As departments across the public sector prepare for the introduction of e-government services to improve information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure in South Africa, new analysis from global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan estimates ICT spend to hit as much as $707.6-million in 2019 – a sizeable increase on the $615.9-million spent on these services in 2014.

Some 73.1% of overall expenditure was expected to target the managed services, fixed and noncellular connectivity service sector, while government’s ICT programme would further boost investment in software licences, specialised computer services, system advisers and system development, Frost & Sullivan’s ‘ICT Spend in South Africa: Public Sector’ report predicted.

South Africa’s National Development Plan, the National Integrated ICT Policy Green Paper and the Broadband Policy were considered the primary policy drivers of the increased development and uptake of e-government services, Frost & Sullivan ICT industry analyst Naila Govan-Vassen averred.

“ICT spend will centre around updating information technology (IT) hardware and data centres and on supporting systems integration, especially within the health, education and administrative departments,” she said.

But, despite government’s awareness of the importance of and need for digitisation, current expenditure is chiefly limited to day-to-day ICT requirements across national and provincial departments.

The creation of a fully digital government, Govan-Vassen argued, remained challenged by legacy systems necessitating upgrades, limited infrastructure investment to connect all public sector buildings, a lack of coordinated planning to enforce ICT standards and ensure interoperability within national and provincial departments, as well as security concerns surrounding shared and cloud computing services.

A shortage of skilled resources and limited Internet reach and citizen access to online content would present further challenges in the roll-out of government’s e-government programme.

“Defining clear roles for ICT agencies and building partnerships with the private sector will be crucial to this endeavour.”