Roundtables

How can the state become data-first?

The public sector’s data management challenges may be holding SA back.

08 September 2021

If the public sector utilised data more robustly, it could make an enormous difference to South Africa. This is the rationale behind calls for modernising the state’s technology, particularly how it manages data. But while the ambition is simple enough, reaching that space in practical terms is more complicated. As the new National Data and Cloud Policy enters its draft stage, we ask: what are the public sector’s challenges around data, and how should we address them?

Data can change the lives of people – this is a commonly held belief. But it’s important to qualify that statement. How can data be helpful, especially across the public space? Tansel Okay, Oracle’s Cloud Systems Solution Engineering leader for CEA and SADC, cites an example from his home country, Turkey: “Data is the force multiplier of innovation. Every public sector manager who deals with data should be aware of this. In Turkey, they share certain meteorological data that’s not important in most cases. But banks use it to optimise cash on their ATMs because they can predict the weather conditions and thus predict how much money will be withdrawn from ATMs. So, when governments provide data products, it starts a round of innovations within the country that, at the end, serves both public citizens and the private sector.”

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