Network leadership, government vision together drive e-reality

Governments around the world are constantly striving for that next level of sophistication. Whether to improve service delivery, be more open, more responsive or available, the challenge has been, and continues to be, to work around the all-demanding task of streamlining communication channels to citizens, businesses, other governments and its own inter-departmental units.

This challenge is not an easy one. Shrinking budgets, disparate, legacy network infrastructures, demanding requirements for security, a constantly growing demand for new and improved services as well as the pressure from citizens for transparency and keeping costs in check, all point to an e-government reality that not only leverages the best technology for the job, but also meets the demand for prudent choices, future-proof investments and an overall lower total cost of ownership.

Laying the foundation for change is ultimately what it`s about, says Rick Rogers, country manager of Nortel Networks in SA. "E-government solutions resolve many of the issues governments face, by simplifying and speeding the delivery of services and information to citizens, business partners and other government entities. It also makes the most of taxpayer money, and ensures security and privacy at all government levels.

Nortel Networks has already engaged with SA`s government in its initiative to put in place a common architecture to facilitate the flow of information between various government departments. The GCCN (Government Common Core Network) project was the keystone in deploying an e-government strategy, and key to the GCCN was the integration of different government systems and networks to share information quickly and effectively. This was the initial vision, but the perspective on transformation is far broader.

"And end-to-end, single view of information will go that one step closer to an open, accessible and responsive government. This would require the facilitation of all types of communication, to, from and between all information entry points. While a common network infrastructure that allows ease of communication and functionality on top of that network would service the ultimate aim of improved services to all citizens, the next step would be to create a common platform for all government entities, offering a panacea in the form of a responsive, always available government," Rogers says.

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But, the core building blocks for engaging in an e-enabled government infrastructure are also about ensuring operational efficiencies and cost savings. Consolidation is fundamental to achieving these success metrics, specifically in SA where infrastructure provisioning can run into huge bills. "Duplication of back-end systems, databases and infrastructure, while perhaps a consequence of historically having viewed things in isolation, results in duplication of effort and unnecessary costs. By consolidating these components into a singular infrastructure, costs will be drastically reduced while efficiencies improved," he adds.

While governments around the globe are still a fair way off from fully-fledged multimedia type capabilities that will represent that next level of e-government service delivery, technology is rarely the inhibitor. Rogers says other factors can often delimit the extent of an e-enabled environment, specifically when political realities come into play. "SA, in line with governments around the world, is moving further down the line to maturity with regards its e-strategy, and is leading the race in Africa and very much at the forefront of similar developments globally.

"Nortel Networks today is assisting government in moving toward a more e-enabled environment and, with the requisite technology available, looks forward to embarking on a great path ahead in the e-government space."