A Commitment to the Future

An Invitation to Private Industry to Share in this Commitment

Faced with unprecedented pressures of tighter budgets and escalating citizen demands, Governments are turning to the private sector as an important source of talents, skills and resources to be tapped in support of sustainable development.

In this new era of partnerships, the relationship between MITTS Ltd and the private sector is today one of mutual trust and credibility, in that MITTS Ltd has shown that it is serious in its intent to partner with and involve the private sector in ICT initiatives.

In 2001, separate contractual frameworks were established for the hiving-off of web site design and the hiving-off of small application development outside of the strategic applications. In 2003, desktop support of 1,500 PCs was subcontracted to four private sector contractors.

Such a strategy was, and will continue, to be carried out incrementally and with business responsibility, so as to focus on the core areas, without, however, jeopardising the financial sustainability of the Company and the ability of MITTS Ltd to maintain and not put at risk the required ICT investment and technology refresh for public services.

This drive for a greater spirit of collaboration has been further recognised through the MAGNET II initiative that MITTS Ltd has concluded with the Maltacom plc and Melita Cable Ltd consortium. This new partnership approach highlights a fundamental shift of thinking, putting behind the ideology and dogma of the past.

Talk is cheap! Walking one’s talk is a sure sign of integrity. MITTS Ltd has once again honoured its commitment of walking the talk.

The future is now. Following a series of discussions with key local players in the ICT environment, it clearly came to light that MITTS Ltd could be positioned as a ‘national asset’ in assisting local firms to successfully penetrate markets overseas through its strategic contribution in areas such as the comprehensive underlying infrastructure; the adoption of international benchmarks; expertise in quality assurance and the expertise of MITTS Ltd staff in leading technologies. Such a concept has already been accepted in principle by a numerous number of local ICT organisations and is complementary to the Strategic Thrusts at a national level of pooling in all local effort in order to position Malta strongly in the international ICT market. ICT Public Fora

MITTS Ltd introduced the ICT Public Fora to act as a medium to bring together academics, practitioners, the private sector, Government and interested parties to discuss and debate salient ICT related themes. Following the success of the first ICT Public Forum held in late 2002, MITTS Ltd in 2003 organised four ICT Public Fora with the following themes:

ICT for Cyber Smart Kids. Securing Cyber Space: An Expensive Irrelevancy? The Great Pursuit: Securing Privacy. Knowledge Management: Structuring the Unstructured.

All of the fora organised were a success; showing the importance of establishing a debating society on ICT in Malta. This encourages the company to continue this successful series of ICT public discussions.

Partnerships with Organisations

In 2001, MITTS Ltd in partnership with the Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’Dizabilita’ (KNDP) established the “MITTS Ltd Foundation for IT Accessibility” (FITA) for the disabled. MITTS Ltd is still providing continuous support to this social partnership for long term sustainability and further growth in the social role it occupies. FITA is inviting the private industry to participate more actively.

MITTS Ltd also teamed up with the Board of IT Studies of the University of Malta to establish the Industry to Academia Partnership to achieve the common goal of inculcating an Information Society and Economy. 2004 will see the first wave of intakes from first year graduate students that were sponsored in the initiation of the agreement.

COMNET-IT Overseas Assignments – Flying the Malta Flag

MITTS Ltd has continued to collaborate with COMNET-IT and provided assistance in an international workshop on “Planning for e-Government in Southern African Development Community (SADC) Countries” held in Mozambique in November 2003 and in a United Nations Development Programme ICT workshop on “National eStrategies and e-Governance”, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is also envisaged that during 2004, MITTS Ltd will continue to assist COMNET-IT in another two international workshops and training programmes, namely:

The Commonwealth Regional Workshop on “e-Government and Sectoral Development”, to be held in St Lucia during February 2004.

The SADC Regional Consultation on National e-Government Readiness, to be held in Botswana during April 2004.

Embracing Change for a Better Future

The changes that have taken place over the last years mark the beginning of an exciting future. At times, professionalism and commitment were tested to the limit, but MITTS Ltd has come through stronger and better equipped to meet future challenges. Having improved however, does not mean that MITTS Ltd should become complacent. MITTS Ltd acknowledges the fact that achieving good performance is a journey not a destination. There is still more to be done and continuous improvement will remain the mantra for the future.

Whilst continuously embracing change for a better future, the focus now will shift from organisational and process capacity building to increase value added initiatives and reap the return on investment carried out: streamlining further the internal and external processes, accelerating product development, maximising the investment in automated tools and ensuring that the cost structure is kept to the minimum. Hence, to position itself tomorrow, MITTS Ltd needs to continuously look beyond what is readily at the fingertips and try to find new ways to improve even the most basic processes. It has been the entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and the ever-increasing teamwork that has brought the Company to its present levels. The same spirit is what will enable MITTS Ltd to work smarter and be ready to meet the complex challenges that will face the Company in the future.

MITTS Ltd will continue to play an active role to assist Government to enhance customer service by delivering on the promise of this millennium: to provide quality public services, every time, everywhere, to all.