In memory of the skyscraper with no lifts

MUMBAI, INDIA: WHEN a bevy of engineers, architects and workers finally breathed a moment of respite after almost finishing a giant building in Spain recently, no one would have thought that the masterpiece standing before them would soon jolt them into a shock. 

What? We forgot to put in lifts! In a 47-storeyed building?

For something as gargantuan as 200 metres high, this gaping goof-up as reported by media, surely catches one's eye as a big architecture oversight. How can a building be left with lifts for the first 20 floors only with the remaining 27 floors left for puzzled blanks later!

Sounds impossible but that's the world we live in. Intriguing, ready to bewilder the sharpest of minds and always on the side of Uncle Murphy; this world and its ways manage to confuse the best at the worst of the times.

For many in the IT world, going out-of-kilter is a déjà vu moment. When any sizeable project runs the risk of missing its backbones, it's not hard to guess probability ratios. The result is often one that needs no such calculation. Sooner or later, all the effort, time and money invested just conks off. After all which enterprise suite or ERP migration can go on smoothly when words like ‘culture' or ‘process' or ‘customise' haunt some hollow spaces in the spinal cords?

It's been the same dreary anatomical sight whenever we conjure up images of how technology evolution keeps apace in quintessential government environments. Arguments float in equal frequency on both sides, be it vendors or customers. They seem plausible when they reason ‘how can IT fill in where a yawning gap on basic processes stays obstinately rooted' or ‘Unless we work at cultural issues, mindsets and people; all upgrades are like Sisyphean rocks'.

Or they seemed to be?

Sitting atop another skyscraper of his own vision and at an enviable height of eagle-eyed views, is Sunil Padmanabh, Research Director, Gartner. From where he is perched, this far-sighted veteran has an incisive, visceral shot. His latest research binoculars show a very interesting autumn-to-spring flip: Government segment is turning savvy, and in a way that will surprise many of us.

Seat Belts on?

Consolidation of data, multiple versions, no homogeneity of processes, or heavy customization with oblivion on citizen-side comfort or flexibility; these are some more issues that used to plague government segment enterprise work so far. In addition of course, to some usual browbeaten quicksand areas like bureaucracy, red tape, antiquated processes and aging puritanical cultures.

Padmanabh explains that the problem areas were so stifling that usually even a fresh ERP suite turned out to be merely a copy of legacy systems, thus making it more complex and painful on support. Something that just won't work in today's era where simplicity and nimble citizen services are de-facto expectations.

 

"So governments are under excessive pressure and extreme time compulsions to make their ERPs state-of-the-art, are compelled to innovate with ERP as well as data to ensure transparency and ease of use by other departments as well as being equipped with more self-service mechanisms."

He adds how government organizations are realizing the urgency to have the right ERP foundation in place to support e-government/e-governance initiatives. ERP vendors and system integrators are collaborating extensively with government agencies to provide solutions and services targeted at government transformation.

This pressure is translating well, if what the latest Weathercock spin is followed here. Think of a government app store that caters to several states with some 20 odd specific applications. Think of nine out of ten government initiatives leveraging ERP today. Think of rates like 25 to 40 per cent delivery time savings for citizen services. Think of a level like 90 per cent government organisations as ones having deployed some sort of ERP. And we can see a fast changing picture.

Also, of late one can also envisage how dark data is panting fast on a tread mill when it comes to converting this data to meaningful information, with analytics and high-level services. Despite bureaucracy, corruption or change management issues, can we imagine!

Some live cases of Municipal Corporations like Pune or Mumbai extending citizen-related services into another realm, or that of several government agencies leveraging SAP etc effectively with back-end data and using IT at a new level, are impressive as he observes.

That, with a new force in areas like property revenue management or fraud management or records or even front-end services like taxes or utility payments says a lot about how things are changing and with acceleration.

Simply out, 25 per cent of delivery time savings when we think of deploying citizen services by municipal corporations is quite a leap.

Monish Darda, CTO and Co-founder at ICERTIS seconds the opinion and feels that ‘follow-the-trend' pattern is long gone when we talk of adoption levels in government sector. "Investments are accelerating for sure. But what is noteworthy is that governments here have started thinking differently. Triggered by economic factors, an increased focus on Tax net with information systems, and stress on transparency, a lot is changing from spends to style." he argues.

"That fundamentally, (with real and political drivers around) changes the patterns in enterprise segment compounded with pressures on fiscal aspects and discipline. I am surprised when I look at the way JNRUM push is instilling spends in public transportation segment."

He is happy to cite how customers in this ilk now want holistic approaches, latest technology, profitability tracking's, and have the intent to eventually tie in with overall ecosystems. A lot of vision as well technology-awareness is coming from the government, he stresses. "It is kind of what we have seen in Telecom revolution in India, it is about leapfrogging generations now."

 

What is interesting to note is that while on one hand government departments may be under pressure to turn agile, at the same time vendors like SAP, Ramco are also getting advanced as per this segment's specific needs. Think of file management systems or statutory-related modifications, and one can get the drift. "Digitisation of land records or Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation with SAP-enabled tree-counting solutions or regional language transactional systems interface; these are all examples that nail the point well. Also MNC vendors like Capgemini and companies like Ramco are illustrating e-government initiatives in their products with a special focus, without an add-on formality. SAP, in another instance, is working very closely with multiple government agencies to step up their offerings with government-side capabilities built-in well in their solutions." Padmanabh unravels.

Mathew Thomas, Vice President- Strategic Industries, SAP India had recently illustrated in a PSU form how SAP's footprint is getting deeper here. "We are working on FIR data and applying it in a way and platform that is easy for administrators and yet works in real-time. SAP Rakshak 2.0 can offer real time information for crime incidents happening across states to all the law enforcement agencies, both state and central. This solution is equipped to assist the security agencies in better decision making and to, build strategies to improve law and order situations. With built-in analytical capabilities such as simulation of what-if scenarios, the platform can dramatically improve speed of response, resource and budget utilization."

Rakshak , TracOHealth and The "Milk Co-operative" Experience, have been conceived, designed and developed by SAP Labs India, for a new breed of users: Government organizations and departments to enhance service delivery and responsiveness, and improve preparedness, prevention, safety and security outcomes in real-time, as added.

SAP's TracOHealth application claimed for better collaborative outcomes in the area of child health, seems to intend to leverage the power of Aadhaar (UID) to uniquely identify beneficiaries and has been architected and designed with the ability to work even in the remotest corners of the country.

Understandably, as the pressure to lower costs and use fewer resources increases, Indian government bodies are finding their operations more difficult to manage. In response, many are increasingly relying on business intelligence and decision support tools and services to obtain better metrics from their current systems, make more timely and informed decisions, and bring about more transparency and accountability.

While SAP counts names like Department of Post, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, Government of Andhra Pradesh (Treasuries and Accounts), Ministry of Company Affairs, Bharat Dynamics Limited, Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Assam Power Distribution Company Limited and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited; the Senior Vice President, Industry Business Solutions, APJ of SAP Asia Pte Ltd -Adaire Fox-Martin shared in an conversation during her visit to India that now the sector is reaching a tipping point when we think of acceptance of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software).

As she had emphasized, "Especially in the last three years, the phase of new-wallpapers-on-the-wall has gone and extreme focus is coming to the foundation. I see that lot of PSUs are making efforts in mobility specially. Other countries have legacy systems. But switching off is always tougher than adding something. New codification is an area to reckon and that's how India has a strong capability to leapfrog. It is a land with a lot of lessons for other countries when we think of what it has done with mobility."

Taking a leaf out of the open-source genre, Ashustosh Sarkar, Senior Director- Partner Sales and Alliances for India, ASEAN and ANZ markets, EnterpirseDB unveils how government solution providers have moved aggressively to adopt open source technologies because they offer the performance and security that government organizations require but at a much lower cost point.

"EnterpriseDB has made significant inroads with a number of organizations with a large presence in the government sector, such as Tata Consultancy Services. We are also partners with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the driving force behind the use of open source technologies across various e-government initiatives, and our relationship is deepening with a number of new projects. Our database costs as much as 80 percent less than traditional databases and that lower price point means solution providers can invest strategically in other areas of the project and still realize a strong return."

Missing Bones

The logic is simple. Future is going to be all about touching the sky and while foundations are crucial, you cannot afford to leave elevators or escalators for the luddite back-burners of neglect or ‘oh-we-forgot-but-let's keep-going' oblivion. Not if you are thinking adding 30 new floors to a building that matters.

All the progress cited above, is certainly pointing towards an increased willingness too when it comes to being really tech-savvy, from Chief Ministers to Government departments. The more governments come under a compulsion to provide better and transparent citizen services, the more they will be compelled to leverage their ERPs better. And evangelism from SAP, Ramco etc has definitely helped its bit here," Padmanabh hopes ahead.

 

What remains to be tarred well is not a short road either. About 70 per cent of ERP in government departments are not state-of-the-art and the SAP suites etc deployed date back to several years ago. It's been more about ‘keeping the lights on' as Padmanabh contends. "There has been no focus on latest capabilities or making them user-centric and all that is conspicuous when we think of citizen services, more so when integration or data or complexity factors come into play."

While interventions like Aadhar or RTI etc have been compelling to watch, lack of co-ordination between government departments and agencies can be quite a show-stopper (in a not so impressive sense). Add factors like lack of change management or process focus barriers, and you know that work has barely started inching forward.

As Padmanabh recommends, "Aadhar has to tightly integrate with other departments in order to deliver the real power. One has to think of seeking and fetching data and push innovation at speed across various departments."

Ask Darda if he can bury fears of bureaucracy related potholes already and he explains, "That issue will not change very quickly but what is happening is that people have started spotting ways to go around the barriers. In a lot of states value equation is changing and that will spur some changes as well."

Challenges still haunt - from deployment of ERP, or change management or integration, country-level localization to very-limited-value-squeezed, thanks to too much customization as well as running on non-web-enabled versions. Cloud, mobility etc are disruptive forces and just cannot be ignored. So, an as-is, where-is copy-paste time is gone, Padmanabh reminds poignantly.

While he pencils in normalization of data, cleansing of data repositories as problems to be reckoned too, Darda draws attention to another dimension - that of the king, queen, in short-the user. Taking an offbeat view, he instead wishes the user to lead the change we are hoping from government entities. Being from a Cloud-adept domain, he aptly illustrates how Cloud is all about shifting the scale towards the user. "Even in private segment, it is the first time that we are experiencing that this new phase pushes users to ask the right questions. Technology with analytics, Cloud leaps etc is now overwhelming and at your finger points, and now it's all about what you can do with it. We will see governments being influenced by pilots or social initiatives or user demands ahead."

ERP in government sector may be slated to grow at 17 per cent between 2013 to 2017 (in terms of revenue license), but one cannot shrug off the fact that ERPs are foundation for back-end work as well as front-end services.

So unless, a building (amputated of a lift) can woo residents and visitors by advertising itself as the odd old-era nostalgic marvel or can convince people to rock climb some 50 floors with adventure-at-work; there is surely no room for missing the backbone.

Stairs look tempting, exit-friendly and cute, but only when lifts are around.