Coordinating Directors across Ghana have been asked to champion the use of Government of Ghana (GoG) Smart Workplace platform to ensure efficiency and effectiveness within the operations of the local government.
The new technology aims to drive government’s digitalisation agenda and, thereby, curbing paper work and administrative costs among others at public offices. It also seeks to empower government agencies to seamlessly work remotely.
It is christened ‘The Smart Workplace Solution’ and introduced by The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), in collaboration with eSolutions Consulting and Microsoft Office 365 technology. The technology will enhance the nationwide digitalisation project.
Addressing a one-day roll out and adoption workshop for Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) and Metropolitan, Municipals and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Kumasi recently, the Chief Director, Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS), Mrs. Felicia Dapaah-Agyeman Boakye, charged the participants to pass the knowledge that they will acquire to their colleagues, to enable them use the Smart Workplace Solution, since it has come to stay.
“All Coordinating Directors and officers present are hereby mandated to champion the use of the platform in executing work at the various MMDAs.
Rest assured, with support from NITA and eSolution Consulting, the necessary technical support will be readily available to all institutions when required.
More importantly, the modules within the Smart Workplace platform will play a significant role in future performance assessment and monitoring exercises of the OHLGS,” she said.
She noted that the digitalisation initiative symbolises a significant step towards modernisation and efficient public service delivery.
“It is a robust digital platform designed to meet the varied needs of our workforce. Utilizing the capabilities of Microsoft Office 365, it offers a range of features aimed at enhancing our daily operations and productivity.
From managing emails and calendars to facilitating audio and video conferencing via Microsoft Teams, from managing documents and correspondences to automating tasks and enterprise search functionalities, the Smart Workplace serves as a one-stop hub for all our digital needs,” She told the participants.
Touching on the uniqueness of the Smart Workplace platform, Mrs. Felicia Dapaah-Agyeman Boakye underscored that the system equips staff with secure, role-based access to the necessary IT solutions and tools for remote work anytime, anywhere, on any web-enabled device (desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets) emphasising that the application can be accessed from on and off duty posts.
“At OHLGS, we’ve already started experiencing the transformative power of this technology. By adopting the Smart Workplace, we have automated our correspondence, leave, memo and other manual processes, heralding a new era of efficiency and productivity.”
Mrs.Felicia Dapaah-Agyeman declared that the laborious era of attending to piles of hardcopy documents at workplace are no more.
“The days of physically moving correspondences from one desk to another are behind us, thanks to this platform.
“The ability to work remotely, faster processing times, improved information search capabilities, reduced operational costs, streamlined task assignment and tracking, and enhanced audit trails and reporting mechanisms are just a few of the numerous benefits we have witnessed”, she said.
On his part, the Director General of NITA Mr. Richard Okyere-Fosu noted that the Smart Work System is beating all expectations, adding that hundreds of government institutions have subscribed to it.
According to him, the system had been designed such that it is easy to work with and it has come to stay. He stated that rolling out of the system forms part of government’s epic digitalisation agenda to transform the status quo at workplaces.
This agenda, according to him, would enable government institutions to cut down the cost of some administrative expenses and thereby ensuring efficiency at workplace.
On the safety of the system, Okyere-Fosu noted that the Smart Working system had a strong firewall and it has been certified by Microsoft 360 hence it is safe to use.
Mr. Victor Obeng-Adiyiah, Board Chairman for eSolutions Consortium, which built the software, charged Ghanaians to embrace it, since it was going to address pertinent issues at workplaces.
He emphasised that the system could be used by government and non-governmental agencies.
According to him, the initiative would address issues of the missing of hardcopies documents and theft of documents among others, at workplaces.
