Enabling e-Government through the web
Dr Alan Shark, executive director and CEO, Public Technology Institute
Web 2.0 and other new technologies offer significant opportunities for e-government. The social nature of modern online tools and services make them intrinsically aligned to use in connecting people with their government. Speaking at SITA’s GovTech 2009 conference, Dr Alan Shark, executive director and CEO of the Public Technology Institute in Washington DC said that social media and other Web 2.0 tools are evolving to become increasingly useful for governments.
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The supplier-CEO relationship:
Why it's so tough from both sides
Ken Jarvis, CEO of Jika Africa
Chief information officers (CIOs) face many challenges. In the ICT landscape there are a myriad of suppliers, all demanding precious time, and all claiming to have the right solution for the job at hand. In turn, suppliers sometimes have to grasp a top exec's muddled technology strategy and vision or be part of the 'in-crowd'. Addressing delegates at the last day of the SITA GovTech 2009 conference, Ken Jarvis, CEO of Jika Africa, candidly reminded CIOs and suppliers that it takes two to tango. He is no stranger to the challenges in the ICT community.
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Realities of open source Cohesion in ICT Governance
OSS enjoys a strong focus from the South African government and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). It is also in use by the US Federal Government in various departments, although perhaps to a lesser extent. But to many within both governments, OSS is still considered experimental. Speaking at GovTech 2009, John Weathersby, executive director of the Open Source Software Institute in the USA highlighted the myths surrounding open source and how it should be positioned within the broader technology stack.
 Click here to read more		 The implementation of ICT governance can have massively positive knock-on effects, even when implementations are seemingly small. The Eden District Municipality has proven this by implementing cohesive policies and governance systems throughout its regional government offices that are already yielding positive results. Speaking at GovTech 2009, Rhyn Alberts of the Eden District Municipality said that the regional offices within the Eden ICT initiative were brought together to discuss the layout of ICT solutions throughout the region. Key to these discussions was identifying areas where knowledge and other resources could be shared.
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Korea's model of
e-government excellence		 Government ICT spend
set to increase
Addressing delegates at one of the closing breakout sessions at SITA GovTech 2009, Cheung Moon Cho, South Africa/Korea ICT Cooperation Centre at the Department of Education, who's responsible for capability building at government level, had some stern advice, based on Korea's journey to e-government. According to Moon Cho, Korea has a broadband penetration rate of approximately 90 percent, and is ranked 6th on the UN e-Governance Readiness Index, largely because of its proactive approach to proliferating Internet access and usage in the country.
 Click here to read more		 South Africa's ICT spend is healthy, despite several external and internal economic factors stunting the country's growth.
Addressing delegates at one of the breakout sessions at SITA's GovTech 2009 conference, Lesley-Anne Dos Santos, enterprise research manager at BMI-TechKnowledge, said that South Africa's state-owned enterprises play a vital role in increasing economic growth, which forms part of South Africa's accelerated growth strategy. She said capex infrastructure plans continue to go ahead, and with it, job creation. Government spend was positively influenced by energy costs, however the current economic slowdown is impacting government ICT budgets.
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WHAT THEY SAID

Lorraine Sefolo, National Roads Agency: “GovTech 2009 exposed me to a wide range of issues that government is currently grappling with. The conference was extremely well-organised, informative and I've have met fellow executives from all walks of life. I will definitely be back next year.”

Neil Cosser, DRS: “The value of GovTech for me is the networking opportunities and interaction of key government executives regarding possible technology solutions to address their business pains. ”
 

PRESENTATIONS

WHAT THEY SAID

Willie Botes, Oracle: “I really enjoyed the theme of focusing on citizen-centricity and service delivery. It gave me a deeper understanding of government's current technology requirements in light of their standardisation drive and open source strategy.”

Daryl Munn, Dept of Agriculture: “I've been to every GovTech since its inception, because I really value the interaction with industry suppliers that showcase their solutions here.”