In conjunction with the opening of Parliament last week, Patrick Shields, Software AG's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), stated that South Africa's public sector organisations face the daunting challenge of attempting to solve today's problems using yesterday's tools.
During his speech at the LGBN Public Sector Week conference, held 11-14 February in Cape Town, Shields said the answer for South Africa's public sector organisations is to become digital government organisations.
During South Africa's Parliament opening last week, LGBN hosted a Public Sector Week conference from 11-14 February in Cape Town. Attended by various government departmental and municipal heads, Public Sector Week aims to build human interaction and social networks needed to build social cohesion as a developing nation. ICT is a key area where local government and corporate South Africa must meet to digitise the public sector and improve service delivery to the South African citizen.
"Today's public sector organisations face the daunting challenge of attempting to solve today's problems using yesterday's tools. The answer for South Africa's public sector organisations is to become digital government organisations," said Patrick Shields, Chief Technology Officer for Software AG South Africa in his presentation at LGBN's Public Sector Week workshop.
Shields stated that the journey to a digital government starts with capturing, modelling and linking organisational strategy, objectives, KPIs and processes.
Software AG's Chief Evangelist, Theo Priestley, named one of the top 50 influencers for the business process management industry in 2012, agrees that government faces challenges above and beyond the private sector. Shifts in regulations, department organisation as well as security and compatibility requirements mean rapid changes are often required, which don't fit the long-term release schedules of traditional development. "A responsive state and local government depends on systems that communicate with customers through available channels such as e-mail, Web and social media. Government must be able to keep up with rapidly changing requirements and demands," says Priestley.
Shields stated that key to government's journey to becoming a digital government will involve effective process automation and real-time monitoring of business processes, risks and internal controls. "Through real-time monitoring, public sector management teams can proactively address and resolve control violations and risk concerns. This is how South Africa's public sector can become a responsive state - using today's tools to solve today's problems."
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