Effective e-Government Government-to-Goverment
Written by Pamela Weaver
THE CRITICAL ELEMENTS
EVERYTHING’S CONNECTED
Around the world, government structures have tended towards the hierarchical when it comes to developing frameworks for service delivery and policy development and implementation.
With so many processes and tasks underlining every step taken at every level of government, hierarchical structures seem vital to the establishment of uniformity and coherence. A clear chain of command allows work to be done while those higher up the food chain make the decisions regarding how things should be done and what the rules of engagement will be.
All well and good, but as research undertaken by Alexander Schellong and Johann Goethe at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard indicates, despite the reality that “desired outcomes are mostly realised” through the hierarchical system, it is not without its downsides. According to Schellong and Goethe, the hierarchical system can also result in a “silo-like, inward-looking culture, slow decision-making, change awareness or knowledge diffusion.” Where the stunting of knowledge sharing leads to “an institutionalised disconnect from citizens” it can, according to the research, also have even more serious consequences: “It can cause system failures when information and decision-making transcends organisational and jurisdictional boundaries.”
The culture of secrecy that fostered fragmented, inefficient and anti-democratic practices in the apartheid era has cast a long shadow over South Africa’s democratic civil service; in seeking to rejuvenate and reform, it’s inevitable that to some degree, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. Instilling a culture where the right hand knows what the left is doing takes time.
Shareaware
Gartner research points out that the political decision-making context for allocating budgets and resources, the emphasis on process controls and regulations and the ever-critical lens of public scrutiny add “unique and complex challenges” to government IT management. The best performers are those that recognise this while adhering to an awareness that their primary responsibility is the delivery of high-quality government and services to citizens. Every plan implemented must have this end as its primary goal – and as in the business world, one of the best foundations for delivery success is quality in backroom processes, the links in the chain that keep the delivery production line running smoothly, in this case, government-to-government (G2G) delivery.
Since the arrival on the scene of technologies that can help transcend these challenges by opening up opportunities for sharing knowledge and pooling resources to give a more rounded view, the concept of “joined-up government”, ”networked government” or “G2G” has come to the fore. At its core: commitment to efficiency and service delivery through co-ordination, co-operation, teamwork and the utilisation of the concept of the network to get things done.
Technology-wise, G2G translates into a broad spectrum of initiatives such as shared services, integration and interoperability frameworks covering data, applications, processes and just about anything that keeps the wheels of government turning efficiently while delivering a truly citizen-centric experience. As Schellong and Goethe term it, it’s a case of “centralised de-centralisation.” So how do you get there?
SERVICE AT CENTRE STAGE
For more than a decade, governments across the world have been waking up to the importance of learning and applying best practices from the business world to the business of effective government. As in the business world, the bottom line for successful government is closely connected with the customer-citizen and their satisfaction. Counter-intuitive as it might seem, particularly in straitened economic times, improved customer service is one of the fastest routes to reducing government costs: good for the citizen, the taxpayer, the economy – everybody.
Key elements to achieving customer service success
|
SPHERES OF CO-OPERATION Inter-governmental co-operation is mandated in the South African Constitution, where government is defined as comprising of three spheres: national, provincial and local. This model is known as the “multi-sphere” system of government. According to the Department of Public Service and Administration’s (DPSA) Intergovernmental System in South Africa publication, this model makes co-operation between each stratum a requirement of our constitutional democracy, entrenching the concept of “co-operative governance”, which |
• They are citizen-centric, i.e. they organise their own services and information around their citizens’ needs and circumstances.
• They use a variety of channels to provide information and services to people and strive for seamless co-ordination between those channels.
• They work together at the local, regional and national levels to provide integrated services.
• They actively reach out to their customers, working to ensure that people are informed about the services they offer so that customers can use their services easily and understand what is expected of them in return.
Accenture further pinpoints the importance of transforming the relationship between public services and customers/citizens from one of dependency to one of shared responsibility.
Such a transformation can only be achieved where there is increased government accountability and efficiency – vital components in building the necessary trust for any such relationship. The first step in building this is quality government-to-government structures – if we want citizens to trust public servants, those employed or elected to deliver the goods must demonstrate that they trust each other and are capable of working together efficiently.
Information management, particularly at local government level, has been identified as a fundamental challenge; it has been noted with concern that municipal information management systems are not aligned with sector departments. In the business world, the backbone of real customer service and effective CRM lies in back-office efficiency and the change in work-culture that is required to drive it. This same backbone is the basis of effective e-government and the spinal chord running through that backbone is G2G provision. Without it, the ideal of value-for-money, electronically-delivered government for all remains just that: an ideal. In short: G2G is e-government.
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FAIL
Across all three spheres, the South African public sector is currently characterised by the significant challenges of amalgamation, legacy systems and processes, integration, corruption, performance measurement, shrinking skills/ resource pools and dysfunctional manual processes. According to the DPSA’s Professor Richard Levin, government must successfully implement its programmes through the three-sphere system. Consequently, the basic structural challenge facing government is a tension built into the intergovernmental system, sometimes referred to as a “quasi federal system” which has been described as “the challenge of central control and provincial and municipal discretion – or rather it is the problem of the right mix and relationship between national government’s imperative to retain direct control over outcomes of expenditure and implementation (as a result of pressure to accelerate service provision) in a system that provides significant discretion to the two other levels of government.”
The new National Planning Commission is anticipated by some to become something of a microcosm of the above situation, with the potential for conflict arising from the power of the planning agency and other state bodies that also have their own mandate to act and deliver. In India, a similar dilemma was addressed by assigning a co-ordinating role for the planning body; elsewhere, the planning bodies have been given the authority to overrule other agencies, which have had their functions re-framed around the planning commission.
The first scenario relies heavily on co-operation between departments and a willingness to share information with the planning body. In the event that such co-operation is not forthcoming, however, the body lacks the capacity to force the issue, leaving it open to being sidelined or made irrelevant by power struggles or turf protection behaviour. The second scenario could see a planning body in full control, each department having its goals and strategies framed around the commission’s mandate, eliminating conflict and getting the job done.
A complex articulation of roles
When functions are shared between the three spheres, the business cycle of policy design through to implementation must be executed through a complex articulation of roles. As described at the beginning of this chapter, these relationships are often vertical in nature because they involve multiple centres of decision-making in areas of common endeavour and jurisdiction. The challenge is to bring about a more networked system, capable of connecting related functions across and through every level of government. Management issues form a core solution to such problems. Technologically speaking, the emergence of Web 2.0 applications and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) are now at a sufficiently mature stage to support integration between systems across government and also extending into the private sector where necessary.
As expectations across the board increase, government has to take its lead from the business community, where integration, data management and interoperability are driving new efficiency levels and supporting innovative thinking when it comes to delivery. At the vertical level, South Africa’s Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act serves as the basis for more efficient and predictable co-ordination between the spheres. The recent establishment of a National Planning Commission (NPC), based in the Presidency, will, in the words of President Zuma “be responsible for strategic planning for the country to ensure one National Plan to which all spheres of government would adhere.” To this end, two ministerial functions have been created: one responsible for the NPC overall and the other to steer monitoring and evaluation competency across all three spheres.
Re-organising around the end-user (be they civil servant or citizen) is a vital step in achieving joined-up government. If the backroom isn’t functioning properly, change must take place – Gartner research indicates that only those governments that focus on enterprise architecture and back-office re-engineering will achieve their e-government objectives.
Nothing reveals the shortcomings and limits of an organisation’s business processes and strategies like the implementation of an online administration system. Those working within the system need to be clear about their role. Mere implementation of technology or Internet-based services is not e-government – citizens without access to technology are also entitled to avail of and benefit from streamlined and efficient services.
STRATEGY BEFORE TECHNOLOGY
| MASTER SYSTEMS PLANS
MSPs are widely used across government agencies globally to oversee the overhaul of existing ICT infrastructure and expand IT enablers across departments and functions. In South Africa, many government departments and agencies have put this in place in an effort to drive the upgrading of back-office infrastructure as well as the implementation of strategies and development of project methodologies that will help achieve the aims of e-government. Business Process Management (BPM) tools are oft en used to address a need to automate workfl ow, facilitating the key success driver of integration across functions. The government has clearly identifi ed Human Resources as a critical area for automation and integration, with the former Department of Foreign Aff airs (now called International Relations & Cooperation) among those seeking to roll out a Web-based system for ease of access to this |
At the heart of any coherent e-government strategy is the effective use of the right channel and service provider. An important factor in achieving this goal is efficient Knowledge Management (KM) and Business Intelligence (BI – increasingly used both in South Africa and globally as part of monitoring and evaluation initiatives). Technology must be used with clearly-defined goals in sight. In business, KM is used to drill into corporate memory, digging out details of past decisions, actions or whatever can be learned from previous challenges or achievements. In a government context, the benefit of such intelligent use of information hardly needs stating. Knowledge must be managed as a key resource.
Organising and cleaning it is just a step on the road to integration with the goals of joinedup government and the ideal of a single-window, multi-channel approach to delivery. Among other projects, the DPSA has also established a Learning and Knowledge Management Directorate that earmarks KM as a core competency for all senior management in South Africa’s public service. SKILLS: DRIVING SIDEWAYS?
The message on integration and the sharing of information as a driver of skills auditing has been made clear by Cabinet. A Lekgotla held in 2007 saw a decision taken that all public service departments should apply a uniform skills audit process, including the establishment of human resource systems to address increasing concerns regarding a skills shortage within the public sector. At the time, the Cabinet also called for the “improvement of co-ordination between the DPLG [now the Ministry of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs] and methodologies employed by other departments in skills databases and audits to establish a minimum baseline data field and to ensure interoperability and consistent data.” In this instance, the creation of a single skills database and HR audit system – the HR Connect project – across the entire public service is described as being part of the effort to “build an understanding of the national integrated processes that have been decided upon by Cabinet to eliminate the duplication and wastage of resources within the public service.”
The payoff comes on two levels – integrated, collaborative systems plus a coherent view of the all-important skills situation. Gartner research indicates that, through 2020, a shortage of skilled personnel will combine with difficulties in process control to impede governments’ ability to “establish meaningful IT project management maturity” – the result, according to Gartner, has been an increasing focus on improving this skill in governments globally. It’s easy to understand the urgency: high-profile government IT project failures not only damage government’s image but also cost large sums of money, even as they expose weaknesses in standardised processes and competencies. The ongoing skills crisis in South Africa’s public service is a costly one: according to Democratic Alliance figures, the hire of consultants cost R1.6 billion in 2008.
Meanwhile, decision-making processes on employees accused of incompetence or corruption is leading to R19.3 million being spent on salaries with no work in return, as suspended officials hover in limbo awaiting the outcome of investigations that crawl to their conclusions. Initiatives such as the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, seek to skill-up current public servants. Answerable to DPSA Minister Baloyi, the academy promises relevant training, development and support for employees from local government all the way to ministerial level.
Moving beyond the talk
Overall, however, on the skills front, moving beyond the talk continues to be a problem for our public service, one that, according to the Public Service Commission (PSC), “seems to be handled casually.” PSC data reveals that, as of December 2008, only 54% of national and 32% of provincial departments had completed their HR plans for 2008/09 and obtained the necessary approval from their Executive Authorities.
As the PSC points out, given that the financial year was almost over in December 2008, “it can be assumed that many departments went through the year without having human resource plans in place. With such inadequate attention to human resource planning, the PSC cannot rule out the possibility of some departments not having made sufficient staffing arrangements for 2010.” The PSC further points out that although many departments have Skills Development Plans (SDPs) in place, the content is “not always responsive to the real skills development needs the department faces.” Of 22 departments assessed by the PSC, only 45% had SDPs based on a thorough skills needs analysis.
Specific interventions
Cabinet has approved specific interventions framed by the DPSA in 2008 to address these issues, including a generic organisational structure, competency framework for improving HR functions and the alignment of training programmes within that framework as well as a framework of key performance indicators through which departments can assess the functioning of their HR components. As the PSC puts it, “these interventions will need to be monitored closely to establish their impact.”
The PSC’s 2009 “State of the Public Service” report suggests that the forthcoming football World Cup could prove something of a boon for the public service: “Considering the magnitude of resources that are being allocated, the Public Service can actually exploit the hosting of the World Cup to address the performance gaps that exist and to build lasting capacity to function effectively even beyond the event itself.” The Commission cites the example of the R1.573 billion allocated to Home Affairs for Ports of Entry enhancement as an opportunity for the department to use funds intended to strengthen World Cup preparations as a lever for long-lasting improvements in business processes and turn-around times, making it a more effective institution beyond the tournament itself.
ACHIEVING REAL-TIME INFRASTRUCTURE
The government’s IT House of Values aims to use ICTs to reduce costs, improve service efficiency and effectiveness and make it convenient for citizens to access government services. According to the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), consolidation and virtualisation are the means to this end. SITA points to the duplication of data and processes across departments both provincially and nationally as a key challenge to achieving this. Too many departments run their own server rooms or data centres, duplicating not only physical facilities but also requirements such as facilities management, electricity usage, back-up power and the staff complement required to oversee it all. This translates into money being diverted away from service transformation and into duplication of services, i.e. waste. Key levels of consolidation
SITA has pointed to three key levels of consolidation that are in need of attention: • Logical consolidation: Involving the implementation of common processes and enablement of standard systems management procedures across mainframe applications.
• Physical consolidation: Infrastructure resources are moved to a smaller number of locations or consolidated in a single data centre. This enhances security while simplifying maintenance and administration.
• Rationalised consolidation: Implementing multiple applications on fewer, more powerful platforms, usually through partitioning and workload management. SITA’s ultimate goal is the achievement of what Gartner calls “real-time infrastructure”, where this is shared across users, business units or applications while business policies and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) drive a dynamic, automatic optimisation of the infrastructure. The result: reduced costs plus increased agility and Quality of Service (QoS).
As in other areas of effective G2G implementation, a key challenge to SITA’s vision lies in changing the mindset of its customers – the government workers and officials who are being asked to let go of the equipment it probably fought tooth-and-nail to get the budget for last year and allow someone else to look after it and all the data on it.
A further challenge comes from the vendor side. Not only are vendors keen to sell as much product as possible, resulting in duplication, but the skills shortage often means the vendors manage the technology for some departments, making it harder to press home the case for consolidation. According to SITA, it’s often simply a case of users not understanding the real costs of the services they use, and changing their mind accordingly when presented with the data showing savings achieved through consolidation.
TOO MANY CHIEFS?
The South African government’s ICT needs are met and planned for by an executive team comprised of SITA, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO, currently led by Michelle Williams) and the Government Information Technology Officers Council (GITOC, chaired by Julius Segole).
Between them, their role is to co-ordinate and consolidate government ICT strategies in pursuance of the outcomes, objectives and means of the ICT House of Values, the cornerstone of South African e-government policy, as follows:
• Reduce duplication: Ensure re-use and sharing of existing solutions
• Leverage on economies of scale: use buying power to procure ICT products and services for government centrally
• Ensure that all products and services are secure
• Ensure that all ICT solutions within government can integrate/ interoperate
• Ensure the empowerment of the previously disadvantaged by:
- Providing access to economic opportunities
- Providing a cost-effective way of accessing government services via different channels anywhere, any time, any how
- Providing training and skills development to understand and use the different channels available to them to access government services.
There is, however, a perception that the proliferation of policy and decision-making groups, all manner of committees and participants is having a negative effect on effective ICT provision and spending in government. With everyone from SITA to national government and individual departments all formulating their own projects and procurement plans, it can be argued that government ICT provision is being hampered by the presence of too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Across the board, leaders and various agencies openly admit that they’re falling short of meeting targets. This can partly be blamed on South Africa’s “pragmatic hybrid” approach to e-government, which operates on a mix of centralised and de-centralised structures.
The consequence, in many cases, is confusion, no clearly delineated lines of accountability (as the high-profile spat in 2008 between former SITA CEO Llewellyn Jones and GCIO Michelle Williams illustrated) and the sort of duplication of work and processes that the DPSA is seeking to eliminate.
Leadership issues
|
THE EASY FIX IS ACTION “Departments must address the problems that plague their human resource management chain. The gaps... do not require massive resources to address, but rather the will and commitment on the part of Public Service leadership to take action. For example, putting proper job descriptions in place and availing managers to drive the short-listing of candidates do not really require too much of senior managers’ time and it is unacceptable that these activities are ignored to the point where they inhibit effective human resource management.” [Public Service Commission: State of the Public Service, 2009] |
Williams has said that she did not believe that the OGCIO, GITOC and SITA were efficient or aligned in such a way that would yield optimal productivity and success. She believes that a key challenge for quality government ICT provision is fostering alignment and developing a road map, key milestones and mechanisms by which the public service could adopt a coherent, enterprise-wide approach to IT infrastructure and delivery. Williams also notes that a key component of remedying this is the “mapping of core infrastructure and services that are common between departments, as well as identifying what is peculiar (specific line of business applications) to each department.”
One thing is clear: many public policy analysts and commentators are of the opinion that there is a lack of clear, co-ordinated action across the functions charged with driving delivery forward. This can only be solved by strong communication between departments, clusters and other agencies. All while recognising that too many voices and too many decision-makers can lead to too many of the same solutions being rolled-out independently.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE GOVERNMENT CIO
According to the World Bank, government CIOs “enable countries to move from vision of egovernment to citizen-centric transformation of public institutions and processes to enable competitive, innovative and knowledge-based economies and open, new generation societies.” The World Bank says that, in many countries, GCIOs are “emerging as Chief Innovation Officers within their agencies which are driving organisational transformation and innovation with technology as a key enabler.”
For many observers, the temptation to compare public CIOs with their private sector counterparts has proved irresistible. However, as the research paper “Differences in Approaches to the CIO concept in Private and Public Sectors” by D.C. Misra shows, the CIO experience in the private sector “is of limited use to the public sector” particularly when measured against the six characteristics of control, orientation, clientage, motivation, working environment and risk-taking behaviour. Nonetheless, GCIOs are increasingly expected to demonstrate some degree of business savvy in terms of how they approach their role – value for money and citizen satisfaction imperatives make for a heady, highly pressured mix.
Deloitte’s document “CIO 2.0: The changing role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in government – and why it matters in the public sector” offers guidelines for public CIOs, identifying challenges and offering solutions. Among its recommendations are the following: • Money: It’s not what you spend; it’s how you spend it. Most agencies don’t think they have enough money to do everything they want to do, but the real issue is how the money you do have is used. Focus on what really matters – achieving the organisation’s goals on time and on budget. On tight budgets, strategic alignment with the goals of your organisation, closely allied with efficiency can help make the most out of what you have.
• Security and risk: Fast, cheap or secure. Pick one. When it comes to IT development, everyone wants things fast and cheap. But in today’s increasingly complex world, security needs to be a top priority.
• Procurement: Big money. Big plans. Big problems. Sometimes the IT procurement process is too rigid, locking bidders into a dated solution. Other times, it’s too loose, producing endless streams of changed orders. Focus on speed rather than perfection, use business-case templates to accelerate decision-making and use consistent measures to evaluate performance.
• Integration and interoperability: Silo-busting. Co-operation across government agencies – and with private and non-profits – is critical for much of what government does today. Use common terminology and definitions for IT-related issues. Adhere to established architecture guidelines. Adopt a shared services model if possible and reduce costs while improving quality.
• Governance: Guiding them in. Proper governance is essential; clearly defined everything, from responsibilities to strategies and aims is vital. Strike the balance between autonomy and control and give people the freedom they need to do their jobs. Strong CIOs are needed for this – give them unwavering support and a seat at the table for all agency decisions.
• Performance measures: If it’s not worth measuring, it’s not worth doing. An effective performance measurement system allows an agency to objectively evaluate the success or failure of its IT projects. Successful measures include the use of standard, consistently applied measures and effective use of benchmarking for an “apples to apples” approach.
• Portfolio management: Allocating scarce resources requires strategic alignment – making sure the project is consistent with your agency’s mission and goals. Efficiency is also vital – is there a better way of meeting targets? Are you doing it?
• Human capital: How to deliver tomorrow’s solutions with today’s staff while attracting new talent. Many government agencies rely too heavily on the civic sensibilities of their employees, forgetting the importance of compensation and working conditions. Governments can make themselves more attractive to high-quality staff by offering a rewarding environment, better compensation and an honest look at the skills situation in-house.
Successful e-government involves more than establishing a straightforward IT strategy – the goals of the IT and business functions have to dovetail if efficiency is to be achieved. Even so, functions must retain an understanding of their own separate goals, even where these are inter-dependent; otherwise e-government evolves into just another IT channel and function. Strategy, structure and organisational culture must be considered alongside any discussions or decisions at hardware and software level.
A GIF FOR IT
|
RIM OF KNOWLEDGE The Research Information Management System (RIMS) is a Department of Science and Technology (DST) initiative that creates a strategic tool capable of providing real-time information on human resources for science, engineering, technology, research and development. A national information RIM is expected to provide government with the tools necessary for obtaining detailed, holistic data on where its research and development funds are invested, as well as how much it is investing in science and technology. Before RIM, data was compiled retrospectively, using traditional survey techniques. More than R40 million has been invested by government in the RIMS project. |
Government Interoperability Frameworks (GIFs) such as South Africa’s Minimum Interoperability Standards (MIOS) and Government-Wide Enterprise Architecture (GWEA) are central to achieving the goal of effective e-government. As the UNDP puts it, if a GIF is thought of as a building, Enterprise Architecture is a town plan.
These policies are central to efficient G2G functioning, which requires that planners develop systems and formats that not only work together within any agency or department but will interoperate seamlessly both vertically and horizontally. Having applied the principles of e-business and Knowledge Management to sorting out the human aspects of inconsistency and inefficiency, it’s amazing how many G2G strategies come a cropper thanks to different architectures and formats that prevent integrated data management and proper knowledge flow. It is important to make architecture choices based around the need to support human requirements. Common formats sitting on common architectures that run interoperable, compatible applications are the order of the day.
SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is, loosely, a framework for allowing and supporting combination and interoperability between legacy and new technology to offer new and reusable services, processes and business models. SOA, with its capacity to integrate disparate systems, also facilitates and drives the uptake of open source solutions – a point that is likely to work in its favour with governments globally.
Accenture sees governments largely as in the early adoption stages of SOA but, according to its “High Performance Infrastructure” survey of American and European government bodies, we can, in the future, expect that “tying SOA deployments to infrastructure modernisation or transformation initiatives will be key as organisations migrate to robust standardised and services-based platforms to allow for maximum flexibility, automation and performance.” The UNDP refers to the suggestion that SOA “is the best underlying paradigm with which to develop e-government services that can be used in cross-agency and cross-border situations.”
According to the UNDP, the advantage of a service orientation is that it defines the needs and outcomes of e-government in terms of services, independent from the technology that implements them. It identifies three key benefits of SOA for e-government: Adaptability, predictability and accountability, following on with four critical areas that SOA governance should address:
• Establishing decision rights
• Defining high-value government services
• Managing the lifecycle of assets
• Measuring effectiveness.
Through the integration of siloed, disparate systems and streamlined processes and an alignment of IT with those processes, government agencies can achieve complete visibility of citizen information across organisations and governmental entities, making data available where appropriate. A SOA using composite applications is a development approach that focuses on accelerating new application development by leveraging and re-using existing assets. SOA leverages industry standards to produce loosely-coupled applications, driving flexibility, agility and re-usability.
Composite application development is process-centric and based on SOA principles. It combines the benefits of custom development with those of a packaged application (pre-built functionality) by extending existing applications and siloed application process fragments. This approach separates the process into its own layer, so changes can be made either to the process or any of the systems supporting it – with predictable ripple effects. The composite application approach enables organisations to integrate citizen data from multiple sources and achieve a single citizen view. Equally importantly, it provides for better alignment between IT capabilities and agency goals.
IF YOU’RE SHARING, YOU’RE DOING IT RIGHT
In e-government circles, shared services is enjoying a prolonged spell in the limelight, largely because nothing indicates the presence of successful G2G implementation like a shared services initiative – it demands the sort of streamlining, efficiency and clarity of vision that only good G2G can deliver. Shared services involves streamlining and converging back-office functions in order to drive efficiency and cost cutting. HR and Financial Services are the most popular options for the shared services treatment but IT and procurement are other backoffice functions that can be shared. At SITA, the HR function uses shared services to optimise performance and attract and retain talent.
It’s not just about centralising services; shared services is about running these functions as a business, delivered to internal customers at a cost – it’s like outsourcing inside your organisation. Shared services has been popular with the governments of Australia, America, United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore, among others, for some years. In the UK, it is held in such high esteem that the Cabinet Office established a task force to drive uptake. Centrally-providing services that are common to all agencies and ministries – such as scanning, email and enterprise content management – can drive enhanced customer service while reducing costs and introducing clarity by allowing various functions to identify and then leverage compatible and mutually-beneficial strengths and services. Good G2G is vital if this is to take place, as it requires high levels of inter-function communication so that everyone can see and understand the advantages and opportunities.
According to Accenture, there are three key benefits from any shared services implementation:
• The creation of good management tools and information, enabling quality service delivery
• By acting as one in the back office, significant impediments to agility and responsiveness to the citizen-customer are eliminated
• Organisations gain increased efficiencies and economies of scale, liberating resources to devote to service delivery initiatives elsewhere.
Streamlined, better focused organisations tend to be staffed by happier, more productive employees – who in turn offer better service to the customer-citizen. Research by A.T. Kearney indicates that organisations adopting this streamlined approach can achieve a 53% improvement in production, alongside a 38% increase in employee satisfaction. And all this while saving money…
Attractive a prospect as it may sound, the time for a full-on shared services approach in South Africa is not yet here. For it to work properly and maximum benefits to be achieved, all the other components of a strong e-government framework need to be in place and running effectively. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.
THE FOUNDATION STONE OF E-GOVERNMENT
|
STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES With this in mind, SITA’s three-year corporate strategy, developed with the involvement of the GCIO has identified 7 “strategic imperatives”: |
Nothing drives G2G forward like political will; resistance from within is the biggest barrier to it, particularly in developing countries where too many chiefs and an adhesion to cadre deployment can lead to a scenario in which everyone pulls in different directions. South Africa’s past engendered a culture of secrecy and resistance to change which can, nonetheless, be overcome. Even today there are challenges inherent in the proliferation of consultative bodies, committees and other organisations rolled out to ensure that there is broad participation, but often resulting in the creation of new silos, not to mention the creation of the kinds of fiefdoms e-government is designed to break down.
Administrative reform and e-government are two sides of the same coin, each driving the other. Re-organising public services and processes should not be done to the detriment of issues such as national security, political motivation, law or privacy issues; the drafting of new legislation in support of change is often necessary, meaning that change often comes slowly. Traditional expectations and understandings of what constitutes return on investment also need to be re-assessed and re-focused; it’s not only about money – performance can also be measured in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, customer satisfaction, service delivery, openness, transparency and accountability. All essential ingredients of a modern, fullyfunctioning democracy.
G2G actually strengthens democracy, not just by improving services, but also in its role of copper-fastening the three basic values of all democracies – freedom, equality, legitimacy – through its enforcement of the separation of powers, where no one agency can control all the information and use it to draw power to itself. Change is driven by a desire for openness and citizen service, above all else.
Government departments can no longer operate in a vacuum, functioning in a mindset that tells workers they’re mere cogs in a larger political machine. Function-oriented mindsets must yield to a world where process is king. G2G requires true leadership from those charged with its implementation, but the rewards are myriad.