Colombo to become a smart city with Microsoft’s digitisation roadmap
The world's cities are ballooned at the seams, public assets are stressed and crime is tougher than ever to monitor. One of the main aims for public agencies has become to protect the country’s citizens, mitigate disasters, reduce crime and build more secure and resilient nations.
As it stands, most video surveillance and CCTV equipment are clumsy at battling crime. This is especially true in Sri Lanka with police investigations often hampered by such issues which leave them helpless. Now more than ever, national agencies dealing in Public Safety ((PS) and National Security (NS) are gearing to leave behind archaic processes, disparate systems and paper-based methods, moving towards a digital and a more mobile future. This is so true for Sri Lanka which is struggling with PS and NS environment and is so much more exposed to terrorism, non- traditional threats, national disasters human trafficking, weapons trafficking and drugs.
Arthur Thomas Ball, Managing Director for Microsoft's PS and NS business in Asia, says that Sri Lanka needs new technology to counter this. In town earlier this month for a conference on PS and NS hosted by Microsoft for the industry, Mr. Ball said that today's landscape provides more opportunities than ever before for state organisations to protect citizens, empower personnel, and optimise operations. He told the Business Times that as an emerging market where PS and NS are not digitally connected, Microsoft wants to play a role in Sri Lanka in this space.
“As the country gets digital connectivity, the need to get PS and NS systems right cannot be overstated. People will not use technology they don’t trust. Key procedures such as financial payments, social services, education, healthcare, public safety and intellectual property of state agencies would all rely on the technology resilience that’s being created,” he said elaborating that it's essential for the government to ensure PS and NS is focused across their ministries and agencies. Noting that right technology gives state sector agencies a precise overview in crisis situations, he said that PS and NS systems are now more a necessity.
He added that in this PS and NS realm, state agencies can also gain from improved information flows to react more competently and successfully in serious situations. How this is exactly done is by deploying digital technologies to mine data and use new data to acquire intelligence and drive decision making while alleviating resource constraints and managing security with technology. Mr. Ball said that for example, police and the military can identify and depict data related to national security. He said that Microsoft’s systems have transformed crisis and disaster management which is also a critical area in the PS space.
Srikanth Kandambi, Industry Solutions Consultant for Microsoft's Asia Pacific Public Sector Business, joining in the discussion added that how Microsoft does this is by using inter- connected devices, software and cloud storage systems. “With Microsoft products, solutions, devices, and services and we have the opportunity to work together with national agencies to optimise their operations, transform missions and services, empower service personnel and engage the citizens they protect."
Mr. Ball says that right now Microsoft has met with a few key local ministries to build a digital roadmap to transform them digitally. “We had fruitful discussions with certain state agencies and ministries and will be working towards building a roadmap for digitising them.”
This will make Colombo a smart city, he says, adding that smart cities are, as a concept, safer cities.
Mr. Ball noted that their biggest competitor in the PS and NS space is pen and paper. "This is the biggest competition. People are reluctant to change. They are a creature of habit. In our increasingly connected world," he said that cooperation is critical to public safety in a bid to rise to the challenges of globalisation and digitisation.