As government transforms itself to attain a more customer-centric focus, it has become necessary to change the manner in which it operates. Change is primarily aimed at government departments improving efficiency levels and increasing productivity.
"Successful implementation of this change will filter down to the ordinary citizen in the form of an improved service delivery," explained SITA's group chief information officer Mojalefa Moseki.
The necessary steps in improving efficiencies and productivity lie in ensuring that departments work as cohesive units, each unit focusing solely on those activities that add value. "Information technology is a tool that assists government in performing those value-adding activities. As such, IT does not form part of the government's core activities. It is not the duty of government departments to focus on the acquisition and maintenance of computer hardware and software," says Moseki.
Instead, government departments should have information at hand to assist them in delivering a service to their customers while shifting the risk and burden of running maintaining an infrastructure to the industry. Seat management makes this a reality. Ultimately, end-users within government departments should become knowledge workers with information at their fingertips.
Seat management refers to, among others, the outsourcing of information technology services, including desktop hardware and software acquisition, asset management, desktop hardware and network management, operations management, support service and technology refreshments.
Adds Moseki: "Seat management transfers, from government to the commercial sector, the responsibility and risk of providing and managing desktop, server and communications as assets and services. Government departments will be able to purchase services according to their business and end-user requirements," he notes.
Services will be provided at a fixed price per month, per seat. Most hardware and software brands will be available under the seat management contract. Furthermore, technology enhancements will be scheduled at government's discretion. From a single point of contact, departments will be able to acquire support of their entire computing environment such as hardware, software and support services.
Moseki believes that seat management turns desktop computers into utilities - with per-seat payments. Customers purchase the right to use the vendor's equipment and resources, and the vendor owns and is responsible for its upkeep. Departments will be provided with a menu of services from which to choose, with a few minimum standards for technical thresholds and refreshment cycle.
"Seat management will provide asset management and asset tracking to ensure a more accurate measure of what a department has and what it may need, and will enable measurement of total cost of ownership (TCO)," notes Moseki.
It will also enable accurate, institution-wide recording of hardware and software problems. This is essential to ensuring that vendors' products meet the meet the metrics spelled out in any contract.
Moseki says seat management also entails acquiring hardware, software as well as desktop-related services bundled into one seat cost. The suppliers are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the desktop asset throughout the contract period.
Moseki believes there is great flexibility to customise each seat under this concept. The customer profiles basic desktop configurations with standard hardware and software features or detailed desktop configurations per user as part of its requirements.
"All vendors offer catalogues of hardware and software that can be used to modify the hardware configuration. After order award, the catalogue services can be used to build in custom features to the basic desktop configurations and modify virtually any hardware configuration throughout the life of the contract," he concludes.
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