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Government technology systems: Don't replace, rejuvenate


Johannesburg, 29 Nov 2006

Government is widely recognised as one of the biggest buyers of technology products, solutions and services - and little wonder, since the South African administration is effectively responsible for managing a population of some 48 million people.

That management is intensely complex and covers financial management of a budget of billions of rands, which must be leveraged as efficiently as possible to effect service delivery across a geographical area of over 1.2 million square kilometres.

According to Thys Fourie, regional executive at Business Connexion's Pretoria Region, government is grappling with the challenges of extending service delivery to all citizens, and looks to the efficiencies offered by technology as an enabler to achieve more with its budgets.

"However, technology changes at a rapid pace. Today government is facing a situation where perhaps 80% of its core systems are legacy. These include systems for the management of education, finance, social, police, the deeds office, public works and more," he says.

Fourie says this situation has led to solution providers clamouring to replace these legacy systems. "However, replacing these systems, which are absolutely critical to ensuring uninterrupted service delivery, is an enormous project and one which is fraught with risks."

Then there is the reality that technology continues to develop apace. "The costs of replacing legacy systems are equally enormous. Technology that is cutting-edge today may be obsolete within five years, which would potentially drive another replacement cycle," he adds.

Rather than adopting the draconian approach of the wholesale replacement of government systems, Fourie strongly advocates an approach of rejuvenating existing systems. "While government systems are based on legacy equipment and ageing technology, many aspects of any given system still deliver valid value to government and to the people it serves. These systems encompass business processes and logic which have been established over years. By modernising certain aspects of existing systems, their value can be preserved while dramatically reducing the expenditure required for a significant improvement in service delivery," he explains.

Fourie stresses that in a country, which faces many problems, including poverty and crime, businesses must work to assist government to gain optimal value from the budget. It is collected from the electorate and should be returned to the people of the country.

Furthermore, an approach of rejuvenation and modernisation enables government to practice a 'rolling replacement' policy.

Explains Fourie: "Targeting those areas where technology systems are obstructive to service delivery addresses immediate issues. As technology ages, a continual process of identifying problem areas and introducing emerging solutions can continue to keep infrastructure and solutions in a state of reasonable currency, while supporting government's mandate of service delivery."

He notes that initiatives that are being introduced, such as shared common systems [government is in the process of implementing an Integrated Financial Management System] can be complemented by rejuvenation programmes. This effectively componentises and modernises legacy systems while protecting existing business processes, which are specific to any given government agency.

"While, for example, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Home Affairs will share a need for standard human resources management, their 'line of business' processes are likely to be very different. Those that are similar can be shared, while those that are peculiar - and are encapsulated in legacy technology - should be protected and migrated to newer technology using low-risk, incremental methods.

"What I'm saying is: let's protect existing investments while focusing spend on identifying and addressing specific problem areas. Such an approach is far less risky, less costly and likely to deliver optimal value to government and the people of South Africa," he concludes.

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Editorial contacts

Michael Williams
Fleishman-Hillard Johannesburg
(011) 548 2039