CIO’s have a bigger role in shaping service delivery in public sector

Today’s  Chief Information Officers are accountable not only for using technology to enable business processes but for helping shape the strategic direction of service delivery to the public says Ms. Josephine Nyiranzeyimana, Rwanda’s Government CIO.

Making the remarks during a fire-chart session conducted by Harry Hare, Chairman and publisher of CIO East Africa, Nyiranzeyimana who is the first woman Government CIO noted that while CIOs are now expected to be business leaders foremost, they in the public sector have an obligation to strategically ensure that they achieve real value of IT in government.

“In Rwanda, the recently created role of Government CIO, operating under Rwanda Information Society Association (RISA) aims to ensure that a CIO who in the private sector are largely viewed as the managers of an organization’s computers will instead be more focused on growing and upholding the stature of mission-critical enablers and important strategists.

As the first privileged Government CIO, I am expected to manage the gateway to innovation to achieve quantum-leap efficiency, produce previously unheard-of capabilities, evaluate information out of disparate data sets, and provide citizen services that are so fast, accurate, and user-friendly that the public’s trust in government achieves record heights.

“As the first Government CIO it is expected of me to make our operations more economical and more effective by harnessing this relentless force that is accelerating dramatically with use of the Internet and the world-wide adoption of Web-based technologies,” Josephine Nyiranzeyimana, Government CIO, Rwanda

“As the first Government CIO it is expected of me to make our operations more economical and more effective by harnessing this relentless force that is accelerating dramatically with use of the Internet and the world-wide adoption of Web-based technologies,” said Nyiranzeyimana.

Following close on the heels of electronic commerce, electronic government has become a prime tool for transforming the business of government and improving the delivery of citizen services. The role of CIO in the government was formally created by passage mid this year after the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) handed over its Information Communication and Technology responsibilities to the RISA. “The newly created agency will now be in charge of ICT skills development, creation and innovation of new products and technical work.

RISA will be in charge of the digitalization program of the country as Rwanda strives to be one of the ICT model nations in Africa. Among the fundamentals lined for the establishment range from CCTV, the Irembo project, cyber security, new technologies to infrastructure development.

Among the long term projects that the Government of Rwanda has deployed is the Smart City technology to improve the lifestyle and social sustainability of its citizens in 2017.

As part of the project rollout, the Government of Rwanda will invest in network connectivity and sensor deployment in different applications, which will serve the local citizens in public safety, waste management, utility applications and healthcare to name a few.