1. F:Kgabo Badimo SeniorNews Articles and Dcouments2001.08.29 - gastonspeech.doc
Putting People First
Southern Africa – Economic Forum
6 June 2001
The South African government’s vision for “Government Online” presents both
opportunities and uncertainties. One thing is certain – unless the principle of “People
First” is applied in the roll out of services - “Government Online” will, at best, remain a
theory, or else apply only to the wealthy. That is why I have titled my presentation
“Putting People first”. Unless government, together with the private sector, can make
a difference to the life of the wealthy stockbroker in Johannesburg and the unwed,
unemployed mother of three in the distant hills of the Eastern Cape, service to
citizens remains a myth.
So what is the answer? It is bold, visionary leadership! Jack Welch, the Chairman
and CEO of General Electric, obviously had this type of leadership in mind when he
said: "The world of the 90's and beyond will not belong to those who make the
numbers dance, as we used to say, or those who are conversant with all the
business jargon we use to sound smart. The world will belong to passionate, driven
leaders - people who not only have an enormous source of energy, but who can
energise those whom they lead”. We need passionate, driven leaders – especially
when we talk of closing the digital divide.
The real issues around the digital divide have less to do with technology than with
literacy and access to services and, of course, information. In a global economy
where information is a commodity, and represents power, technology should be
entirely incidental. And so, in an ideal world, should literacy. Unfortunately, South
Africa cannot yet take either of these two variables for granted, and bridging the
digital divide is going to take a considerable effort.

2. F:Kgabo Badimo SeniorNews Articles and Dcouments2001.08.29 - gastonspeech.doc
Let's look at some options for solutions to these problems and look also at some of
the lessons learned. First of all, let’s think about the potential of public-private
partnerships. These are working - and working well, if they are done right. If done
using the wrong structure, they are dismal failures. How can they fail? They fail if
they do not offer a win-win solution. Pure and simple; it has to be a true partnership
with open communication, frank discussion, and sharing of responsibilities. And there
must be incentives for both parties to achieve success.
There are four business imperatives in the digital economy, which apply as much in
the public sector as they do in business. For “Government Online” to become a
reality the state must endeavour to:
 Eliminate boundaries.
 Collaborate in new ways.
 Continuously seek improvement.
 Establish trust.
When you look at things this way, technology’s role as enabler becomes clear.
Eliminate Boundaries
South Africa is faced with technical, legislative, social infrastructural and economic
legacies, and all of these represent considerable challenges. The lack of access to
services for some actually impacts negatively on all, so understanding the needs of
the most illiterate, economically depressed is ultimately in the interests of everyone.
On a technical level, we must champion mobility. Services should be available
anytime, anywhere, to all members of the population. This will involve the
replacement of many manual processes with electronic ones, and the automation of
the “customer” interface. There are simply not enough home affairs offices, or
officials, to be everywhere at once. The idea of Web-based access to government
services is one obvious route to follow, while this could be extended through the use
of kiosk-type devices for those sectors of the population for whom PCs are out of
reach. Cellphones, televisions, PCs, palm devices, televisions, kiosks and other
forms of access we haven’t even heard of yet will form part of the future of
government service delivery.
Collaborate in New Ways
These days, those who go it alone are left out in the cold. Collaboration is crucial to
the success of any online business strategy. Indeed, can it be any more relevant than
in government’s delivery of services to the electorate? As a body mandated to benefit
the people government is obliged to partner with those who can contribute positively
to the South African economy, and to the welfare of its people. On its own, no
government anywhere in the world has the resources to realise the dream of effective
“anywhere, anytime government”.
To look at some successes, let's examine the partnership at the UK Inland Revenue.
They took a bold step – joining with our organisation to implement a public/private
partnership to assist in their modernisation and provide enhanced services to the
taxpayer. Likewise, in Australia, we work with the State of South Australia
Government and run its entire IT infrastructure for all agencies - with significant
savings to the State. But savings money is not the most important aspect of that
relationship. Over half of the decision to award the contract was based on the

3. F:Kgabo Badimo SeniorNews Articles and Dcouments2001.08.29 - gastonspeech.doc
economic development plans that the vendors offered. I believe innovative,
sustainable investment by global companies in local economies is an indispensable
part of a win-win relationship. In this case we created a large information-processing
centre, a large systems engineering centre, a training centre for all of Asia Pacific, a
marketing centre, and, importantly, a small business mentoring centre in conjunction
with the government that has been extremely successful. Through this centre, we
have taken several small South Australian companies global as our partners on
several business ventures. All of these have added jobs, tax base, and global reach
to South Australia and the companies there. All at no cost to the government.
Pause
What has also become clear in the digital economy is that it makes sense for any
entity to outsource its non-core functions. Clearly, IT is a key enabler, rather than
being part of government’s business. In addition, government does not have the
expertise or financial resources to maintain human or technical IT resources in the
long term. It is difficult enough for government to keep its own IT staff, never mind
having to stem the continued loss of skills to seemingly lucrative job markets abroad.
The need for collaboration is even further underscored by the current lack of efficient
inter-department IT deployment. Semi-autonomous organs of state have historically
deployed not only disparate systems, but completely un-interoperable ones. The
result – unnecessary duplication, and reduced service delivery capability…where
citizens must go to four different offices for four different sets of documentation.
Duplication creates unnecessary cost, as does the fact that government’s buying
power is not unified to drive down prices as much as it could be. Electronic
procurement strategies can reduce the need for paper and manual processes
traditionally associated with procurement and management of the supply chain, and
drastically reduce time wastage. These human and financial resources could be re-
deployed more effectively in areas where they could directly improve the quality of
service delivery to the public. South Africa’s State IT Agency has forecast that a
consolidated government IT strategy could reduce government spending on IT by
some 20%.
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps is one government body that has understood this. It
has a workforce of more than 360,000 at more than 300 sites around the world with
thousands of mobile units and more than 400,000 desktops. It needs to be connected
- seamlessly 24 by 7 by 365 - with absolute security.
The Navy and Marine Corps realised it could not do the job alone. It has had to
transform on the fly, and has outsourced its global operations and for the first time, its
entire infrastructure will be connected via wireless and wired network - on land, at
sea and in the air - with absolute security. The fact that all its data is being digitised
as part of a consolidated IT strategy means its people have the freedom to perform
their jobs anywhere, anytime.
Continuously Seek Improvement
Great organisations look beyond the horizon - they think ahead of the competition.
Governments, likewise, must anticipate the future and utilise new tools and strategies
to improve the quality of their citizens’ lives.
A single view of the citizen is the first step towards improving South Africa’s delivery
of service to citizens. A consolidated database of the population will allow for one

4. F:Kgabo Badimo SeniorNews Articles and Dcouments2001.08.29 - gastonspeech.doc
central repository where the data needed to perform the functions of government can
be accessed. It also allows for customer contact points to be consolidated. Service
counters and kiosks can become generic points of access to government, rather than
requiring citizens to visit different offices to perform different functions with different
departments. Again – it’s not about technology – it’s about continuously finding ways
to improve the service experienced by members of the public who interact with
government.
Establish Trust
Establishing trust means knowing your customers, continuously learning more about
them as individuals. But with that comes added responsibility - especially if you’re a
government that deals with personal data, military intelligence, huge budgets and
also issues drivers licenses. With increasing automation of information storage and
handling, along with increased interconnectivity, citizens’ privacy is vitally important.
People have taken a more active interest in the kind of information that is being
collected about them, how that information is handled, used, and exchanged. It is
difficult to achieve a very personalized business relationship, which is one of the
tenets of e-government, while maintaining complete privacy, but the privacy rights of
citizens is paramount. It is clear that the sensitive handling of citizen information is
directly linked to gaining and retaining trust. The increasing use of wireless devices
for data transactions and information access has created new and unique challenges
for properly dealing with privacy issues.
Throughout the process, citizens must trust that their information is secure. And until
citizens of South Africa are treated as customers, government is not fulfilling its
mandate to serve, and will not be able to establish the trust required for really
effective government. Establishing trust means more than just delivering the bare
bones. At the citizens are forced to interact with government in a certain way,
because they simply have no other choice. Ideally, they should feel their tax money is
being well spent when they leave any government office.
There are several levels at which government must establish trust. Earning the trust
of its citizens is the first, and probably the most fundamental of these. Governments
are traditionally objects of distrust, and faith in government as a benefactor is crucial
from the point of view of things like speedy of collection of revenues and buy-in from
the populace when it comes to projects of national interest. The manner in which
technology is used in dealing with personal information contained in identity
documents, drivers licenses etc can shape public opinion of government’s
trustworthiness.
Another important area where trust needs to be established is between departments,
where disparities can cost the taxpayer money. Government must also go on the
offensive to defend its digital assets. Cybercrime is an area where an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure. It will take industry and governments around the
world working hand in hand to ensure the standards we develop - the standards we'll
all live by - protect what is ours and reflect integrity and respect for the individual. In
the same way that IT in government is more about service delivery than it is about
technology itself, trust goes far beyond hacking when it comes to winning over your
citizens. It's effectively the creation of customer intimacy – with citizens knowing and
trusting that you'll guard personal information when they want you to guard it, and
use it to their benefit just as they would use it – except, of course, where they break
the social contract and step outside the law.

5. F:Kgabo Badimo SeniorNews Articles and Dcouments2001.08.29 - gastonspeech.doc
Alberta Government Services (AGS), a government ministry responsible for the
management of a broad range of government registration and search services for the
province of Alberta, Canada, managed more than 12 million diverse transactions in
1999 alone. Like South Africa, with a relatively small population widely dispersed
across a large geographical area, Alberta had long faced logistical challenges and
accessibility issues in getting services from its many government registries delivered
to citizens in both urban and rural locations. It was time for the processes and
systems that provided services to citizens, both private and corporate, to get simpler
and more efficient.
A province of some 250,000 square miles (660,000 square kilometers) in area,
Alberta has a population of approximately 3 million and a highly diversified economy.
Services provided by government include those needed by businesses as well as
many personal services for citizens, such as vehicle registration or issuing of driver’s
licenses. Customers often waited in long lines for hours for service. AGS had to find
a way to offer more services more efficiently at more convenient locations to improve
customer service. AGS worked side by side with the private sector to bring the vast
majority of services available through its many registries to convenient storefront
locations throughout the province with a privatised service delivery model that really
works. Since establishing its Public-Private-Partnership in 1994, AGS has seen its
business grow by 23 percent while reducing operating costs by 37 percent. Today,
230 private agents throughout Alberta offer a full range of one-stop services, making
it possible for citizens to enjoy convenience without the long lines and waits of the
past. Enabling more than 12 million transactions per year, AGS' systems and
applications consistently remain available and reliable well above 99.5 percent of the
time, seven days per week.
Business must earn customers' trust every day, every hour, every second, with every
click, so they'll keep their customers. Why should this be any less true for
government?
The way forward
So what is the way forward? Set the rules, enforce the rules across government, set
a schedule, and start with the "low-hanging fruit"- the quick hits that have a good
impact on the citizens, and a good political success. A lot like the Employment
Services effort in the UK, where the citizens now, through public access kiosks, have
access to all available jobs listings in the UK, not just those that fit on a board in their
local community job center.
Therefore, we go forward quickly, embracing newer, proven technologies and
improving services while keeping the ultimate goal in clear focus - the provision of
better services to the citizen but with a certain amount of caution, ensuring that we
protect the rights of our citizens. We need to take on the responsibility of being in the
forefront of the move to the New Economy. We must become the champions of the
cause and the leaders driving the action.
Thank you.