eGovWatch: SAP to push for simple solutions to enhance citizen experience

With the central government in India, pushing for greater penetration of technology for better governance, software giant SAP, known to have the strongest footprint in local administration IT fabrics, has reaffirmed its focus on the government business in the market.

Having collaborated with Bhartiya Janta Party during the recently concluded General Election with its Social Media Analytics solution,  the software solutions provider now looks forward to becoming a part of the government’s plan of ‘Digital India’ and helping build smart cities.

Mathew Thomas, Vice President- Strategic Industries, SAP India, said,“Challenged by rapid urbanisation and rising population density, Indian cities need new models for sustainable growth, risk mitigation, resource management, and financial restraints. Our Government’s vision echoes SAP’s interest in helping build a strong foundation for inclusive, effective and transparent government.”

Stressing that about 25% of SAP’s global revenues come from public services solutions,  Vivek Puthucode, Vice President-Public Services in Asia Pacific Japan, SAP said, “This is an exciting time for India and the wider region. From transportation to healthcare, innovations in technology and citizen engagement are poised to transform our cities and improves lives.”

He said , the strategy to tap this vertical is to keep technology simple and following a three step approach— bringing in operational efficiency, helping governments make evidence-based decisions through analytics, and enhancing citizen experience.

“We have the strongest foothold in the local government IT space, we will continue to chase these and build on the core ERP systems we have deployed for them. We are essentially now helping them build citizen engagement platforms, facilitating payments and capturing citizen feedback through analytics,”  he added.

The company has about 150 people across APJ, working on the public services vertical, and development happens across the globe as each geography  has its specific requirements and is uniquely placed to contribute to solution development

“We try to bring the best practices together for each solution. In fact, India has become a ‘petri dish’ for developing solutions for healthcare and education,” Puthucode said, adding that while traditionally government has been a laggard in terms of adoption of technology, the vertical is fast evolving.”

SAP has recently helped Bhopal Municipal Corporation deliver certain citizen services  through mobile app. “This second such live project with city municipality, there are several projects in progress across Indian states,”said Thomas.

“Across India, local governments are turning to innovative technologies to help them address the challenges of urbanization as well as rising citizen expectations for smarter economies and sustainable growth. We aim to help local governing bodies like BMC to accelerate innovation and connect directly with people and communities to deliver efficient governance,”  he added.

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