Interview with Nongolougo Soro, CEO of SNDI (Société Nationale de Développement Informatique)

Could you give us an overview of your company?

I will use the analogy of big corporations to tell you in a simple way who we are and what we do. In today's world, every corporation including the one you work for has an IT (Information Technology) department that provides, manages, maintains and evolves suitable IT networks, IT tools and IT services throughout the corporation in order to improve the efficiency, to cut cost and even to boost the competitive edge of the company. We, SNDI (Société Nationale de Développement Informatique), play pretty much that same role but for the Government of our country, I mean Côte d’Ivoire.

Can you talk more concretely about what you do with regard to IT networks, tools and services? Could you give specific examples?

SNDI was created back in 1999 as a State-owned company to assist the Government in modernizing the public administrative processes by the means of spreading efficient use of IT tools and, generally speaking, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools in the public sector nationwide.

Therefore, SNDI activities span advising, deploying, developing if needed, maintaining and finally training on the right use of ICT networks and tools throughout all the Ministries and other state institutions or agencies. We do that with in mind the end-goal of spreading the efficient use of ICT tools in all government activities and administrative processes, nationwide. We work to make e-government a reality in Côte d’Ivoire by the year 2020. That is needed today in any modern country because of the requirements of the information society, the era we are currently in.

Thus, we have acquired and deployed several ICT tools in the Ministries and other state institutions and agencies; we have developed several tailored ICT tools or software applications for the public sector. As examples, for public finance sector, we have developed and deployed: an integrated software application system for Public Financial Management (SIGFIP – Système Intégré de Gestion des Finances Publiques) that is used nationwide by the Government; an integrated software application system for public tender or requests for proposals (RFP) management (SIGMAP – Système Intégré de Gestion des Marchés Publics) that is also used nationwide by the Government. These integrated software application systems and many others enforce good governance as well as improve government efficiency. Because of their effectiveness, some of these integrated software application systems have been acquired by several other countries in West Africa for their public financial management. Furthermore, we offer Internet services to several Government agencies.

Since the Government agencies are spread throughout the country, SNDI has deployed and managed a nationwide IT network or Intranet that supports, in an integrated environment, the use of various software applications or tools that we developed or acquired on behalf of the Government i.e. for a given application, the same databases and by extension the same datacenters, are accessible from anywhere in the country allowing the sharing of ICT resources among the Government agencies. For that, we have deployed Local Area Networks (LAN) in most of the departments of all the ministries and in several government agencies on the countryside. We currently achieve nationwide coverage for the Government IT network through a wide-area network (WAN) based on a satellite VSAT infrastructure we have deployed and manage. We are currently increasing the capacity and strengthening the availability at that IT network through the Government initiative of nationwide fiber optic network conducted by our sister state-owned agency called ANSUT (Agence Nationale du Service Universel des Telecommunications/TIC).

In addition, we support the Government various initiatives to improve and to strengthen the business environment in the country. As an example, we designed and put in place the IT system that supports the CEPICI process to create new companies or enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire in 24 hours instead of months. CEPICI (Centre de Promotion des Investissements en Côte d’Ivoire) is the Government agency dedicated in promoting and attracting investments to Côte d’Ivoire.

Finally, considering the enormity of the investments made by the Government to acquire and to spread the use of ICT tools in more and more administrative processes nationwide, it is absolutely essential to train the users, not only to be computer-literate, but also to efficiently use those ICT tools in carrying out their daily activities. For that purpose, we have created in May 2012 SNDI IT Training Center dedicaded to the employees of the public sector agencies. That center started its activities in September 2012 and has since trained almost 4000 government employees or agents in using Internet, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, collaborative tools, etc.

In short, SNDI is an IT-enabler in the Government activities. Our motto is: SNDI, the expertise that powers efficient e-government!

You have exported your know-how and advice abroad and to the countries of West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Which countries have you been successful in, what have you done recently and what are your future projects?

We have exported our expertise to several French speaking African countries, mainly in West Africa. Firstly, we have exported the integrated public financial management applications (SIGFIP) to Togo, Benin, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. Secondly, we have also exported our IT consulting expertise to other countries such as Mali, Burkina-Faso, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Last year, we have deployed for the Government of Togo a nationwide IT network based on satellite VSAT infrastruture that currently allows the use of public financial management application SIGFIP in 17 cities. Our near-term ambition is to be a major IT player in the public sector in West Africa in order to assist the Governments of the region to quickly modernize their administrative processess and to really take profits of the numerous opportunities given by information and communication technologies. That will boost the initiatives of those Governments to make their respective countries emerging countries.

Can you tell us more about your current and upcoming partnerships?

As I said earlier, SNDI is a state-owned company which main focus is to assist the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to modernize all the administrative processes and public sector activities by spreading the efficient use of ICT tools and means anywhere in the country. That is a huge undertaking. Therefore, we know that we cannot achieve it alone mainly when you consider today's business and technology environments. Therefore, we started building a business ecosystem around SNDI that will constantly allow us to have the right expertise within SNDI or with partners, preferably local partners, to assist the Government with any ICT project or initiative. Specifically, in June 2012, we have signed such partnership with GOTIC (Groupement des Opérateurs du Secteur des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication), a business group of local ICT private companies. We rely a lot on those private companies in conducting our projects in Côte d’Ivoire and even in other countries. Our ultimate goal with these partnerships is to contribute in developping a viable ICT industry in Côte d’Ivoire. We still have a long way to go; but, we are making great progress and I am confident we will make it by 2020.

What are your big challenges?

Our big challenges result from the Government ambition to make Côte d’Ivoire an emerging country by the year 2020. That is just 6 years away. And, as I said earlier, no country in this era of the Information Society can ambition to become a modern and developped country without the efficient use of ICT in conducting its Government activities and, generally speaking, in the various sectors of its economy. We still have a lot to do to make e-government a reality everywhere in Côte d’Ivoire. But when you looked at where we were after the post-electoral war in the first half of 2011 and you consider where we are today, then you can be confident that we will make it by the year 2020. At SNDI, we are resolved to do whatever we can to assist the Government to ahieve effective and efficient e-government system nationwide by the year 2020.

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