The South African government is struggling to deliver services to citizens because there is lack of alignment of government departments to presidential priorities, as well as inconsistent data monitoring methods.
This is the view of Adeth Nathalal, solutions manager at SAS, who points out that in an environment where the public sector is being asked to deliver more services for less or underused resources, a key requirement is understanding the citizens' needs.
"Currently, government departments are facing challenges where service delivery is provisioned in small pockets; there's also a difficulty to demonstrate alignment of government departments to presidential priorities as well as inconsistent data monitoring methods," he says.
Nathalal observes that this has resulted in an efficient model of governing where the right things are done poorly. He uses the government's housing department as an example where the need has been identified, but poorly serviced.
"Government departments need to move to an effective model where they'll be able to accomplish their purpose and produce the intended or expected results," Nathalal says.
To meet the challenge, he says, public sector organisations should adopt a variety of innovative information technologies to boost their front-line services such as education, health, housing etc. SAS Express Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), which assists municipalities in the management, alignment, communication, and execution of their integrated development plans to promote accountability and accelerate service delivery, is one of those.
Predictive analytics
He adds that incorporated in the software is the use of predictive analytics, meaning that data mining can be used to analyse current and historical facts to make predictions about future.
"This will enable government organisations to understand citizens' conditions and attitudes more clearly; anticipate events more reliably; and maximise funding and staff resources. In short, it will improve strategic and tactical decision-making," adds Nathalal.
Based on what is already implemented across the world, according to Nathalal, this type of capability will also make it easy for government agencies to analyse e-government initiatives, gauge public opinion on specific projects or even the administering of tender procurement systems.
Citing the use of analytics by US census bureau as an example, he explains how knowing where a district is located can help explain the unique characteristics of its population.
"School districts are spatial entities as well as social organisations, so it can be extremely helpful to see demographic data in their geographic context. A simple map can explain that," he states.
Nathalal shares how the US census bureau found that in the school district in Ohio, 75% of the community's population reported not being high school graduates.
"A quick map showed the district location, but spatial context also offered hints about features and demographic anomalies; in this case, the location of the district hinted at the possible presence of an Amish community - a tight knit cultural group that often doesn't continue with formal education past secondary level," remarks Nathalal.
In summing up, Nathalal believes that in today's uncertain climate, the capability to combine advanced analytical techniques with decision-support capabilities will be of special interest to public sector organisations.
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