Amateur’s tips on e-Governance

Use of computing technology in public service, what is called e-Governance, is catching up in India. Some of these projects are means to improve the efficiency of internal processes of the department and some of them try to improve service delivery to the public at large.

Many fail and some are astounding successes. The challenge gets compounded in projects that involve integration of multiple agencies and or service delivery to the public. NSDL got opportunity to be a part of three such projects. Dematerialization of securities by SEBI looks obvious now, the Tax Information Network by Income Tax Department is at the halfway mark and the third and latest, the New Pension Scheme by PFRDA is still in the early stages. Let me share some learning that we picked up along the way while playing meaningful roles in these projects. (All these are my personal views and not official views of NSDL)

1. IT is only part of the story

Information technology (IT) is the key engine in e-governance; but keep in mind that it is just a means and not an end in itself.

For example the internet based railway reservation is a brilliant option for passengers. Imagine that the railways make it the only way to sell tickets. It can save enormous cost of the administrative infrastructure required for citizen interface. But with the usage profile we have in our country for this service, we cannot even think about it for the time being. At the same time the automation for the guy behind the counter still provides enormous efficiency gains in the reservation process and helps to reduce corruption.

If the solutions are architectured with a technology focus and not service focus, it gets to be the killer and is one of the main reasons for failure of many e-governance projects.

If I give a thumb rule, IT is only a 40% contributor in e-Governance.

2. BPR is not a Magic Wand

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a critical ingredient to ensure best results. But when a large number of organizations and disparate user segments are involved, it is important to phase the re-engineering. Identify the most important changes (as few as possible) that are critical to efficiency gain or that will be act as a foundation to the transformational process and implement them first.

This is especially critical, as educating and enabling a large user community is a challenge that can be managed better by keeping the changes as limited as possible.

For example in implementation of Tax Information Network (TIN) one of the major changes was the requirement of filing TDS returns electronically. To begin with, the department kept the process of depositing tax and preparation of TDS return almost the same. In fact the free utility for preparation of electronic return has a frontend which looked like a physical form in which the tax deductors were typing in the data as always and at the end of it they had to just save the return to a CD and hand over to a front office. (For the more IT savvy there were other options too).

Change management is best managed if you can help take few decisive steps and not a leap of faith into the darkness.

An implosion to break the rotten structure, and not an explosion that destroys the whole neighborhood.

3. Be Patient

Once you have set the ball in motion, let the process settle down. Give it time for the message to percolate down. Give it time for the first movers to experiment, the followers to observe and the cynics to run out of steam.

Remember, unless it is a matter of life and death (or a celebrity citing) you won’t see a crowd thronging to the embrace the change on the first day or even the first year.

We saw this when we set up the depository. The day after the inauguration we saw supplements in all major newspapers hailing the birth of a new institution. Within days and weeks we started to get telephone calls asking the number of accounts opened. We had no ‘thousands of accounts’ to show off. From the same tongues that praised, we heard obituaries. We were flooded with advice on why we should change the model completely. Three years on and lots of education and persuasion and cooperation from many, it took root and today it looks so obvious.

Depository was big thing for Indian capital market. But for most investors who traded occasionally there was no need to queue up to open an account. They were not even sure how it will affect the market. Similarly New Pension Scheme is a great idea. But there is no need to run to the distributor to open an account. It may be important but not urgent.

Often patience is not the virtue of many policy makers who want to show magic before their next transfer and holding their urges in check is a challenge in itself.

4. But you have to tweak

When I say be patient, it doesn’t mean do nothing. Look for irritants to be removed, look for tweaks that will improve user convenience; but, don’t keep on changing the whole model.

What you need are tweaks that enable and not splashes that confuses; the spirit of continuous improvement.

5. Be ready to hold hands

In many initiatives although the expected changes are dramatic, historic and touches large number of citizens, the impact of this for the individual may not be so large or not so clear.

Therefore there is need to have concerted effort to interpret and explain how the new system affects various segments to help them in the process of transition.

6. Sometimes you need to push

In some projects there will be need for a regulatory nudge to break the impasse or to act as a catalyst. But you should not get carried away by this tool and move in with a bulldozer. Remember what the ‘family planning initiatives’ of Sanjay Gandhi achieved.

That is what SEBI did when it used a bit of compulsion to move the market from physical to electronic. At first it got the infrastructure in place, got some minimum action by pushing the institutional segment in a small way and then pushed the active players and then the whole market. It still provided for an exception for the so called ‘small investors’ to take the steam out of those who use the ‘small investor’ as front to push their private agendas

7. Cookie-cutter is for cookies

When we design the solution, we need to keep in mind the nuances of the various segments of users. Don’t just come out with standard cookie cutter solutions

8. Learn to judge cribs

Let assume that the new system affects 100 people; 80 positively and 20 negatively. From the 80 who benefitted hardly few will come to say thanks. But of the 20 majority will shout.

So on the first look, majority of the feedback will be cribs. You need to look deeper at the agend behind the screams and judge whether it is the wail of the majority or the tricks of few.

You also need lots of self confidence to act on this.

9. Government users are special species

Among the users the most difficult will be the government users. They are more used to status quo than change, more used to getting their way than giving way.

So you need active support and intervention from within. You need the snake to pull out its own venom!

10. Benchmark and measure

One of the essentials of success is to have a process for measurement of the key drivers of performance.

You need to get these parameters accepted and established as the true measures of success and put a in a mechanism for continuous tracking and publishing. Or else there will be enough detractors who will play with anecdotal evidences to belittle the progress.

11. Persistence is the Key

The ultimate tool for success is persistence; keeping track of the irritants, looking out for opportunities for marginal improvements. It may not be exhilarating, it may not be brave, it may even be dull, and it may make you look like a hero; but unless you are willing to take this path, especially in the early days, transformational projects don’t take root.

Like the little stream of water that happily moves out of the way of the rock in front, but has the persistence to eat away the rock speck by speck.

12. Tell me who owns the project

Although I placed this as the last item in the list, this is the most important pre-requisite for any project to be a success. Unfortunately it is very often absent in public projects. Most of the team members join as actors playing their part for their own agendas and not committed to the project. Almost like the like junior artists who move from one movie to another. Such projects definitely will fail.

The role played by Sreedharan in the Delhi Metro Project, Bhave in case of NSDL, Narayana Moorthi in case of Infosys are examples for how ownership and commitment can make all the difference.

Should we call this list the "Dirty Dozen" (as very often these get neglected) or "Mighty Dozen" (as these make all the difference) of eGovernance?