.06 at 12:08]

In regards to online payment processing, I won't argue with that.

Our infrastructure doesn't currently lend itself to e-commerce as it stands. Equipment and bandwidth costs are much too high.

When I last worked with FAC they wanted 4% commission rates per transaction. In the US you can get 2%.

When costs are too high, companies can't compete with foreign jurisdictions.

If we migrated to a model that assisted companies rather then penalized them, we would likely be more successful.

As is stated earlier in this thread. E-commerce works on volume of transactions with low fees. As long as there are high startup costs, it won't be feasible. We'd be better off dropping the startup costs and grabbing a smaller chunk of the profit then other jurisdictions.

[googlybda on 28.08.06 at 23:04]

What a great blog.
Dennis you are hitting the truth right on the nail!
If business and the Bermudian economy is to survive we have to find ways of cutting costs. I didn't see that in the Sustainable development plan.
E-Commerce is a prime example. DSL costs are extortionate, but I think the wireless boys are going to start a war on that! That's what we need competion in the IT field, backed up by sound service.

[stuart J Hayward on 28.08.06 at 23:32]

googlybda writes:
I didn't see [ways of cutting costs] in the Sustainable development plan.

You must have skipped over the first 40 pages of the PLan.

[googlybda on 29.08.06 at 00:18]

Sorry Stuart,
I can't find any direct reference to cutting costs except, building affordable housing which is subsidized therefore not really cutting costs. Recognizing that there is a very high cost of living but only offering reduced duty on goods which pushes the cost of taxes up somewhere else, Educatting Bermudians to a highe level that reduces need for expats, but does not address issue of booming economy and need for more and more expats.
Please show me where in the first 40 pages there is specific reference to useful ways to cut costs.

[googlybda on 29.08.06 at 00:23]

What I did read is a lot of ideological clap trap. The plan is well meaning don't get me wrong but plans should have specific action plans right down to the last paper clip. This is more like a UN resolution which gets everyones hopes up that something is being finally done and it doesn't.
Lets here real attempts to reduce costs.
Then again it may be impractical to even think we can on an island so far away from everywhere.

[Phil on 29.08.06 at 07:54]

Keep this about the aspects of the sustainable development plan referring to e-commerce please.

[loki on 29.08.06 at 08:07]

Government's not exactly helping the cause of e-commerce in Bermuda when it doesn't properly vet applications for .bm domains, either. Last night, I looked into registering what I thought would be a fairly obscure .bm domain for a business plan that I'm formulating for a service that no one currently offers on the island. After typing in the domain, what was obviously a cyber-squatting site popped-up, with details and directions to its offices in Atlanta. They didn't appear to have any other business than cyber-squatting and, certainly, no apparently connection to Bermuda.

The bermudaNIC.bm, website clearly states that, to register a .bm domain, you must:

Be a company/organization registered in Bermuda

Help!!

[Zoom on 29.08.06 at 08:10]

Were you looking at Bermudanic or just typing into your browser?

[loki on 29.08.06 at 08:21]

zoom

To see if anyone had the domain, I just typed it into the browser.

[Zoom on 29.08.06 at 09:13]

That's not a squatter, you were redirected. Look at http://www.bermudanic.bm/

[loki on 29.08.06 at 09:56]

Yes, I checked out bermudanic and, unfortunately, it looks as though the domain is taking by a local consulting firm. Rather frustratingly, however, they dont actually appear to be doing anything with it.

I slightly sneaky trick that I've noticed a few overseas company engaging in to get a .bm domain is to incorporate a company locally, presumably for the sole purpose of preventing anyone from taking the .bm variation of their primary domain. Amazon.bm has been taken by what appears to be a locally incorporated subsidiary of amazon.com, located at the offices of Conyers, Dill & Pearman (not that I can blame them, mind......)

[Zoom on 29.08.06 at 10:27]

If you incorporate a Bda company with that name, and the registrant is not using it, then you have a strong case to take it.

[stuart J Hayward on 29.08.06 at 11:30]

googlybda writes:
Sorry Stuart,
I can't find any direct reference to cutting costs … Please show me where in the first 40 pages there is specific reference to useful ways to cut costs.

Reducing duties (p 33) and taxes (p.34) are “ways of cutting costs”. They may not go as far as they could or as you would like, but is it really fair to issue such a dismissive and blanket condemnation of the SD Plan?

What I did read is a lot of ideological clap trap.

The draft SD Plan is not a product of the government or even the SD Project team. It is the collection of the ideas put forward by all sectors of Bermuda’s public through an extensive consultation process. The reason we are going through the current re-consultation process is to check with all stakeholders that we recorded what the Bermuda public wanted. This is the opportunity to question, challenge, add to or subtract from the Plan.

If there is indeed something missing, let’s hear from you what might constitute “real attempts to reduce costs”. Send your constructive comments via the website. It helps to remember that the next stage in the process is to set priorities, develop action steps and install timetables.

Your labeling of the draft Plan as “ideological claptrap” is unhelpful, hurtful and perhaps premature. The people involved have put in an extraordinary amount of effort and time, most of it gratis, in a process that began in March 2005 and is barely halfway toward a final Strategy and Plan.

[googlybda on 29.08.06 at 12:08]

Stuart
"Reducing duties (p 33) and taxes (p.34) are “ways of cutting costs”. They may not go as far as they could or as you would like, but is it really fair to issue such a dismissive and blanket condemnation of the SD Plan?"

This is all you could pull out of 40 pages full of ways to cut costs?
This only shifts the burden to other taxes, or are you saying government will cut its cost of doing business?
Getting back to the subject. A way forward for sustainable development is for government to allow more companies to provide ways to the internet. As I said before this is away to cut costs and the wireless companies are coming up with that.
If you want to start a blog on cutting costs in Bermuda I will be more than willing to share my thoughts.
By the way I have made comments direct to the SDU at a meeting with them.

[stuart J Hayward on 29.08.06 at 12:28]

If your comments to the SDU were constructive and didn't make the draft, this is the time to point to the omission and make the case for their inclusion. That's why we produced a DRAFT.

[googlybda on 29.08.06 at 12:47]

I can only stay on e-commerce in this section.
e-commerce is central to the future of International Business and Tourism!
If International Business cannot transact business accross the internet at a reasonable price from Bermuda they will leave.
Government must provide the environment for creativity and competition. This is not the subject of SD just good business. Lets concentrate on governing the country properly and we might remain as an affluent country.
Tourism's source of business is now by the internet. The whole theme for the Tourism ministry should be improving the"word" on the internet in all its forms. I went to a very polular website for videos and searched for Bermuda. I got Ewart Brown standing on a beach talking about the virtues of Bermuda. The video is a way to get accross to people how beautiful it is in Bermuda, and not just with one beach scene spoiled by Ewart standing there. Flood the internet with videos of beautiful Bermuda and the people of Bermuda.
Education can be enhanced greatly with the use of overseas expert teachers educating our kids on a much more intense basis. Senior students could get a great start from using this.
Exams should be taken online completely saving paper and making format consistent.
Purchasing the Royal Gazette online save a few dollars and saves paper.
The list is endless.
We need goals not draft papers e.g. reduce paper import by 50% by the use of e-commerce.
If we don't set such targets we will never meet them.

[stuart J Hayward on 29.08.06 at 13:18]

googlybda,

You have good ideas, which are very welcome.

I don't understand your need to scold "We need goals not draft papers", threaten If we don't set such targets we will never meet them , and treat the process as though it was a waste of time. If you have a beef with the government, you're entitled to it, but does your every post about the SD project, which is people-centered, have to contain putdowns?