Reinventing the Government
I urge the SiliconIndia community to take this extraordinary period in history and this very special day of January 26 to reflect on how each one of us can play a lead role, by being part of a change process to assist our government and those of other countries around the world.
Obama's rise is a story of the power of entrepreneurship, which has brought to the challenge of government and politics. We need many more talented professionals and entrepreneurs like you to rise and take up similar challenges around the world, and to help each one of us become an agent of change, particularly those of us who are gifted with unique talents in technology, business, and creativity. We don't necessarily need to join the ranks of politics or government to contribute. A lot can be done by sheer power of entrepreneurship without partaking in the political process.
In this new era, I see a strong role for entrepreneurs in reinventing our governments, and opportunities galore for those who are brave to take the plunge. Many here in Silicon Valley talk about mammoth opportunities in CleanTech, BioTech, and NanoTech; I personally see an equally substantial opportunity in what I would call 'GovTech' - the confluence of Government and Technology. The time is now to retool the government with creative entrepreneurial genius. Examples of business opportunities in this trillion-dollar market are abundant.
Time for Fundamental Change in Governance, and Risk and Regulatory Compliance
Over the past seven years I have been actively building MetricStream (http://www.metricstream.com), a leader in governance and risk and compliance. MetricStream's vision is to help businesses better comply with various government rules, regulations, and policies. The current turmoil in financial markets, collapse of Lehman Brothers, lack of regulatory insight in key financial processes, and the recent revelation of long-hidden malpractices in Satyam Computers, all point to the need for better application of existing regulations, formulation of newer regulations, and increasing need for technologies to ensure businesses and governments collaborate more efficiently. This emerging market alone represents a $500 Billion opportunity for those who want to carve out their own niche in this arena. There is plenty of room for many more MetricStreams to be launched for those who can dare to invent the future.
Convergence of National Security Experts and Entrepreneurs
I recently met a friend of mine, who is building up a startup. His idea is about how to help governments and businesses around the world to use geospatial imaging to prevent and respond to terror and other civic emergencies. Traditionally, one would leave such issues in the hands of the government and politicians. Now in this new era, solutions to problems like these lie in the hands of the next generation entrepreneurs and startups. The recent incidents in Mumbai should not be forgotten as mere images from the television screen. But, for many of us, this should present an opportunity to shape the future of national security of India, the U.S., and other nations around the world. How big would this market be? Well, the U.S. alone has spent over a trillion dollars to protect its borders and fight terror. There is enough opportunity that thousands of startups can flourish, helping governments to deliver on their promise of national security.
I can keep counting opportunity after opportunity like the ones
cited above. For decades, we have all been critics of the government
and the administration, pointing fingers at what they should and could
do to make things better. My appeal to the SiliconIndia community is to
take a different perspective now. How can we as entrepreneurs help make
the government more effective? With trillions of dollars of business
opportunity, now is the time for us to arouse the entrepreneurship in
us, create products and services, and seize the business opportunity
here. My own experiment with MetricStream is a humble effort in that
direction, but I surely would like many more such companies to take
birth, take part in this new revolution of public-private partnership,
and enter the new market space of GovTech. We are entering an era of a
trillion dollar opportunity, now is the time to seize it, just like
Obama did.
Thanks for such nice post and the light on the opportunities in the e-governance or in general what you coin 'GovTech'. I think Indian IT is moving in that direction and even govt. also has started the small steps in the same direction. I was astonished when I saw a govt. organization doing this (http://ciopune.in/home ). We should get inspired by this and the other practices around like MetricStream. Surely we will be able to make a NewIndia together.
Governements have earned adjectives like “being part of the problem”, “burgeoning and inefficient” , ‘stiffling” …the list goes on. The new president addressed this issue heads on and declared that the problem is not whether a government is big or small, but does it work. The size does not matter if the governance is not only upto the task of handling challenges but is also smart enough to anticipate what is coming!
Madoff is an example hard to ignore. SEC has all the powers, information and tools to investigate and shut down the world’s largest ponzi scheme running for a decade. Was the Agency lacking the will to scrutinize the fraud? SEC Enforcement wing told the Congress that they needed more regulatory powers and manpower! This is a clear indication that the Policing wing neither had the desire nor it leveraged the available technology to discharge its function smartly. (Wall Street possesses some of the most sophisticated analytical, monitoring and forcasting systems – why not SEC?).
Not long ago the Consumer Product Safety Commission lamented that it could not excercise effective control on toys with lead and choking hazard coming into US or contaminated pet food! A recent example is the current peanut butter recall due to Salmonella. A peanut butter plant in Georgia was inspected a a year ago and was found with mildew. There is no record of any follow up action!
The need is to evolve a framework of smart governance. No army of ‘worker ants” are needed since increased manpower does not automatically translate into effective administration. A smaller, but a more dedicated group, working with the right tools that technology can provide, with a strong focus on the policy implementation can be far more effective.
India has barely scratched the surface in this area. The country is wide open for innovation in development as progress need not be sequential. A case in point is the cell phone technology. With one big leap it brought India to the forefront of telecommunication. It was hard to imagine 10 years ago, that a rickshaw puller will be sporting one today.
I read your article, which shows efficiency of work, builds metric stream for over 7 years.
Nice and inspirational way of saying.
Thanks,
saravana
CXO Insights
