IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The opposition party says the GSSC's annual report shows the provincial government is failing the unemployed. To address the situation, the centre was mandated to establish job centres in Fox Street, in Johannesburg, and at Maponya Mall.

“The one in Fox Street has been operating for some time; however, I was shocked to discover that the Maponya Mall one is still not yet up and running due to a lack of computer infrastructure. This is an appalling performance from a department that spends over R1 billion a year,” says DA spokesperson for Gauteng finance Mike Moriarty.

“What is e-government about? It is about improving service delivery,” says SAP Public Services SA industry solution manager Hannes Venter.

The province has ended its contract with the company that had been operating the call centre after a complete breakdown in services.

The Gauteng government is still trying to decide how much to pay the company for the balance of the contract.

The site, www.gautengonline.gov.za, which is run and managed by the GSSC, forms part of the centre's drive to implement e-government services. Along with its contact centre, the Web portal is supposed to improve access to services and information in the province.

Mashatile says the province will spend at least half a billion rand on ICT over the next three years. The budget vote makes it clear several billion more can follow after some groundwork is done.

The amount forms part of a R31.5 billion investment over the medium-term to fund infrastructure projects that are expected to stimulate economic growth and job creation in the province.

Following the recent resignation of Mike Maile, the GSSC announced the appointment of Khutsoane. It is speculated that Maile – who was with the agency for three years – resigned because he struggled to correct many challenges facing the GSSC.

Following reports by ITWeb that his departure was due to challenges faced by the agency, GSSC spokesperson Khusela Sangoni has responded that these reports are unfounded.

Presentations and panel discussions will, among other things, explore case studies on tracking and managing government budgets, e-invoicing and e-procurement, as well as access management.

The provincial government recently stopped the outsourced contract, terminating the agreement two years early, after deciding to move the functions in-house under the auspices of the Department of Finance. The decision was the result of a “reprioritisation” process within government.

However, government's move resulted in the contract with Dialogue subsidiary Sibize Calling International, being canned. As a result, Sibize itself is likely to close down, because Gauteng was its largest customer.

In a recent announcement, the GSSC said it is looking for someone to deliver the programme as a whole, with the deadline for tenders being 21 September.

Addressing the media in the wake of the recent state of the province address, Gauteng finance and economic affairs MEC Paul Mashatile said the centre has “built an illustrious profile for itself as a pioneer of public sector innovation”.

Addressing the provincial legislature during his annual State of the Province address, Shilowa said: “This initiative will not only enhance economic growth and investment, but will also contribute to social development and improve the delivery of social services.”

Shilowa says the scheme, now to be implemented by the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC) as part of a wider e-government campaign, is about integration.

While many agencies have suffered cuts under the latest South Australian budget, many areas of ICT expenditure in the 2010-11 year will see a rise in funding.

Noting major variations in expenditure between the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets, the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance said it in the budget that it would increase expenditure by $15 million on ICT initiatives including its shared services reform, a taxation revenue management system and an e-procurement project.

Country head of ACCA Malaysia, Jennifer Lopez said the growing popularity of the SSO trend has many implications for players as well as the accounting and finance profession.

With the emphasis on greater cost savings, process standardisation and operational consolidation, China seems to be an obvious choice, but the process of mapping and launching Shared Service Centres (SSCs) into a new location is not without challenges.

The event is considered one of the premier thought-leadership conferences for identifying new shared services best practices, particularly within the GCC's government sector.

Shared Services, in theory, epitomise what governments should be: one body acting in a unified direction, with common objectives, goals and requirements. As an outcome, citizens and other external stakeholders can engage government as a single entity. Via Shared Services, all the related government entities can operate on common platforms, thus delivering consistent offerings and services to citizens.

By the end of 2013, hundreds of thousands of companies are going to have to make significant changes in order to be compliant with the new legislation.

The mandate now impacts companies earning more than 250,000 Pesos annually (approximately $20,000 USD) which includes most of the companies that interact with shared services. The major burden of this legislation is on suppliers, so AR operations in Mexico have a lot of work ahead of them. But the buyer and AP side shouldn’t be overlooked.

"As companies become more complex, they have a tradition of organizing work on a vertical," Honorio Padron, Hackett's managing director and practice leader for global business services, says in an interview. Inefficient processes and waste are the fallout of this approach. The company's research has produced numerous recommendations about how firms can achieve big savings. But talking to Padron really fills out the recommendations.