Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), George Atta-Boateng
Players in the public sector have been advised to fully incorporate technology into their operations.
According to the Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), George Atta-Boateng, the incorporation of technology into business activities would require moving beyond the simple application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to existing processes and turning already digitized resources into sources of operational results and growth.
Mr. Atta-Boateng further noted that public sector organizations should consider the opportunities that digital services provide to reinvent their operations and business models.
“By understanding the digital capabilities and opportunities, the public sector can better be positioned to deliver positive outcomes that impact citizens, business, society and the economy at large,” he added.
Mr. Atta-Boateng noted that some public-sector organizations are already applying technology to existing business process and workflows to boost efficiency.
He disclosed this while speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop to foster the implementation of e-government in the country.
The workshop themed, ‘Achieving Digital Excellence in Public Service Delivery through Innovative Strategies, Processes and Technologies’ was also to foster collaboration, raise national awareness and understanding of stakeholder responsibilities in the implementation of e-government.
William Tevie, Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), in a statement, said statistics indicate that the telecommunications sector in the country is one of the biggest and fastest growing industries.
He said NCA intends to improve communications in Ghana, hence the adoption of the e-online and web customer portals that assist customers applying for licenses online.
“Several key projects to digitize governance, as well as improve the ICT infrastructure of the country include e-governance platform that connects all districts to the president for easy governance and national data centre which has added massively to the ICT infrastructure,” he said.
Minister of Communications, Edward Omane-Boamah, opening the workshop, said government, in demonstrating its commitment in the use of ITC, has created the information infrastructure within the public sector nationwide.
“In Accra, a 10Gb Metro fiber network, has been laid to support operations within the ministerial enclave to facilitate government business and programme.
On the software side, we have developed online services and payment platform to enhance electronic commerce, an e-workspace platform, which Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would use for correspondence, messaging, meeting and storing,” he added.
He urged NITA to intensify efforts to create awareness on the infrastructure and its capacity to support public service delivery.
“I urge participants to fully interact and brainstorm and come out with innovative strategies to help develop the industry and our country at large,” he stated.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri