A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN (People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service) ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:          Contents provided by:	STATE SECRETARY'S VIEW Tan Sri Datuk Amar Hj Hamid Bugo The tendency to OVER-FOCUS... There is a saying that we miss the forest for the trees! This tendency to over-focus is quite prevalent in specific industries such as Information Technology or IT. What the industry has developed may not be what the customer requires. Many of us are still very much focussed on the technology, i.e. keeping in touch with state-of-the-art all of the time such as making sure who develops what and how can we keep up with them. This is fine in as far as it keeps us on our toes as to what our rival does. After all, a little competition is not a bad thing. But if one is too over-focussed in what one is doing, one will inevitably forget the role that one is supposed to play and that is as a service provider. The first crucial role of an IT service provider in as far as the Civil Service is concerned, is making sure that the Civil Service is well equipped with the tool to provide an excellent machinery in government. How this service is done depends on the organisation itself. But it is a very critical role to play because practically everybody is embracing IT. And nowadays, it is not only IT that we are concerned with. We are now talking about Information & Communication Technology, ICT. IT may be like the road infrastructure with its hardware and software. But if there's no one travelling on that road, IT does not mean much. So, communication is crucial - how do we make use of IT to bring about change in our lives as we move ahead in this age of globalisation. IT organisation plays a critical role as a service provider. We are now in E-government. For instance, I would feel rather frustrated and annoyed if I could not retrieve a document sent in by a colleague because his attachment is in Lotus and mine is Microsoft Word! Short of getting the hard copy from the sender, I would want to be able to retrieve the document in its original form and be able to read it instantly. The other critical role is to update or reengineer processes and procedures. We know in Sarawak in particular, some system processes that we have are still outdated to the extent that if we convert from manual to electronic, we are bound to slip and it will take a tremendous effort to get back on track. Therefore, not only should these IT providers go to those departments to computerise them, but also to inform them that their processes can be improved by simple reengineering. Only then do we have quality which means efficiency, cost-saving as well as aesthetics.
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