novaCITYNETS: Fostering Service-Oriented Architecture for Digital Governance

Gone are the days, when government agencies were predominately handcuffed to legacy systems. Today, the deep permeation of technology into every aspect of government sectors has transformed the present scenario into an app-driven era that paves the way for the simplification of complex tasks and routine operations. Re-engineering and integrating back-office processes, breaking down departmental barriers, and turning government organizations into customer-facing entities are key building blocks for e-governance. To successfully unlock the potential of e-governance, however, would require open and collaborative working, and willingness to learn and change. Whilst government organizations recognize the potential benefits of harnessing information and communication technology (ICT) in delivering services through multi-channel platforms, they still have to cope with the growing user expectations. The search is now en route to find a dedicated partner that ties governmental departments and stakeholders together to streamline Digital Government services through a collaborative platform— and it buoyantly ends at the doors of novaCITYNETS.

A Collaborative Framework

“At novaCITYNETS, we believe in providing industry-focused application software and services for government sectors, enabling them to seamlessly deliver transparent, secure, and smart e-governance services to the public. Facilitating an unobstructed flow of information across interdepartmental barriers is the key here,” says Raymond Tan, CEO at novaCITYNETS. Since its inception in 2000, the firm has transformed from a team of six technopreneurs into a leading provider of Digital Government solutions and services which assist agencies to effectively manage operations across building and construction, land transport, and legal segments.

novaCITYNETS offers its proprietary application framework product, PAVO™ Collaborative Framework, which is renowned for large- scale e-Government implementation due to its robust security management and ease in adoption. PAVO™ was designed to improve office productivity by managing electronic documents and supports business processes/collaborations within and between departments.

Both local and overseas government agencies can leverage novaCITYNETS’ suite of Digital Government solutions to digitally transform time-consuming and complex submission processes (forms or building plans), rendering them easily accessible and highly efficient. The company also allows government organizations to seamlessly evaluate those plans through automated work processes and reinforce effective decision-making through its inbuilt decision support systems. Besides this, by leveraging novaCITYNETS’ suite of Digital Government solutions, government agencies can continuously identify and overcome environmental issues, resource management concerns, and stress on existing infrastructures.

novaCITYNETS’ team brings its depth of industry expertise to implement large government enterprise systems and portals for streamlining processes, connecting all the stakeholders, cutting costs, and improving the delivery of services.

“We take pride in our unique approach to implement e-governance projects that aim at achieving improved delivery of government services, greater access to information, empowerment of citizens, higher transparency, accountability, and enhanced interaction and communication for businesses,” comments Tan. With deep domain knowledge in the development, integration, and deployment of effective government IT solutions, novaCITYNETS is well endowed to actualize digital governance goals and objectives. The firm employs its wealth of consulting and system implementation expertise to deliver practical domain-specific solutions that address the end-to-end business requirements of infrastructure planning and land transport authorities, construction and real estate industry, and legal government agencies in rapid and efficient ways.

Singapore’s Digital Government Journey

In one instance, novaCITYNETS was instrumental in supporting Singapore's Digital Government initiative called Construction and Real Estate Network (CORENET), which is a mission-critical electronic service for the construction and real estate industry and involves 16 participating government agencies from nine different ministries. The client was aiming to re-engineer the fragmented business processes of the industry and sew together varied regulatory authorities from a myriad of agencies that used different permits and licenses. By leveraging novaCITYNETS’ Digital Government solutions portfolio, the client was able to build a single unified “Many Agencies, One Government” platform to facilitate communication among the 16 regulatory authorities. The platform now acts as a one-stop point for all online electronic submissions, processing and tracking of applications, and publication of building codes and regulations. It integrates application forms and fee collection and simplifies the work for approving authorities by providing them with just a single billboard to post all submission statuses online. Ministries can directly find any project related information over the internet instead of sending enquiries to the industry professionals.

Serving as a unified fabric for both the industry and government agencies, the project continues to bring about significant savings, which till date amounts to the tune of approximately $150 million per year on operational expenses and $1 billion per year in investor risk and capital financing cost. “By leveraging our Digital Government solutions, Singapore government was able to achieve 80 percent reduction in total time to secure construction-related permits and 73 percent reduction in the number of application forms, from 845 physical to 231 electronic forms today,” adds Tan.

Without a shadow of a doubt, these figures are a testimony to the company's unwavering confidence and prowess when it comes to delivering successful digital government solutions. “The Ministry of Finance and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore has also bestowed CORENET the e-Government Excellence Distinguished Award 2013 for Shared Systems and Services, which makes novaCITYNETS unique in the crowd,” asserts Tan.

He firmly believes that true innovation can be the most powerful differentiator of all. Forging ahead, the firm anticipates to bring more innovations into its existing Digital Government solutions, which will further enable its customers to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of services. In the near future, novaCITYNETS aims to take its rich legacy forward by creating a collaborative Digital Government framework, where information and services are delivered through digital technology and fostering transparency and control in workflows as per global policies.

While the digital transformation market is slated to touch $ 798.44 billion by 2025 (according to a study by Grand View Research, Inc.), Gartner reports that different governments across the globe are anticipating to allocate around 28 percent of their IT budgets to digitalization this year. With newer digital solutions bound to find a more central place amongst government initiatives, and the market for digital government resultantly increasing exponentially, novaCITYNETS is at the forefront of modernizing digital government strategies and transforming public sector service delivery.