Assistant-Secretary-General Choi Soon-hong, the first Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) for the United Nations Secretariat, plans to both motivate and inspire with the vision he is developing for information and communications technology (ICT) at the Secretariat.
If the Secretary-General's motto for his vision is "a stronger United Nations for a better world", Mr. Choi's is "stronger ICT for a better United Nations."
With over 30 years of solid international experience in the public and private sectors, Mr. Choi views the UN as overall "a little bit behind" in terms of ICT capabilities compared to other organizations. However, he also stresses that numerous projects and programmes at the Secretariat harness ICT quite well - though often still in isolation of one another. In fact, Mr. Choi intends to bridge these gaps by tapping into a number of demonstrated "centres of excellence," where innovative ICT solutions have already proven successful.
ICT vision
An integral part of his ICT vision, which aims to define where the Secretariat wants to be in three to five years, is the recognition that two sets of drivers must determine the future direction of ICT: (1) business needs and priorities of the Organization and (2) technology advances and market developments in the ICT industry. Mr. Choi is developing an ICT strategy that will propel the Secretariat towards a common vision and that will articulate a governing structure to support it.
As CITO, his mandate is to develop an overall ICT strategy for the Organization and lead its implementation. "We need positive prospects for the future," he said. Mr. Choi believes that what he will lay out in the strategic plan is achievable. However, success will require the cooperation of all stakeholders, which include Member States, Secretariat departments and offices worldwide, and the professional ICT community. Furthermore, he intends to improve and harmonize ICT solutions across the UN system.
Key to the effective implementation of an ICT strategy is ensuring that the proper governance mechanism is defined and in place. Mr. Choi concedes that ICT governance will take some time to be fully developed, but he envisions a strong, central ICT organizational structure that will provide direction and coherence to the Secretariat's global ICT resources.
At the same time, Mr. Choi has found a number of innovative ICT solutions already in use in other duty stations that were not widely known or shared. Sharing solutions already proven and in use elsewhere can often provide more effective and efficient solutions to business operations than inventing new solutions. "If there is a good solution out there, we'll adopt it."
ICT Strategic plan
Since his arrival last September, Mr. Choi has made significant efforts to understand how ICT supports the work of the Secretariat. He visited headquarters departments and UN offices in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. He also traveled to a number of peacekeeping operational sites including Brindisi, Damascus, Darfur, Khartoum, and Kosovo. In December, Mr. Choi embarked upon a formal ICT strategic planning process. As a first step, he met with IT chiefs and colleagues to gather their views on ICT at the Secretariat. He then initiated in-depth interviews with senior business managers of UN departments and offices around the world.
In an effort to include input from UN staff around the world, Mr. Choi has also launched a high-level survey on iSeek to gauge the overall satisfaction of staff with ICT services.
If you have not yet taken the opportunity to express your views on ICT services at the UN Secretariat, you may access the survey here: http://ictsurvey.un.org/. The survey closes at midnight New York time on Wednesday, 23 January 2008.
The conclusions of the various meetings and the survey results will be shared and discussed with IT Chiefs from all duty stations, as well as with key business leaders, at an offsite Strategic Planning Meeting scheduled for early February.
Mr. Choi will then prepare a report outlining the Secretariat’s ICT Strategic Plan to be presented to the General Assembly in the second resumed session. Once endorsed by all stakeholders, implementation could begin in the second half of 2008.
ERP and other enterprise-wide programmes
A comprehensive report on the multi-year effort to develop an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system* will also be presented to the General Assembly. Selection of the system is slated for mid-year.
It is anticipated that the ERP system will be deployed globally at headquarters, at offices away from headquarters and at field missions. Deployment of all core ERP modules is planned for the end of 2010 and will coincide with IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards) compliance. Further ERP system deployment will continue after 2010.
While Mr. Choi views implementation of the ERP project as a tremendous challenge, he adds that it will also provide an excellent opportunity to simplify and streamline many administrative processes, contributing to improving the overall effectiveness and efficiency of Secretariat operations.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is another organization-wide programme on the horizon. ECM will help improve a number of vital functions for staff including: knowledge sharing, web content management, document management, records management, archiving, search, and multimedia management. Given the significant user component of ECM applications, Mr. Choi pointed to the critical role that the user community often plays in developing ICT solutions.
Looking forward to the challenge ahead
Early in his career, Mr. Choi acknowledged that "technical know-how alone is not sufficient to make a significant contribution to an organization", and completed an MBA, and a PhD in strategic management and public policy. He recognizes the transformative power of technology, and the importance of better aligning technology with business needs and priorities. Used strategically, ICT can become a tool for economic development, for improving the delivery of services in the field, and as a driver for improved performance and efficiency.
Finally, Mr. Choi sees two essential functions for ICT: providing routine services to users and bringing about positive change. As CITO, he looks forward to the challenge of ensuring that these two functions are strengthened to achieve a better UN.
* ERP stands for enterprise resource planning and is a software that provides an integrated suite of information systems for the management of finance and budget, human resources, supply chain and central support services.
