Head of IT at The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) Dr. Fernando Wangila is the CIO of the year Award winner in East Africa’s 7th Edition of the CIO100 Ceremony for 2017.
The event, which took place in Naivasha on a two-day marathon was graced by top senior IT and business executives who presented their insights based on the program’s theme, Digital Transformation.
NTSA’s win is thanks to its constant efforts in digitally transforming transport in the country, especially in the implementation of the Transport Information Management System (TIMS) that is being put in place by Chinese IT corporation Huawei and a local firm, Copy Cat.
According to Professor Joseph Sevilla who heads Strathmore University’s research centre, iLab, TIMS offers a brilliant self-help and service portal that can be accessed by any Kenyan.
“Partnering with CIO East Africa has and the industry to evaluate the CIO 100 survey was a very exciting. iLab Africa, can attest that the projects submitted for evaluation were mind-blowing,” says Prof. Sevilla.
“We noticed that emerging technology isn’t merely a conjured-up report but they represent a series of already rolled-out initiatives – in pure capital, time and energy – that have massive implications for the enterprise,” he added.
TIMS, which is an automated system by design, is a database that holds all transport issues and data such as motor vehicle inspections and drivers’ licenses. The automation process that is still underway is being conducted in phases, where the first part involved an online license renewal implementation. The second phase is continual, and aims to gather information on all drivers and vehicles. The third phase is seeing the launch of smart drivers’ licenses that will be equipped with chips that integrate a points system. Insurance firms will leverage the offerings of TIMS’s data to fabricate insurance premiums where competent drivers pay lower premiums, and so forth. What is more, TIMS data and driver profiles will be accessed by third parties such as employers upon request to do so. You can find more information about the TIMS on this post.
Past implementations of NTSA include deployment of gadgets that determine the speed of vehicles in the last 72 hours to curb speeding issues. The devices can also identify faulty speed governors. NTSA has also expressed its mandate to roll out smart number plates that are fitted with microchips that can store additional information such as chassis number, vehicles make, type, colour, engine, transmission, insurance as well as validity, to mention a few.
It should also be noted that Copy Cat and Sims Sift Technologies of China will be in charge in implementing the citizen portal on TIMS. Once completed, members will be able to validate their credentials via SMS.
That said, the 2017 instalment of CIO100 competition received more than 650 participants from the Eastern Africa regions, with entries in Banking and Financial services, Health, Education, Agriculture, Logistics, among many others. At the same time, the event was sponsored by tens of organizations, including Telkom Kenya, SEACOM, Sage, Oracle, Liquid Telecom and DellEMC.
Below is a list of winners:
Financial Services – Barclays Bank of Kenya
Manufacturing Sector – Longhorn Publishers
Media Sector Award – MultiChoice
Health Sector Award – Gertrudes Hospital
Public Sector – NSSF Uganda
Local Government – Kitui County
CIO Special Awards
Leadership Award – Huduma Kenya
CIO Green Edge Award – Sarova Hotels (The Sarova Project)
Infrastructure Award – MultiChoice Kenya (Fundi Task)
CIO of the Year – Dr. Fernando Wangila, CIO, NTSA
Overall Winner – NTSA
Industry Service Award – Access Kenya
