By Larry Claasen
VOIS, a software management platform, has quietly been transforming how state institutions like municipalities and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been improving how they deal with the public.
VOIS is the brainchild of the German based HSH Soft- und Hardware Vertriebs GmbH, which was looking for a way to improve government services to the public.
Around 15 years ago it came up with the concept of bringing together various competitors to co-develop on a shared management operating system.
Today the VOIS community has 15 software manufacturers participating, which collectively have captured 75% of the German market by population.
German technology
Aside from Germany, the VOIS platform has found traction in South Africa, with about a dozen municipalities and SOEs using it.
VOIS sales manager Michael Fouche says the platform is being used to improve the services of municipalities by allowing the public access to services over their phones and via web portals.
He gives the example of how the process of applying to the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), which gives work opportunities to semi-skilled people, has been simplified.
Previously, people had to fill in a form, and then they had to get all of the necessary documentation, go to the municipality, hand it in, and then have an interview.
With VOIS there is no need to get the form or visit a municipal office as the process is now automated.
Automated advantages
Besides improving services for the public, it also improves the municipality’s internal operations.
Fouche says if the municipality wants to employ people in the EPWP from a specific ward and who fit a certain age group, it can automatically compile a list of candidates with VOIS.
“It’s an automated process, so nobody has got to go and say, where’s my spreadsheets, and get stuff, and it takes days to generate the list. Now it takes seconds to generate the list.”
This automation also helps in areas like complying reports.
“If you need the report every day, VOIS will automatically generate a report every day with graphs. It makes it very nice and transparent.”
VOIS also ensures that there is an audit trail of all activity on the platform. This will not only help with oversight, but also provides transparency for the people using it, by tracking their request.
“If they contacted the municipality, they can’t say they didn’t get their request.”
Fouche says another advantage VOIS provides is that an organisation’s internal rules and legislation on data security can be implemented on the platform to control who has access.
Automatic checks
Municipalities and SOEs have used VOIS to deal with a wide range of functions like allocating homes and managing their supply chain.
It can for instance exclude politically connected people and favour those who have been waiting for a home for a long time on a social housing waiting list.
In helping to run a supply chain, it can flag directors who are prohibited from doing business with the organisation and check if they have the correct permit and licences.
Other advantages VOIS has is that its bandwidth light, can operate offline and can be integrated into other IT platforms. Any system that out utilises APIs can access VOIS through its API gateway.
