DailyPost 2456
S/4HANA FOR GOVT?
We can see a pitched battle on prime-time TV on the data being dished out by panelists to substantiate their viewpoints. So is the case with the data provided in the legislative sessions, from governmental sources, which one is forced to take at its face value, notwithstanding the doubts raised. At times diametrically opposite data is provided to people’s perception and experience. We land in crazier situation when courts have to intervene to get data on to the table. The fate of affidavits submitted to the courts by the governments is yet another story. To cut the long story short we are in data mess that emanates out of governance mess.
We have one odd instance when government states that it does not have data on some issue, then where will get the data from. The issue is not that the data is not there, the issue is how can we manage without data and quite often not its ready availability. We have just not reached the integrity and honesty of data stage by any stretch of imagination. We barely find the political executive and mostly the permanent executive too falling back on this ultimate tool. We have perfected the art of telling false stories or at least uncorroborated ones. We keep battling international media and investigative type organisations, when they publish, what the government claims as dubious data.
Peter J Drucker management is the art of running managed institutions. Government and its institutions also fall under this umbrella, even if the B Schools think differently. Governance Think Tanks, if any, are devoid of an all-encompassing software, ERP, taking care of its functioning. SAP etc has been providing this service since decades to make large enterprises deliver in a manner expected of the present age. We had WFH and VPN providing the secure channel during Covid times during the Covid times because they had the tech infra. How well did the government; its departments / employees fare on this count?
In memory database HANA, High-performance Analytic Appliance, is the way forward. Today’s governance and complexity and the need for dynamic and real time database is a must. When CPU’s are giving was to in memory databases. we seem to be stuck in a different age. AI challenge is just round the corner. Some digital initiatives have elevated our life, but we still have to content with server delays and failures. It can happen only in the governmental sector. Government as an enterprise has to take a plunge, all digital transformations have happened through solid push, this would be no different. Time to change digital gears, rather that clinging on to issues that are alien to the modern digital age.
EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE CAN HAPPEN THE DATA ENABLED WAY, WHICH NEEDS STATE OF ART TECH INFRA AND MASSIVE BEHAVIORAL CHANGES.
Sanjay Sahay