Developing the SAPS website for optimal service delivery

9 Online service delivery strategy

A vital aspect that goes hand in hand with such development would be the drawing up of an online service delivery strategy and guidelines and a development roadmap for the way forward.

A strategy and guidelines are indispensable in raising the maturity level and quality of the SAPS website. Such a strategy would show what the SAPS would like to achieve with its online service, analyse the current situation, and devise plans for achieving the goals. It would further spell out how the website supports the vision and mission of the organisation it represents – which, in the case of the SAPS, is primarily about service delivery.

Management support from executive level is a very high priority in this regard, as considerable resources could possibly be necessary consistently to support the implementation of such strategy. Support from senior management also underlines its dedication to service delivery, which will give the initiative the required momentum to go from planning to development and implementation. In the long run, senior management support is the critical factor that will determine the success of the effort.

In this regard, Unruh (1997:336–337) gives the following three essential conditions for organisations that want to fully use information as resource:

Senior management that acknowledges the importance of information management to add value to client service.
An organisation culture that encourages and support knowledge sharing.
Acknowledgement of the importance of the best possible technological infrastructure as an empowering factor in value-creation.

Oleson (1997: 31) cautions that “technology alone is not going to win the race for you”. A flexible management team, which can cope with change brought about by development in technology is required.

A development roadmap is equally important. The purpose of such roadmap is the continued development of the SAPS online services to ensure an effective policing service.