SERVICE

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Telkom Park, 61 Oak Avenue, Centurion, South Africa Tel: 10217 | Web: telkom.co.za

DELIVERY IN ADIGITALISED

FUTURE

Service delivery in a digitalised future – Smart Cities

The age of Digitalisation has arrived and it’s fast changing the way the world works, including the way cities work. We are now seeing the emergence of Smart Cities.

“As we head towards a new era of urbanisation - half of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 - the race is on to make our cities fit for purpose. Technology is playing a bigger role in helping to make city life run more smoothly, from networks of sensors that offer information about how traffic is flowing or where water pipes are leaking to apps designed to help citizens get the most out of their city.” BBC Sept 2013.

This march forward in embracing technology to help do things better is coinciding with the emergence of a new digital, tech savvy generation (the Millennials born 1980 onwards) who are now taking over the reins of leadership from the old guard; think Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger (Instagram), David Karp (Tumblr) – all under 35 years old. The result, an ever quickening roll out and application of new tech – Digitalisation.

“I don’t see electricity being a problem in the future because we’ll use solar and won’t have to waste coal and things to produce electricity…” Awanda 14

“I think there will be much better water treatment in the future, it will be much easier and quicker – so clean water won’t be such a problem”. Thulani 17

“I think people will be recycling much more in the future and getting cash for it…” Lucinda 16

“I think there’ll be driverless transportation…artificial intelligence…”Thulani 17* (See further quotes taken from this research at the end of this article.)

Positive statements out of the mouths of soon to be independent consumers. They see a very bright future where almost everything is solvable and they see technology as playing a big part in achieving this. These quotes emerged from TelkomlBusiness Connexion’s recent research amongst Millennials (born 1980 – 2000) and Generation Y (born 2000 onwards). The purpose behind the research was to use the results to illustrate to Telkom|Business Connexion Customers just how this consumer of the future visualised their future world and the part they saw tech playing in it. The question is, are our governmental and municipal agencies prepared and willing to embrace all the available technologies?

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They are always-on – connected in some way with some device and at ease with tech.

They are multi-channel – they can split their attention between their phones, TV, games, computers and importantly from a retail perspective, enjoy multi-channel shopping.

They are knowledge driven – they have knowledge at their fingertips and they use it.

They are socially and environmentally conscious – they care about the World and what’s on it.

They live in a virtual world, an augmented world where everything is possible – boundaries no longer are.

Millennials & Generation Y

Tech applications in Smart Cities

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All generations have characteristics that define them as different to all preceding generations. The catch here is that the differences that identify these two generations are marked and game changing.

This generation was born into a world of technology. They interact with the world in a completely different way to their parents or grandparents. They are the ‘digital first’ generation and have grown up with computers, email, mobile phones, and the Internet as an integral and accepted part of their everyday life. Following on from their footsteps is generation Y (born 2000 onwards). They share many of the tech-focused characteristics of millennials, but they’re much more pronounced. While millennials may still remember the early stages of the Internet and cell phones, Gen Z will not remember a time before the iPhone or Facebook. Some defining characteristics of these two generations:

So, that’s the new consumer. Now let’s look at how digitalisation can be employed to create our Smart Cities of the future. We’ve included a few examples here of what a few US cities are doing in their effort to become Smart. Excerpts from PTC (Product Life Cycle Report), Aug 6th 2014.

So, let’s have a look at this generation a little more carefully.

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New York City: New York’s new Hudson Yards project has been designed specifically to attract Millennials with its use of tech and smart, sustainable initiatives. Factors such as traffic, energy consumption and air quality will be tracked and relayed digitally and waste disposal will be handled via underground pneumatic tubes. Elsewhere in the city there are initiatives such as City 24/7 which is an interactive platform that integrates information from government, local businesses and citizens to provide knowledge to anyone, anywhere, anytime and on any device. There’s also an initiative to build the nation’s largest city-wide WiFi network by turning old phone booths into WiFi hotspots.

San Francisco: One of San Francisco’s main city roads boasts three miles of free uninterrupted WiFi and the city is continually increasing the foot print of its free WiFi. The City also encourages residents to participate in energy conservation by providing mobile and web access to precise, near real time energy use data and advice on how they can save. Importantly they are also embracing the emergence of hybrid and electric cars by providing over 100 charging stations across the city – a move towards improving the air quality of the city.

Boston: Boston is using solar powered benches (Soofas) to monitor air quality and sound levels whilst also being able to recharge gadgets. With the ever present problem of city traffic congestion, Boston is using tech to solve that via their All Traffic Solutions and Smart Parking Sensors which issues messages on trouble spots and parking availability.

Seattle:As is the case with San Francisco, Seattle has major initiatives in helping to reduce energy consumption with initiatives such as Seattle City Light. Here the city is upgrading electricity meters so that users get more accurate readings of their consumption and give the user the ability to manage their consumption. These smart meters also communicate with the utility provider so that they can respond to power outages much faster. PTC (Product Life Cycle Report), Aug 6th 2014.

The principal and vision behind Smart Cities is to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in a secure way to manage everything from local departments information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, and more. The goal of Smart cities is to improve quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. ICT allows city officials to interact directly with the community and the city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life. Through the use of sensors integrated with real-time monitoring systems, data are collected from citizens and devices - then processed and analysed. The information and knowledge gathered are keys to tackling inefficiency.

The solution

How Millennials & Generation Y see the future of Service Delivery

• The efficient and real time tracking and reporting of water and electricity supply faults and the tracking thereof.

• Digitalisation of Police dockets and tracking thereof• Digitalisation of Passports, IDs and Drivers Licences together with linked information

appropriate to each individual identification type.• Digitisation of the UIF and tracking of benefits.

There are many more such examples, where not only does digitalisation improve the allocation of human resources within the various governmental bodies and increase efficiencies, but it also allows consumers to interact remotely via their Smart Phones, computers etc. Everyone wins.

How are our governmental and municipal agencies going to plug into this new tech? These technologies require a host of different and divergent technologies to make them work: Big Data, Cloud Computing, Mobility, M2M & IoT, Seamless Connectivity, Unified Communications & Collaboration and more. The connectivity, integration, application and management of all these divergent technologies is a real challenge for all organisations going forward. It’s all new territory and ground breaking. How does an organisation go about achieving this kind of digitalisation integration without having to deal with multiple vendors and the inherent problems of integration and communication that come with it? It’s a very real challenge.

TelkomlBusiness Connexion is equipped to be a single vendor solution. We have the infrastructure (networks – copper, fibre, cell, Wi-Fi, satellite), the solutions and integration capabilities to make it happen. At the very least we can plug in into existing structures and provide partnerships that work with you and your existing vendors. We see and understand the whole universe of digitalisation and we can help make it work for you.

Finally, to give you a flavour of what this new generation of consumer thinks about the future of Service Delivery, have a look at this small selection of quotes. These youngsters are aged between 11 – 18 years old and come from LSM groups 5 – 10. They’ve got a pretty good handle on what to expect.

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Let’s consider just a few examples of the more crucial areas in South Africa where tech could greatly assist in freeing up man power and increase efficiencies:

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Telkom Park, 61 Oak Avenue, Centurion, South Africa Tel: 10217 | Web: telkom.co.za

ELECTRICITY “I think that there’ll be easier ways to make electricity, ones that won’t run out…” Funi 15

“Electricity of the future will be generated by solar and wind farms…” Josh 17

“I think in the future lights will switch on automatically when you walk into the room and your stove will cook your food at a certain time…” Thembi 14

WATER IN THE FUTURE“I think we need to be a lot more careful on how we use water in the future…” Andrea 13

“I think there will be much better water treatment in the future, it will be much easier and quicker – so clean water won’t be such a problem”. Thulani 17

WASTE IN THE FUTURE“People will care more about waste and litter because of the environment and global warming…” Thobelo 16

“I think that maybe every week the community can get together and clean up the roads and parks…” Mbali 12

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN THE FUTURE“There’ll be like flying cars or taxis and it’ll be much easier…” Fikile 12

“When you’re out at the shops or something you just take your phone and press the home button and someone will arrive instantly to take you home…” Farai 11

“I can see more services like Uber popping up – Uber has proved how well it works, yeah I see more of this…” Ryan 18

“With public transport in the future there should be a place in front of you where you sit… maybe like a slot where you can pay your fare and get your ticket instead of having to pay when you get on with all your bags and things…” Thembi 14

“it would be helpful to know where the bus or train is if you’re waiting for it… maybe it’s broken down and you’re waiting for nothing…” Thoko 12

SAFETY AND SECURITY “There won’t be so much crime and violence in the future…I’m not sure why but I just don’t”. Fikile 11

“I think there’ll be electric security doors that will know you and won’t let bad people get in…” Awanda 14

“Instead of increasing the safety and security why don’t we decrease the crime…Lara 17

“I think there’ll be less reasons to steal – I think if we try and stop world hunger and things like this it will help…” Sarah 12

Sources: Wikipedia/ PTC (Product Life Cycle Report)