Yonela Diko
The South African government needs a paradigm shift that makes “Thinking digital first” a culture and tradition of government.
Our people expect a government that provides services fast. It is unacceptable that our people still have to stand in long queues in government buildings for almost all government services and spend endless hours filing paperwork and taking government workers away from the more important tasks of analysing and preparing data for decision making.
Some of the service conveniences that citizens want are online payments, digital permits, digital applications and approvals.
A digitisation of government services will ensure the government focuses on critical work of collecting and collating data and identifying gaps in order to improve services.
The government is lagging behind its own citizens on digitisation. Citizens already do most of their interaction with their world through their mobile gadgets and cellphones. That must also include government services.
This will ensure the limitations of traditional internet such as high costs and low bandwidth are overcome.
A government that is integrated into the mobile life of its citizens will also add more value, providing such add-on services like sending information on weather conditions, road conditions and crime stats directly to citizens’ mobile phones in real time.
This will ensure a seamless experience with government services.
Digitising government services and making them available through multiple devices will also ensure that citizens can engage with these services any time of the day and from whichever location they find themselves.
Constant and easy interaction with government services increases trust and encourages citizens to embrace technology.
Citizens want constant communication with their government and want to stay informed about services.
When they have applied, they want to be able to go online and view the status of those applications. When such services are available, the government begins to enjoy the support of the citizenry.
Digital services are faster and cheaper to provide and citizens can access a wide range of services at their fingertips, which saves them time and money. Digitising local government services especially has the potential to save the government millions of rand.
Digital infrastructure
Transforming the culture of government to think digitally, however, cannot happen without first building the necessary digital infrastructure.
Cloud technology, connectivity and storage are critical infrastructure that must be established to enable the government’s transition to a digital institution that is agile, secure and holistic. Digital infrastructure is the bedrock of creating a “thinking digital” government.
The government is huge and will require digital infrastructure that will enable vast and seamless communication across departments, across regions and provinces, sharing data in an integrated fashion. Once again the right connectivity that is enabled by strong satellites is critical.
Digital infrastructure is evolving much faster and with AI and machine learning taking over much of the mundane tasks and demanding a lot more from workers and users, the government must keep up with these innovative technologies and be quick to adopt them lest the state be left behind.
Data privacy and protection
There is a downside to digitisation and that is cyberattacks and the vulnerability of people’s sensitive information. Hand in hand with digitisation must be investment in cybersecurity and protection of technological infrastructure.
The risk of losing information such as tax, health, and criminal records when natural or man-made disasters occur is minimised by digitisation.
The transition to digital in government services must happen now and save the government and citizens time and money.
* Diko is a former ANC Western Cape spokesperson
Cape Times