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SITA’s new slogan, Forward we go – backwards never, captivates the essence of its on going transformation.

SITA’s new slogan, which directly translated from Sesotho means ‘Forwards we go – backwards never’, is a catchy mantra that precisely captivates the essence of SITA’s ongoing transformation to excellence. At a time when government is increasingly zooming into state-owned enterprises (SOEs), following performance-related concerns, SITA is already at the forefront – implementing changes in several critical areas within the organisation to make sure that it is properly constituted and well equipped to support government in its quest to deliver on national priorities.

SITA’s transformation process began in 2008 with the establishment of review task teams, including public and private sector expertise. The task teams recognised that a decade after its formation as the leading ICT agency of government, SITA faced a crisis that required an organisational overhaul to enable the organisation to support its founding mandate – this against the backdrop of key stakeholders expressing discomfort with the progress towards the achievement of the objectives enshrined in the ICT House of Value.

The next critical step in SITA’s journey toward transformation came in March 2010 with the approval of a comprehensive turnaround strategy for the agency. The main objective of SITA’s turnaround strategy was to help the organisation rediscover its value-add, and further readjust itself accordingly in terms of managing, stabilising and ensuring sustenance at a strategic, organisational and operational level. Most importantly, it was premised on a comprehensive vision to rebuild and re-engineer SITA to become a high-performing, customer-oriented IT service provider of choice.

What followed shortly after the approval of the turnaround strategy was the reconstitution of the Board of Directors through the addition of new members. This was effectively done to ensure the board’s ability to enforce governance and compliance thereto and, most importantly, to provide strategic leadership and guidance in the implementation of the turnaround strategy.

With a newly reconstituted board in place, focus now shifted towards the organisation itself, with more priority being placed on management and leadership. For the first time in a long while, the appointment of a new CEO on a three-year contract clearly signalled government’s intention to finally bring about stability and sustainability within the organisation. Almost all strategic leadership positions in the organisation have been filled to provide high-level support for positive change.

The positions that have been filled include:
• Chief Operations Officer, Ms Khumbudzo Ntshavheni
• Executive: Corporate Services, Mr Diamond Mushwana
• Executive: Internal Audit, Mr Razak Alli
• Chief Financial Officer, Mr Jobo Moshesh
• Executive: Supply Chain Management, Ms Thenji Mjoli
• Executive: Solution Development, Norms and Standards, Mr Nagalin Tuganadar
• Company Secretary, Ms Thandi Zide

Recruitment for the outstanding position of Executive: ICT Service Delivery has commenced and should be concluded in the near future. The filling of strategic positions at management level has been an important step in terms of bringing about stability and strengthening leadership within the organisation. The new leadership continues to play a critical role in providing strategic direction, guidance and focus required to ensure that the organisation continues to successfully deliver on its strategic projects even as the turnaround strategy continues.

Since the implementation of the turnaround strategy last year, SITA has witnessed numerous positive developments, which are all aimed at re-engineering the various internal processes and systems within the organisation to ensure optimal performance. Among these are a number of new models that have been developed and approved by the agency’s board of directors. These include a new business model and business strategy map, operating model, capability model, industry partnership model, pricing and costing model, and PSI (Prime System Integrator) strategy.

In addition, SITA is also doing extensive work to restructure the organisation as an essential step towards organisational efficiency. Essentially, what this entails is comparing the organisation’s operational capacity (including various work streams) and its workforce, with SITA’s original mandate as depicted in Government’s House of Value – to be able to see that the organisation is properly aligned to deliver on the mandate.

Another important development is that SITA is also in the process of reconfiguring its procurement function into a fully-fledged Supply Chain Management Function, to ensure that it responds to the SITA turnaround imperatives, which are based on ensuring the comfort and confidence of its shareholders, customers and key stakeholders.

And finally, one of the key milestones in terms of SITA’s turnaround strategy is to see the organisation transform and position itself to become government’s PSI. As government’s PSI, SITA will provide many benefits to government, including creating harmony and synergy in government’s IT environment, to facilitate information sharing and management across line departments. The vision is to move beyond the ‘mortar and bricks’, or compartmentalised approach of service delivery, towards a ‘single’ public service that is highly integrated, standardised and seamless.

In accordance with the PSI model, SITA will centralise its governance services, converge capabilities, and establish strategic industry partners. This will be done in order to broaden its services and products, create value for customers through economies of scale, integrate services, and enhance customer service delivery. All these elements are crucial to stimulate and grow the ICT industry, in line with government’s agenda.

SITA is determined to reclaim its position as the leading ICT agency for the public sector – one that is properly aligned and contributes toward the achievement of government’s key priorities through ICT deployment. SITA’s mandate prescribes that the organisation acts as a reliable partner, not a competitor, against government institutions in their endeavour to fulfil service delivery obligations. This has profound implications in terms of SITA’s value proposition and accompanying goods and services. As a sole representative of government within the dynamic ICT industry, SITA needs to build working partnerships with competitors in the ICT industry to search for innovative uses of information technology in order to modernise and transform government back-office and service delivery capacities.