Leveraging Data Analytics For Successful Automation Of Government Operations

It’s exactly 5 days left to the inaugural eGov Africa Summit, hosted by CIO Africa to harness the infinite capabilities of technology and data analysis in digitising African governments.

Using data insights, governments can decide which tasks to prioritise for the automation process, thereby breaking down the barriers that might make it difficult to identify where they might benefit the most from automation.

Microsoft has since expressed interest in partnering towards achieving this goal by sponsoring the premier virtual summit. Microsoft offers solutions that give Africa the chance to leapfrog development through digitisation, and potentially position itself as a global digital powerhouse.

Aligned to speak at the 2-days virtual summit is the Country Manager at Microsoft in East Africa, Kendi Nderitu, and the Public Sector Lead in East Africa, Kellington Kituku.

Nderitu will deliver a keynote on how governments can leverage data analytics while still keeping trust intact whereas her counterpart will talk about smart revenue collection for governments and why it is important.

Microsoft supports the digitisation of business processes (government operations) to enable employees to automate their workflows and business processes.

The company offers Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Digital Process Automation (DPA) solutions fused into a single cloud-based solution. As a result, it was recently a leader in the 2021 Forrester Wave for Robotic Process Automation.

The RPA solution turns manual tasks into automated workflows by recording and playing back human-driven interaction with systems that don’t support API-based automation. This allows for the automation of processes and the exchange of data with legacy, on-premise software.

As vast amounts of data increasingly become available for governments, they need to avoid being distracted by focusing on the wrong metrics that are easy to track but not the real drivers of the success. Data has enormous potential to improve government offerings by enhancing customer service, sharpening marketing messages, and helping reduce unnecessary costs.

“Leaders who will balance the mastery of the power of data with the insight and ability to use it wisely will have a huge advantage,” said Laura Chite, former CEO CIO Africa.

In an article, Ryno Rijnsburger, the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft 4Afrika opines that while the private sector has an important role to play in digitising government processes, governments themselves have a critical role to play in enabling their digitisation, through infrastructure development and by creating an enabling environment using regulatory and legal tools.

“Developments such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) reinforce the urgent need for governments to digitise to enable not just trade, but positive economic growth across the continent,” he writes.

He adds that in order to unlock digital transformation, the public sector must be brought into the digital age, accelerating the rollout of digital IDs, signatures, and registries, as well as implementing digital-friendly policies.

Join Kendi Nderitu together with Kellington Kituku on the 14 & 15 October 2022 as they separately discuss data analytics and government automation in the new age. Also up for discussion are thematic topics like securing digital identities and assets, and leveraging AI for policy and decision making.