Even with an increase in annual ICT budgets, government's service delivery record still remains poor, said Thabo Johnson, executive manager of NEC Phillips for GijimaAst.
The goal is to create a government that is ICT-enabled and knowledge driven, but its failure to effectively decide on what is really relevant for it has kept its systems slow, he noted.
“Technology needs to be meaningful and beneficial and the people working within government need to be aware of the critical value of ICT. They need to invest in systems which are available, accessible and networked,” said Johnson.
Government is looking for ways to cut costs and increase productivity, and e-governance allows them the chance to achieve these goals and more, he said. With an effective system, government could cut costs, improve administrative processes, facilitate economic development, organise services around convenience, make government services more accessible and empower employees, Johnson added.
“An e-government would allow it to define success by financial returns and new efficiencies, and at the same time, equally address the political and public value of systems as well as the issue of social inclusion.” This success, according to Johnson, is highly dependent on business processes, the organisational culture and competencies, and the robustness of the ICT infrastructure. An improved understanding of the best practices involved and a clear drive towards established objectives are also necessary, he said.
“E-government can greatly improve service delivery by identifying the areas of concern electronically, and with the development of a strategy, it could deal with the problems and challenges of development and improve ICT systems and capabilities.
“There are challenges to this in SA. Access and availability to all communities is the major issue. But, there is also the language and cultural divide that impacts on the formulation and interpretation of policy. Education and literacy is also an issue and this issue is made worse by poverty and the lack of social skills in the country. But, these are all barriers which technology can help cross.”
However, he added, this technology can only be effective if the foundations from which it is developed are solid. There needs to be the centralised co-ordination of e-government initiatives; political buy-in from leaders; it needs to be supported by the re-engineering of business practices and process to ensure efficacy and efficiency; the resources need to be available; and there needs to be an adherence to common standards, policies and regulations across all departments, he emphasised.
“This way technological development is meaningful. The government will avoid development that is wasteful, pointless and only depletes resources.”
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