As was proven during the pandemic, modern governments need the capability to continue service delivery even amidst widespread disruption. Considering the pace of change in what citizens and other stakeholders expect from their governments, public sector organisations also need access to the latest innovations to ensure they meet expectations and deliver a positive citizen experience.

Despite persistent challenges that include concerns over data sovereignty, the need for new budget models, and a pervasive tech skills challenge, most public sector organisations will almost certainly shift some or most of their processes to cloud environments.

The South African government, for example, published a in 2021. The policy noted the importance of harnessing the social potential of data and cloud computing, and provided several proposals for accelerating cloud adoption in the public sector.

The policy provides guidelines for cloud adoption, covering important aspects that include digital infrastructure, data protection, localisation, cybersecurity, governance, skills and innovation. And while policy interventions may take a few years to implement, there is no reason why organisations cannot start moving at least some of their processes to the cloud.

Public sector organisations that are ready to adopt the cloud, or preparing to do so, should keep certain key considerations in mind to ensure the success of their migration, including:

Review the enterprise strategy…

The cloud is not a magic wand for dispelling the organisation’s IT or business challenges. It is a powerful tool that can accelerate the pace at which the business achieves its strategic objectives. But for that to happen, organisations first need to be clear about the strategic objectives and outcomes that they want to achieve, taking particular care of the core elements of people, processes, and technology.

Once the strategic objectives are clear, organisations should seek the most cost-effective and efficient way to achieve those objectives. In the public sector, the answer almost inevitably lies in the cloud: the Department of Public Service Administration (DPSA) has even recently communicated a directive that public sector organisations consider cloud solutions as a first choice prior to any investment into on-premise solutions.

…and the data classification strategy

Once the decision is made to move certain processes to the cloud, public sector organisations must determine what data needs to be migrated. Developing a comprehensive data classification strategy that aligns with the requirements set out by the DPSA will help organisations identify and classify the data that is most at risk.

An effective data classification strategy will help ensure that each data category is stored according to prescription, which is an important element in unlocking cloud opportunities and far more effective than applying a blanket approach for all data in the organisation.

Be clear about cloud’s value case

Cloud migrations are full of promises of greater business agility, lower total cost of ownership, greater flexibility and improved scalability. But it’s near-impossible to prove any of the benefits of moving to the cloud if there is no baseline against which to measure progress.

Prior to any cloud deployment, public sector organisations should set a baseline for aspects such as total cost of ownership, the actual business value of key applications, revenue potential for key processes, efficiency gains and risk reduction. During and after the migration, public sector organisations need to keep close track of these metrics in order to objectively measure business value and determine whether the deployment is meeting organisational objectives.

One of the most attractive aspects of cloud services is that they are generally provided over a set period of time, so public sector organisations can seek a different vendor should their current provider not offer the most cost-competitive or value-adding service. Without the ability to refer back to a clear business case, however, there’s virtually no way for organisations to accurately measure whether the migration has been successful or not.

Take heed of shelfware (and eliminate where needed)

One of the perennial challenges identified in the Auditor-General’s annual reports is that of unused software, or so-called shelfware. Shelfware refers to software tools and licenses that the organisation is paying for, but that is lying dormant and unused.

In some cases this may take the form of organisations buying on-premise software with the intention to implement, but that end up unused due to budget cuts, skills challenges, project overruns or other complexities. For public sector IT leaders, the issue of shelfware calls for a reimagining of existing software roadmaps and the ruthless elimination of perpetual licenses and unused software.

Here, the cloud offers tremendous benefits. Public sector organisations could replace shelfware with cloud subscription licenses that have a clear termination date and quicker deployment roadmap. This will greatly assist with compliance to Auditor-General requirements to avoid wasteful and fruitless expenditure.

While the capital investment in previous on-premise technology is a sunk cost, public sector organisations should take a forward-looking approach. The focus should turn to how the organisation can utilise its operational budget more effectively to meet citizen service delivery needs in the most efficient way possible.

The post Public Sector Considerations for Successful Cloud Adoption appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

When one of Kenya鈥檚 leading state corporations, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited, needed to enhance its procurement capabilities to meet its regulatory commitments, it adopted 51风流to leverage the power and scale of the largest procurement network in the world.

鈥淥ur vision is to be the leading interconnector in Africa, and to achieve that we needed access to world class procurement capabilities that would unlock greater automation, control, consistency and scale,鈥� says David Kariuki, ICT Manager at KETRACO.

鈥淲e chose 51风流Business Network to automate and enhance our procurement processes and ensure our vital work continues even during the most disruptive times of the pandemic.鈥�

KETRACO is a fully government-owned state corporation with a mandate to plan, design, construct, operate and maintain Kenya’s national transmission grid. Since it was incorporated in 2008, the company has made efforts to strengthen and extend the national power transmission grid to enhance the quality, reliability and security of electricity supply in Kenya.

The company鈥檚 51风流journey began in 2016 after it implemented 51风流ECC with best-practice modules. The implementation won KETRACO gold at the 51风流Quality Awards for both Africa and the greater EMEA region.

Waldorf visit sparks 51风流Business Network interest

鈥淧art of the award involved a team from our company visiting the 51风流headquarters in Waldorf,鈥� says Kariuki. 鈥淗ere we were introduced to 51风流Business Network for the first time, and saw the exciting product innovation road-map for the Business Network. We knew that this is where our technology roadmap would lead.鈥�

In 2018, a Presidential Directive was issued, compelling all state-owned corporations to migrate their procurement platforms to an e-procurement solution with integration to an IFMS portal. This was one of the catalysts for KETRACO鈥檚 adoption of 51风流Business Network, which Kariuki and his team implemented in two phases.

The first phase involved the deployment of 51风流Business Network Commerce Automation, a cloud service that enables the electronic exchange of procurement documents between buyers and suppliers through the 51风流Business Network, the largest procurement network in the world.

In the second phase of the project, the team implemented the 51风流Business Network Sourcing Suite.

“We identified three modules that would add the most value to our organisation, namely Supplier Lifecycle, Contract Management, and the main Sourcing module,” explains Kariuki.

Successful deployment aids continuity during pandemic

The implementation was supported by 51风流Customer Success Services, who led the technical and functional deployment and enabled continuous knowledge-sharing and training to ensure a successful and sustainable solution post go-live.

KETRACO went live with the solution just as the pandemic arrived. “By automating our processes in Ariba, we were able to completely eliminate paper-based processes,” says Kariuki. “Our suppliers were able to receive purchase orders, invoices and other procurement documents electronically. This enabled us to continue more or less with business-as-usual despite not having physical contact due to lockdown restrictions.”

The electronic invoicing also allowed KETRACO to centralise all its invoicing and have one l repository for receiving invoices.

“Suppliers were able to track the status of their invoices and see when they could expect payment. The 51风流Business Network also allowed us to monitor and manage our suppliers from a single point of view and have a 360-degree view of their data and performance,” said Kariuki.

He points to the 51风流Business Network’s ability to help KETRACO manage the special category of suppliers that include youth, women and persons with disabilities.

“The system allowed us to continuously register this group and categorize them in the system, while giving them the opportunity to participate in bids as required by the PPAD Act.”

One of the key highlights since the implementation is KETRACO鈥檚 ability to continue its procurement processes even during hard lockdown.

鈥淒espite the impact of the COVID – 19 pandemic on our operations, we were able to successfully manage a massive tender event that attracted hundreds of suppliers. With pandemic protocols in place, we would not have been able to handle the bids received were it not for the amazing efficiency of our new 51风流Business Network system. The experience made us fully appreciate the value of procurement,鈥� Kariuki said.

Hardeep Sound, Regional Sales Director for East Africa at SAP, says: 鈥淧ublic procurement plays a vital role in economic development is a core competency of leading state corporations. KETRACO鈥檚 superb utilisation of technology through its adoption of 51风流Business Network, solid buy-in and support from the leadership team and smart investment in effective change management have helped establish a powerful foundation that will support KETRACO鈥檚 vital procurement processes and ensure it can meet its critical mandate for years to come.鈥�

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This is proving abundantly clear in the African utilities sector, where non-payment, consumption-based fraud, illegal connections and other factors are costing billions in lost revenue.

Power utility Eskom recently revealed that . This has led to a R51-billion debt by municipalities, adding to Eskom’s significant R400-billion debt burden and hampering the utility’s plans to build additional capacity or its transition to renewable energy.

In East Africa, Kenya Power has investigated cases of fraud in its post-paid billing system, .

This issue is prevalent in the utilities sector of other regions too. A 2017 study estimated that . This places enormous pressure on utilities and hampers efforts to improve service delivery to customers, adopt new, more sustainable forms of energy, and scale into new markets.

Revenue assurance mitigates fraud, reduces losses

In the utilities sector, several factors contribute to lost revenue, including faulty metering, inaccurate billing, ineffective revenue collection, consumption-based fraud, leaks, and issues with incorrect customer accounts and contracts.

As the sector shifts to meet the utility needs of a growing population – Africa’s population is expected to – and pressure grows to move to more sustainable, less carbon-intensive forms of energy, maintaining high levels of revenue collection will be critical.

A vital component of optimal revenue collection is the practice of revenue assurance.

Revenue assurance is a way of increasing an organisation’s income by identifying areas where revenue is lost, and minimising such losses by fixing the cause of lost revenue.

found that it takes an organisation twelve months to detect a typical fraud case, with the average annual loss across industries amounting to $1.8-million. In fact, an estimated 5% of revenue is lost to fraud every year.

In response, organisations need to leverage the power of technology to improve fraud detection, risk mitigation and fraud prevention capabilities.

Using a revenue assurance tool is one way for utilities to detect anomalies earlier. This can help them reduce financial loss, improve the accuracy of detection at a lower cost, and improve their ability to predict and prevent future occurrences of revenue leakage.

Leveraging tech to improve revenue collection

A growing number of utilities are using tools such as 51风流Business Integrity Screening in combination with 51风流partner solutions to improve revenue assurance and plug any gaps in operations that may lead to revenue loss.

By leveraging powerful analytics and big data capabilities, revenue assurance tools help utilities identify potential cases of fraud and proactively inform technical teams to investigate.

For example, if a customer’s energy consumption stays exactly the same month after month despite seasonal changes, there is a likelihood that some form of fraud is being committed. Energy use usually increases and decreases in different seasons, with most customers using less power in summer when it’s warm compared to winter when heaters are used and electrical hot water heaters work harder to stay warm.

By tracking energy consumption patterns over long periods of time and matching that data to seasonal consumption models, utilities can leverage their revenue assurance tool to ensure they always collect the optimal revenue from every customer.

By using predictive models and integrating the revenue assurance functionality to their enterprise resource planning core, utilities can develop a better understanding of known customer usage patterns. Over time, utilities can apply this knowledge to develop detection methods and strategies that can highlight unknown patterns that may indicate fraud or revenue leakage.

African utilities are at a pivotal moment as booming population growth and rapid economic development pushes them into building greater capacity while also transitioning to a clean energy future. However, without optimal revenue collection, utilities will lack the financial agility to survive and thrive during this disruptive time.

With the clever application of technology, however, utilities can mitigate the risk of fraud and ensure they have the financial stability to take a leading role in our continent’s development and just energy transition.

The post Revenue Assurance Gives Utilities Fair Footing for Growth, Just Transition appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

With the Presidency announcing a raft of measures aimed at attracting foreign direct investment, unlocking local investment, improving capacity-building, and creating new jobs, work is underway to repair some of the damage caused by COVID-19 and to rebuild the economy.

While these are essential interventions in a struggling economy, one often-overlooked aspect requires closer inspection: the state鈥檚 procurement capacity and competitiveness.

In South Africa, the government is the single largest buyer in the country, per year through more than 1000 procuring entities. However, the quality of procurement outcomes depend on how readily the state can access the best suppliers in the market to deliver the highest-quality goods and services.

As a strategic pillar of the country鈥檚 economy, public procurement can be used strategically to fast-track the state鈥檚 development agenda and ensure essential goods, services and economic opportunities reach those that need it most.

Procurement enables development capacity

The OECD lists public procurement as the cornerstone of strategic governance, and highlights its role as a crucial pillar of service delivery.

In South Africa, this rings especially true. The government plays a key developmental role across nearly all industries, mobilising its purchasing power and leverage over the economy to create employment opportunities and drive growth.

Through its vast procurement system, the SA government delivers essential services, builds and maintains critical infrastructure such as road networks, ports and the rail system, funds schools and public health facilities. In addition, the vast purchasing power of the state means it plays a vital supporting role to many entrepreneurs and small businesses who design and develop services that benefit key economic sectors or assist government in its delivery of essential services to marginalised or poor communities.

However, when such procurement processes are slow, inefficient or overly administrative, it can have a dire effect. Service delivery may stall due to delays in procuring the required goods or services, critical infrastructure may deteriorate due to delays in repairs or maintenance, and small businesses may face financial ruin due to delays in getting projects approved, suppliers loaded to the national procurement system, or simply due to issues with payment.

Efficiency key to state鈥檚 mandate

The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, which is tasked with overseeing and modernising the country’s procurement system, .

The OECD recommends to ensure public procurement activities are efficient and deliver on the state’s mandate, including:

• Streamlining the public procurement system and its institutional frameworks, starting with the development of a service-oriented public procurement system that reduces red tape and administrative costs;
• Implementing sound technical processes to meet customer needs, with a focus on ensuring adequate technical expertise among evaluators and allocating sufficient resources and expertise for contract management once the contract has been awarded; and
• Developing tools to improve procurement procedures, reduce duplication and drive greater value for money, with aspects such as centralised purchasing, framework agreements, e-auctions and contracts with options coming to the fore.

Considering the scope and breadth of public procurement activities, achieving this level of efficiency is impossible without the use of digital technologies.

Digital technologies hold key

Technology has a guiding role to play in improving the state’s procurement efficiency and ensuring procurement activities deliver the greatest possible benefit to citizens and the broader economy.

Implementing an efficient, transparent digital procurement system can give government decision-makers access to real-time insights into how each sector of the economy is operating. When government departments and state-owned entities work from a reliable single source of accurate procurement data, it can reduce costs, improve decision-making and enhance the overall efficiency of the state.

Leveraging international best practices through partnering with global technology providers can also lend useful insights to the procurement process, helping government avoid costly mistakes and ensuring systems and processes are built on best practices.

The use of best-practice templates for key procurement functions can also help drive down costs and ensure procurement activities are built on the most efficient and transparent modern processes, helping build trust between the state and its suppliers. This efficiency can also enhance the state’s competitiveness with the private sector and improve access to best-of-breed solutions and suppliers.

As public procurement becomes more efficient and the state enhances its ability to source market-leading goods and services, the outcomes for citizens will also improve. This can mean better schools, more reliable infrastructure, improved healthcare, greater economic participation, job creation and economic growth.

The post State’s Developmental Role Puts Procurement at Centre of Economy appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

I recently visited the province of my birth, KwaZulu-Natal following the devastating floods. 聽The desperation of the people and scale of the disaster has seen tens of thousands of displaced citizens turning to government to provide a broad range of relief measures, while damage to critical infrastructure including water supplies has prompted the President to declare a national state of disaster.

while damage to roads and schools have seen over 270 000 learners affected, in addition to 66 public healthcare facilities.

Coordinating the ongoing response will require close cooperation between multiple government and private sector entities as well as the active involvement of NGOs who play a vital role in supporting affected communities.

However, while the immediate task is to support those most vulnerable following the floods, there is a broader imperative to ensure public services are accessible and provide sufficient support to vulnerable communities across the country.

SA population has large share of vulnerable communities

Vulnerable groups include people living in poverty, those living with disabilities or dread disease, the elderly, youth and women, indigenous communities, rural and urban informal communities and displaced persons and migrants.

The pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable groups as they struggle with a variety of conditions and several barriers which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Ensuring essential public services are accessible and effective for vulnerable groups is a vital component of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially as it relates to SDG 16, which strives for just, peaceful, and inclusive societies that are supported by strong institutions.

A recent report by the Bureau for Economic Research has found South Africa is not making sufficient progress toward achieving its development objectives. For a country where the official unemployment rate is over 35%, and millions depend on social grants and other measures to survive, this lack of progress is putting citizens – and especially vulnerable communities – at risk.

Stakes higher for public sector digital transformation

Public sector entities are arguably under greater pressure to ensure digital transformation efforts are designed with vulnerable communities in mind. Those depending on social grants or public healthcare facilities need such services to be easily accessible, especially in underdeveloped areas such as informal settlements and rural towns and villages.

UN Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres recently called for a 鈥榥ew social contract鈥� as part of post-pandemic recovery, based on inclusivity and sustainability, and highlighted the need for governments to prioritise investment in digital literacy and digital infrastructure to build social cohesion.

Many governments have heeded the call and have made services available in the format of 鈥渄igital by default鈥�. However, this approach often excludes those who need the services most, for example older people and those in lower income groups who are not able to access online information and services as easily as those in the higher income groups generally.

Increasingly governments are deploying cutting-edge technology to deliver public services.聽 The most effective approaches often rely on big data analytics and employ the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and blockchain to ensure effective outreach and provision of services.聽 Consequently, the trend of adopting cutting-edge technologies in the government sector has intensified, which heralds an irreversible shift towards digital transformation. But these services may fail to improve the lives of citizens if there is a lack of trust between society and government.

Fostering trust between citizens and government

The most recent highlights increasing wariness of government and media. This is fuelling a cycle of distrust and demonstrates that government is not seen as able to solve societal problems.

The COVID pandemic and disasters like the KZN floods have highlighted the need for agile government. However, a recent study found that nearly one in ten South Africans consider corruption as the biggest problem that government needs to address.

Reports of mishandled relief funds during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic has sowed distrust among the electorate, which has extended to the relief efforts for flood-affected communities in KwaZulu-Natal, where local NGOs are instead being entrusted with providing essential relief measures.

This distrust does serious damage to government鈥檚 agility in the face of crises. An agile government is able to respond to crises as they emerge and can help anticipate an appropriate response. Predictive analytics and the advancement of complex systems analysis with cutting-edge technology can help governments develop agility and anticipation and improve their response to future scenarios.

Technology can also improve management of precious public sector finances, which is fundamental to the state’s efforts at supporting citizens during times of crisis and essential to the ongoing delivery of vital services.

Spend management tools such as Concur can provide system-based automated compliance and the option to embed financial policies in the software to align with regulations such as the Public Finance Management Act. This can help restore a culture of accountability that ensures scarce financial resources are spent responsibly and reach the communities that most need it.

As we hurtle into the 21st century, it will become increasingly important for the emergence of more anticipatory digital transformation functions in government than we have today, allowing us to build better, more inclusive, and more resilient societies.

The post Serving Vulnerable Communities Raises Stakes for Public Sector Digital Transformation appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

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By 2025, 51风流predicts that many public sector organizations will take advantage of new technologies and breakthrough innovations to become more proactive, automated, foresighted, data-driven, and citizen-focused.

The pressure is on for governments to become more responsive and provide more effective services by implementing data-driven strategies to improve efficiencies and reduce wasteful expenditure, particularly as the world recovers from COVID-19 disruption.

Join SAP, Leadership Magazine, and expert speakers as they identify how ICT in governance may be constructed to facilitate greater accountability, transparency, and the reduction of wasteful expenditure through better financial, public information management, procurement, and administrative systems.聽The conversation will also address the challenges and barriers that citizens and government encounter on the process of effective and efficient service delivery.

Event Moderator: Dr Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, Editor: Leadership Magazine

Expert Panel:

1. Ayanda Dlodlo, Minister, Public Service and Administration
2. Sunil Geness, Director Global Government Affairs & CSR, Global Sustainability Lead: Africa, 51风流Africa
3. Percy Letwaba, Head of Sales: Public Sector and Healthcare, 51风流South Africa
4. Prof Barwa Kanyane, Executive Dean: Faculty of Management, Commerce and Law (UNIVEN)

Across the continent, African cities are constantly looking for new ways to improve service delivery and enhance living and working ecosystems for citizens. It鈥檚 no surprise that many consider digital technology to be the ideal methodology to help deliver new public services, address existing problems, and reshape citizen engagement. Digital technology holds the key to the successful transformation of cities. It can accelerate and enable economic prosperity and commerce, improve safety and security, and make a real impact on the quality of life for citizens.

Join us on Wednesday, 10 November from 12:00-14:00 (CAT). To find out more or to book your seat, visit

The post How to Accelerate Africa鈥檚 Digital Transformation in the Public Sector appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

For CFOs and public sector financial leaders, the new dynamic is creating risks to private and government institutions at a time when financial integrity is paramount.

Disruption challenging public, private sectors

For the private sector, the disruption from closing offices and suddenly relying on a mostly remote workforce has created new challenges. Employees are now working outside the boundaries of corporate firewalls and, in some cases, on unsecured devices. Enhanced cybersecurity is critical; the World Economic Forum has warned that cybercriminals have escalated their efforts to capitalise on the unfolding tragedy of Covid-19, putting companies, consumers and public sector organisations at immense risk.

In the public sector, government departments at national, provincial and municipal level are facing their own challenges. The response to Covid-19 has required a reprioritisation within various government functions to support the unprecedented large-scale coordinated effort at all levels of government to limit the impact of the disease.

For example, Treasury has announced it is centralising the sourcing of all personal protective equipment from suppliers. In the heavily regulated public sector, this centralising of sourcing can add additional complexity to procurement and public finance management practices to ensure finance teams functions within the bounds of good governance.

Add to this the disrupting effects of major budgetary constraints and poorly-performing state-owned enterprises and public sector finance teams are in for a challenging period.

Private sector companies, already dealing with a struggling economy and low consumer and business confidence and now battling with a major world event will similarly have to enhance their governance, risk and compliance efforts to ensure business integrity is upheld.

Three priorities for improved risk management

So what are public and private sector finance leaders to do to manage risk in such an uncertain and disruptive environment? Three immediate priorities stand out: protecting the business through better risk management, process control and audit planning; improved access control; and putting comprehensive security measures in place to protect critical data.

Protecting the business starts first and foremost with visibility. Managing risk during times of great uncertainty or disruption requires that finance leaders have a holistic view of risk. This requires them to have a single financial source of truth 鈥� an accurate, integrated source of data that can inform financial decision-making within all company or government functions.

Having a clear view of all risk elements gives finance leaders additional agility to adapt to changes in the operating environment and business model. Many organisations will need to reassess their business strategy to take into account the impact of the lockdown and continued disruption from the pandemic.

Using risk scenarios and modelling to understand the organisation鈥檚 exposure to risk gives organisations a clear view over the impact of emerging opportunities on the company鈥檚 risk profile. In addition, it helps finance leaders make better decisions by linking current and future risks to business value drivers.

With a single financial source of truth, companies should also seek a single platform for managing policies and compliance procedures. This enables streamlined processes that align controls and policies with business goals and risks.

Audit planning will also require a second look: tools for better managing scoping, risk assessment and project management of internal audits can save precious time and resources. Real-time analytics can play a hugely important supporting role by enabling companies to scan large volumes of data with increased accuracy in detecting and preventing fraud and errors.

However, with business models changing rapidly 鈥� most noticeably the rise of remote workforces as people are confined to their homes 鈥� effective access control is becoming even more important than before. Sudden changes in an organisation鈥檚 workforce as a result of the pandemic could lead to conflicts with segregation of duties and hamper access to critical authorisations. Without full visibility over user functions and permissions, companies will struggle to remediate issues or introduce mitigating controls.

CFOs and finance leaders should enforce a segregation of duties framework that avoids having a single user create, approve and monitor transactions. Where segregation of duties is not possible, management should be able to monitor users鈥� transactions and ensure users have appropriate authorisations to maintain accountability.

Organisations should strive to provide secure access to applications and data across cloud and on-premise solutions, and use predictive detection of fraud and errors in transactions to maintain business integrity.聽Interpol has warned that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the pandemic by attacking computer networks and systems while most of the world鈥檚 attention is on dealing with the coronavirus. The FBI has found that reports of cybercrime have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic.

Here, enterprise threat detection and other security measures play a vital role in identifying, analysing and neutralising the rising tide of opportunistic cyberattacks plaguing public and private sector organisations. CFOs and finance leaders need real-time intelligence into system vulnerabilities to ensure cybersecurity threats are mitigated before systems are compromised.

The post How to Mitigate Risks from COVID-19 Disruption appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

So what lies ahead for a sector under pressure to limit carbon emissions and create a different future for hydrocarbon-based businesses?

To start, there is no point in visionary planning for 2030 or for worrying about efficiency and productivity in the oil and gas sector unless steps are taken to prevent catastrophic climate change in the same time period. El-Molla is keenly aware of the need to address this issue 鈥� now.

We are focusing on gas in the interim as we work to fill 40 percent of our energy needs through wind and solar by 2030,鈥� he says. In addition to meeting the demands of the domestic market, the Minister鈥檚 vision is to help Egypt become a clean energy hub for the region. Thanks to a clear strategy and massive efforts undertaken by the Ministry since El-Molla鈥檚 appointment in 2015, that long-term goal has every chance of success.

This ongoing strategy for sustainable economic reform along with the discovery of the offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean are behind the that Egypt will be one of the top 10 global economies in just 10 years 鈥� ranked number seven, ahead of Russia, Japan, and Germany.

Provide an Outlook

El-Molla spent 24 years in various operational and executive positions at and recalls turbulent times during the early part of the decade when two revolutions were followed by a period of instability and insecurity for Egypt鈥檚 120-year-old oil and gas sector. The Ministry is responsible for securing refined products for the entire country and for maintaining and ensuring production through joint partners. But during that time it was facing the practical problems of shortages and a decline in production.

Stability returned under the current President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who realized the need for someone with El-Molla鈥檚 experience to lead necessary change.One of El-Molla鈥檚 first steps was to reach out to partners, vendors, and suppliers.

鈥淒uring difficult times it is easy for investors and multinationals to just shut down and leave,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 critical to keep them engaged. They need to feel confident that their investments are protected, and that the government is a stable, reliable partner.鈥�

The next steps were more difficult.

Modernize for Change

Becoming the regional energy hub requires massive changes, so the Ministry created a comprehensive modernization strategy that addresses key areas such as production performance, refining and distribution, and enterprise resource planning (ERP). But the core area for overhaul was human resources (HR) development.

The Ministry is a fragmented organization comprising different holding companies, joint ventures, public sector entities, and investment groups. More than 240,000 people are part of it, but they were not connected to each other.

鈥淭he last organizational change was 20 years ago,鈥� El-Molla says. 鈥淲e need to communicate our vision of change, we need to connect people to the vision, and we need the right people to make it happen.鈥�

Pulling it together requires one global system, one consolidated balance sheet, and mostly importantly, one team. The Ministry first created an intranet to facilitate unified updates and messaging and get buy-in from employees. El-Molla knew from previous experience that people often feel threatened when new systems are implemented; they only accept change once they realize the system will help them work more efficiently and save time for more fulfilling tasks.

Together with his team, El-Molla then identified key competencies and announced internal openings for subject matter experts and core business disciplines such as finance and administration. Out of 3,000 applicants, they selected 700 motivated and ambitious individuals and then whittled that group down to 400. Those selected were sent abroad for on-the-job training and given mid-management roles upon their return, ready to fast-track the organization into the future.

鈥淲e now have the most diverse, highly qualified, dynamic team to take us to the next level,鈥� says El-Molla proudly.

With the right people in place, El-Molla can focus fully on the modernization process, which requires the right technology. was his first choice not only because he was familiar with it from his Chevron days, but because he believes it is the right ERP solution for preparing a national industry to work more efficiently with minimum losses at higher productivity rates.

El-Molla believes in leading by example. The modernization program at the Egypt Ministry of Petroleum will not only set an example for the nation; as it begins to show results, it will help unlock the potential of the entire region by improving the economy, empowering people, and creating sustainable sources of energy for generations to come.

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