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Representatives from Research In Motion (RIM), the producer of the popular Blackberry devices, plus CISCO, Nextar and Strategic Mobile Solutions offered helpful solutions to members of the business community who were excited to see the speakers live in the TCI.

Kenva Williams, chairman of the Telecommunications Commission, said for Digicel to hold such an event with speakers from RIM and CISCO demonstrates they are an advocate for technology. “We are pleased Digicel saw the need to hold such an event,” he said.

Digicel TCI CEO E. Jay Saunders says the average person uses only 25 percent of the capabilities available on the BlackBerry device.

“We wanted to share this information with the business community to help them improve the way they are doing business,” he explained.

RIM representative Brian Sklar gave an informative presentation on how to use the BlackBerry services to improve and grow your local business. Sklar demonstrated tools which can help small business owners improve productivity and efficiency by integrating office applications and data with the BlackBerry handset.

Joe Brannon of Strategic Mobile Solutions unveiled a product which is launching for the first time this week, right here in the TCI.

“So many businesses focus marketing efforts on driving new business, neglecting tried and true loyal customers,” Brannon explained. The product, developed with support from Digicel, can help businesses capture data from existing as well as new customers and use it to drive traffic into their business.

Technology is also a major concern for small businesses, but Corbin Pitts from CISCO explained how a business can build a strong data network keeping costs in check.

Earlier this year, Digicel acquired controlling interests in Nextar Technologies, the leading systems integrator in the Caribbean region, headquartered in Puerto Rico. Nextar representative Greg Skinner educated the local business community on how ICT services can help to improve their businesses and productivity.

Digicel hosted the Business Symposium as part of its 5th anniversary celebration. Saunders said while the company started out and has been known traditionally as a telecommunications company, today it provides end to end solutions for customers.

“We wanted to showcase the things we do on the business side, and this is the perfect opportunity to do that,” Saunders said. For the past two years Digicel has been growing its market share in the fixed line business, offering everything from fax to credit card transactions with fixed line services.

In just five short years in business in the TCI, Digicel has shined, gaining more than 50 percent of the telecom market share. It was also pivotal in creating competition in the market, driving down the per minute cost of cell phone service in the country.

Saunders said he does not plan to stop there. “If you think the last five years have been great, wait until you see what’s coming in the next five,” he said.

Blackberry Protect

It’s a free application designed to help find your lost BlackBerry smartphone and keep the information on it secure. If your smartphone is lost or stolen, you can track the device through Blackberry Protect, send a message to the device informing the person who may have stolen or recovered it, as well as deleting all information on the device should it be lost for good, keeping your private files out of the hands of others.