Discussing Digital transformation and Creativity with Maria Daniel and John Michael Thomas

Maria Daniel – Digital Transformation Strategist at EY. She comments that Trinidad and Tobago is about 10-12 years behind the curve in terms of digital development particularly towards becoming a cashless society. For Maria Covid has acted as an accelerant on our digitization journey. For example, the acceptance of electronic signatures has been advanced but Trinidad and Tobago needs to leap frog to get on the same page with the rest of the world with regard to digitization. She commented that it may not always be beneficial to rely on the western world for digital solutions but with enough research similar solutions from Eastern countries can be available. John Thomas – Teacher/Vocalist/Impresario. John sees art as life and wishes that we could focus greater effort on education including story telling and art appreciation which goes beyond drawing and painting. His discussion has an underlying theme of appreciation and the need for our society to move away from the culture of competition to an approach which focusses on sharing our experiences and stories. His Covid story is that because singing requires the expulsion of breath, he has had to re-imagine the possibilities of using technology to collaborate and change the way voices are brought to the world. John is heavily reliant on the spirit of community to bring us through what he described as this “failed state that we live in”.