Accra, 27^th May,2021. The State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) has gone live with the implementation of its Smart Workplace (SWP).

The Smart Workplace is a Government of Ghana (GoG) digital solution which leverages mobility and productivity tools to ensure the operation of a paperless office and process automation aimed at increasing productivity. SWP has been deployed across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

SIGA has been one of the lead organisations in the adoption of SWP and is working with State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Joint Venture Companies (JVCs), and Other Specified Entities (OSEs) to increase implementation across all GoG platforms.

In an email to staff on the roll out, the Director-General of SIGA, Hon. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, said, “I am aware that there is a huge change element inherent in this project, and I ask you all to keep an open mind, embrace these changes and engage as we travel on our digital journey. As Barack Obama once said, ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek’.”

WHAT IS IN PLACE?

The Smart Workplace provides mobility and efficiency/productivity tools which are part of Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite: Outlook (for Corporate Mail & Calendar), Teams (for Meetings & Collaboration), and OneDrive (Storage in the Cloud).

HOW DOES IT WORK?

It leverages the capabilities of SharePoint to automate business processes to help drive the paperless office agenda. Time-consuming and paper-based inefficient office processes such as: leave requests, claims, vehicle requests, requisitions, memos, and many more, have been automated with end-to-end approvals with embedded Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure a seamless digital experience while cutting out the use of paper. 

WHAT IS THE HIGHLIGHT?

The highlight of the SWP is the ability to access these Office 365 services on multiple devices (laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones) which allows staff to work from anywhere at any time. 

With the advent of COVID-19, the need to work from home or remote locations has become paramount and this solution has come at the right time to drive business continuity.

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ISSUED BY THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS DIVISION, SIGA