interview interview
Providing Strong Software Foundation to the Government www.ibm.com/in What are your views on the recent move of MoUD for state level software across ULBs in a state? The move augurs well for the future as we are increasingly seeing powerful changes related to demographics, globalisation, environmental concerns, societal relationships, social stability and technology affect virtually every government, demanding individualised responses suited to each nation, region or locality. These nearly universal drivers will require “perpetual collaboration” that starts with intensified, multi-directional communications, an shared operational and technical standards. At a broader level, as governments evolve into forms that foster perpetual collaboration, public officials can also engage their citizens and collaborators in the implementation of bigger goals for society, such as the elimination of an entire disease and educating all children with a targeted number of years of schooling.
Vivek Malhotra Territory Executive - General Business, North & East, IBM India/South Asia
What are your views on e-Government implementation in Urban Local Body (ULB)? e-Governance, irrespective of where it is implemented, is a strategic enabling force ensuring consistent and scalable business value. It helps government measure growth and success, including its financial health. e-Governance is the way in which the leadership accomplishes the delivery of mission-critical business capability using Information Technology strategy, goals, and objectives. It allows Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to ensure alignment between the goals and objectives of the business and the utilisation of various IT resources to effectively achieve the desired results.
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www.egovonline.net
What are your company’s offerings in the ULB segment? IBM’s e-Governance framework offers a strong software foundation, government industry-specific extensions, pre-built solution accelerators and implementation patterns for faster deployment at lower risk; provides a roadmap that enables customers to build capabilities over time on their existing environment; leverages an ecosystem of industry Independent Software Vendor (ISVs) and IBM solutions that are built on industry standards and pre-integrated into the framework and finally, also increases the transparency across government entities for more efficient information sharing, service coordination and record keeping.
What challenges did you face while implementing e-Governance in ULB? The mandate to “do more with less” continues. With frenetic change as their predominant driver, leaders and managers in governments of all sizes are charged with balancing growing needs and shrinking resources with the burgeoning demands on—and complexity of—the systems that keep their worlds operating. Having said that, in its 100year history of serving governments, IBM has formed long-term relationships with national, regional and local governments in all regions of the world, resulting in a long list of references. IBM has a proven track record, with a dedicated focus on clients’ most critical needs, delivering lasting transformative solutions involving the integration of processes, people and systems. IBM has the stability and longevity to help government succeed in moving into the age of a globally integrated and intelligent economy and society. \\ Gayatri Maheshwary