Automation for the sake of the citizen
Living in the digital age means that people have become accustomed to daily processes like banking, grocery shopping and watching TV being ltered through digital platforms. The time has never been riper for government to move from paper-based processes to automated solutions.
Automation for the sake of the citizen
Goal: A simpler, better way to communicate with people in remote locations.
A GOVERNMENT FOR THE FUTURE
The world has moved from analogue to digital. We see it being transformed daily by technologies which give us greater connection to each other and streamline our lives through services provided at the touch of a button or the swipe of a finger.
Digital government services are part of a streamlined, automated future in South Africa.
From applying for small business licenses or funding, to digitally storing and searching for documents, enabling government officials to attend to daily out-of- office tasks while still being able to digitally approve and send urgent memos and more. There’s no doubt that a streamlined government is an automated one.
NO MARGIN FOR ERROR
Digitising government comes with many advantages, not the least of which is transparency and accountability. Digital processes become more traceable and leave less room for the human error and corruption that so easily creeps in with paper-based processes.
“The more you take the human element out of processes, the more integrity you actually have,” says Lemmy Chappie, Head of ICT and Resource Management for Gauteng’s Department of Economic Development. “Before automation we were having challenges with a number of memos getting lost, and it was becoming a serious problem. Now we can ensure that we don’t have lost memos, and when auditors are here they can find the documents they are looking for and print them at any time.”
Not only are auditors able to find documents, but future staff members will be able to trace and pull required documents, allowing for greater efficiency and service delivery within departments.
Digitising government memos allows internal functions such as human resource management, to be tracked and accounted for, creating a culture of transparency and allowing for better use of taxpayer resources.
“Automation makes sure that once you’ve applied for leave, you will not have access to that document until it gets to its final destination, and because it’s digital, there’s no way you can go in and change it,”says Chappie.
Having digital copies of documents speeds up the turnaround time of government officials. By empowering them to be able to work remotely through encrypted software, government officials no longer have to be office bound to approve and pass on urgent memos, they can do it while in meetings in Pretoria, Cape Town or London.
“One of citizens’ biggest problems with government is that we are not as responsive as we should be,” he says. “But as we digitise we are ensuring that we serve our people as quickly as possible and increase our service standards.
“It shortens the time it takes for us to be able to serve the citizen. In the past we had to tell people to come back in a day or two for us to be able to locate a document, but now we can say we will do it within a minute.”
Besides increasing turnaround time to the citizen and speeding up service delivery, government officials can track who approved a particular application and for what reason.
DIGITALLY CONNECTED
There are plenty of reasons to automate processes within both the public and private sectors. For the National Ports Authority, it’s all about the moving parts.
“We’re creating digitally connected logistics right throughout the chain,” says Mmutle, “it’s about us existing in an ecosystem that is connected to the rest of the ecosystem.”
Through Boxfusion’s e-submissions solutions, the National Ports Authority is beginning to create a culture of digital connectedness throughout the organization as its daily processes are synchronized.
“I foresee that this is going to make a big impact in terms of the way we actually do things,” Mmutle insists, “It’s moving from a completely manual process to a simplified digital process.”
INCREASING EFFICIENCY
With that simplification comes an increase in efficiency, accountability and traceability. “Systems like this in government can contribute to better governance overall,” Mmutle says. “It brings a new element into how you govern things, it removes human intervention.”
This removal of human intervention is an important aspect of the e-submissions process. By creating, processing and storing crucial memos within the National Ports Authority digitally, it removes any room for error or tampering.
Because the software is secure, and all staff and management who use it have their own log-in details, every change made to a document or memo can be seen and traced, creating greater accountability and integrity within internal processes.
“Because of the directory log-on, we will always know who approved what, and there won’t be any questions around signatures…It will make processes more auditable because it cannot be tampered with once it’s done,” Mmutle affirms.He adds that it also allows management and staff within the ports authority to see exactly how long their processes take, as the software solution enables them to track a document or memo’s trajectory from start to finish.
It also has great potential to increase efficiency within the authority in terms of work flow. Using the software’s active directory allows staff members to forward memos to anyone involved in the process, while enabling officials and management to separately track an individual’s input and history on a document.
MOVING FORWARD
By moving from a manual, paper-based process to a digital e-submissions process, the National Ports Authority can continue to efficiently manage the logistics along South Africa’s 2945km of coastline.
“It’s not only about the software, it’s about what I can do with it, and from what I can see, it’s doing exactly what I’ve prescribed for it,” Mmutle concludes.