Challenge
Our client, an African government agency, contacted Sofrecom in search of support for a convergent communication project. This project is part of a wider digital governance program,
which aims to:
- more effectively manage and optimize the State’s budget and resources,
- ensure functional interoperability of the constituent systems.
Our role in this project was to help the delegated project owner achieve two goals:
- roll out a shared architecture for the government’s telephone system infrastructure,
- implement convergent communication within the government agency.
Method
The first step was to conduct a baseline audit of the existing situation and needs. To that end, we actively listened to local stakeholders and carried out fieldwork in an agile approach using a variety of tools including interviews, targeted questionnaires and site inspections.
After gathering this data, we conducted a detailed analysis of technical and functional discrepancies.
Then we developed a suitable modular network architecture that would cover our client's functional communication needs while complying with the specified operating constraints.
At the same time, we carried out an iterative financial study of the relevant costs and necessary capital investment.
These insights enabled us to produce a specification file for a systems integrator call for tenders.
Lastly, we defined a framework for clear governance, to facilitate decision-making.
Results
Our client reported multiple benefits, including:
- lower administration costs resulting from the shared network architecture that enabled all internal communications to be routed via the dedicated network,
- a solution able to handle 50,000 users from launch ( i.e. double the current number),
- provision of new services to the agency, such as support for nomadic users and more effective control over usage.
