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citizen if included in the current list of benefits. These were analysed and interpreted as illustrated in the section below.
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Improving the public infrastructure as far as connectivity is concerned is part of what the Municipality is doing to ensure that the citizens glean maximum benefits from the ERP system implementation. However, the Municipality does not have any formal benefit management scheme; even though they have principles and procedures, they are undertaking to extend benefits to the citizens. During the interviews managers did allude to benefits, but without any discussion of a benefit management approach. One senior manager indicated that:
“I would also want to see our organisation adopting a Benefits Management Approach.
Any approach to realising benefits from IT investments must be able to address the principles identified as problem-based and innovation-based implementations”
(Interviewee 4, 2012).
The absence of a benefits management scheme results in some benefits being overlooked or overshadowed as the different stakeholders in the City will always emphasise their own priorities. If the Municipality utilises a benefits management framework, it will ensure that all the benefits are managed according to the value they are defined to contribute.
Two crucial issues that are detailed under this finding are as follows:
Public awareness campaign;
ERP system self-management; and
ERP systems success benefits as follows:
4.6.1 Public awareness campaign
A number of media channels are being used to raise awareness as to the existence of benefits as the citizens take advantage of the new services‘ accessibility enabled by the ERP system. Advertising is a traditional way of alerting clients to products and services and, as such, the Municipality is no exception. Given the diversity of the benefits and ways to access them, it is only prudent for the Municipality to encompass as many ways and channels as possible. These channels include billboards, local radios and newspapers, posters in sites of service delivery, the internet, etc. If this availability of services online or through cell phones is not communicated to the citizens, then queues will still flourish in the offices. The following citations confirm that all media channels are used to raise awareness of the availability of services to ensure maximum benefit delivery to the citizens:
“We are currently running lots of campaigns to the communities. Mainly communication is through local newspapers, local councillors, local libraries and the internet. Those who do not have internet access and need internet can now access the ERP system through our
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libraries. Residents can now find vacancies, apply for jobs, on their own without any official delaying them. Ninety per cent of our recruitment is now done online through the portal, with the support of the ERP system. All these measures are there to raise awareness among the residents of the capabilities brought about by the ERP”
(Interviewee 8, 2012).
Management has put mechanisms in place to arouse awareness among the residents of the availability of some benefits. They are doing this through a variety of media such as radio stations, print media such as newspapers, campaigns, and even the local political leadership to try to reach even the poorest resident. The Municipality website has enough information for the privileged citizens who are already aware of the existence of such facilities via the internet.
The foregoing is a demonstration of the actions that are to improve access to the benefits extended by the ERP system. Thus, this becomes the first step towards benefit management, the aim being to manage the benefits in a sustainable manner that is fair and transparent to the diversity of citizens that forms the population of the City of Cape Town.
Having managed the soft side of the ERP system, i.e. the benefits access, there is always a need to manage the technical side. This is done as detailed in the section below.
4.6.2 ERP system self-management
Effective management of the ERP system results in improved customer services. The ERP system is self-managed, making it the integral part of the Municipality assets. The other rather difficult and indirect benefit-enabling endeavour is that the Municipality is configuring and customising the ERP system to ensure that the intended recipients, the citizens, glean maximum benefits. The Municipality has completed the back-end office configuration first, so that all the other possible front-end processes will start flowing from there. These front-end processes will support and extend direct citizen benefits. The following quote supports the above-mentioned finding:
”The system we are running is now self-managed. There is a particular reason why we spent ten years investing in a back-end. You can only help someone adequately in the front desk, if your back office is sound; and if your back office is broken, then you are just a pretty face‖(Interviewee 7, 2012).
In line with the fourth step of the benefit management model by Ward and Daniel (2006:119) and given the ever-evolving technologies, the Municipality management should keep on assessing the potential untapped capabilities of the ERP systems. The city is expecting what they call transformative collaboration where the residents are involved rather than transitional
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change as this is the foundation of the E-citizen, according to numerous respondents. E- citizen results from a very high level of benefits management and should involve all stakeholders. The following is a citation that shows that the managers of the Municipality are aware of the need to manage the benefits, thus they are striving to put in place measures to ensure benefits management:
“These changes must be identified and managed successfully if maximum benefits are to be realised. Benefits realisation and change management are therefore inextricably linked. This is obviously the case when the project is explicitly an IT-enabled or „techno- change program” (Interviewee 4, 2012).
The issues raised above are not exhaustive but substantiate the fact that the Municipality is aware that implementing a benefits-rich ERP system is not enough. In order to successfully close the digital divide, the Municipality management must apply measures that raise awareness of the ERP system benefits that are available. Thus, inviting the residents to utilise the available services forms the basis of ensuring maximum benefit delivery and sustainability. However, a gap still exists between the available benefits and the uptake, which is a cause for concern. This section thus leans towards what actions are required to improve benefits. The next section analyses the relationships among the various citizen benefits elaborated in the sections above.