What is the significance of public-private partnership in taking e-governance solutions to the masses?

The problems of e-governance can be tackled with a combination of public and private sector organizations. These public-private partnerships are essential for an efficient, sustainable model and delivery of e-government services and programs. It has become a priority to improve the overall functioning and efficiency of actualizing e-governance projects, for which IT vendors have extended their support.

What is the potential size of opportunities in e-governance space in India?

The Indian government is laying a lot of stress on providing a wide coverage for the e-governance initiatives across India. Projects like State Service Delivery Gateway, e-Courts, Modernization of Postal Services, e-Panchayat, Crime and Criminal Tracking and Networking Systems (CCTNS) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are big opportunities in the e-governance space, which all put together would be close to Rs 10,000 crore of buying, out of which our industry should get a share of 20-25 percent.

Your views on some of the biggest opportunities in the e-governance space in India in the next five years?

Public Distribution Systems (PDS), e-Panchayat, CCTNS, IVFRT (Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking), e-Courts and security surveillance are some of the big projects. Canon is also offering a new service, called Managed Print Services, to the government customers, which essentially is a solution of outsourcing printing, copying and scanning services.

What is Canon’s strategy to tap the government sector in India?

Canon is involved with the government in G2C (Government to Consumer) operations. A substantial 20 percent of the business of Canon India comes from its government initiatives. Canon expects to earn revenue of Rs 300 crore from its government business by the end of 2011.

We want to focus on these government projects through a specific and focused division, as approximately 50 percent opportunities for business come from this sector. Canon is planning to closely work with the state governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. A government subdivision of 12 people will focus on the government initiatives and nodal agencies. Five of these people will be stationed at the mentioned states and seven people will coordinate with the central government from Delhi.

Canon believes that document management services will be greatly beneficial for the government segment. Canon–Netspider partnership for the Government of Rajasthan’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an example of government adopting the DMS solutions for their state education initiatives. Canon India has also provided the Automated Document Feeder (ADF) scanners for the project. Canon has recently proposed a pilot study for the digitization of documents for the Ministry of Information Technology, The Planning Commission, National Disaster Management Authority and the Ministry of Defense.

What are the challenges that you face while dealing with project implementation for the government sector?

In the government sector, the focus is less on outcome and more on procurement. There is a need for greater transparency in the government buying process, a common dashboard for all running projects and one window for issue redressal etc. All running projects must be measured. Another challenge is ‘reach.’ How do we reach 650,000 villages through broadband connectivity? Should we address the service deliverables by appointing Canon Care Centers or through franchisee model? These are the issues we are deliberating internally.