ACCELERATING FORWARD THE ICT STRATEGY FUNDAMENTALS An ICT Strategy is a blueprint that anchors and guides events and activities through a never ending lifecycle. It delivers technological advancements and is able to sustain itself through an iterative cycle of improvements for which the consensus of all parties is a critical success factor. If, however, the strategy is unilaterally altered or compromised without due regard to its custodians and to stakeholders, then it can ‘self-destruct’ and quickly become obsolete from lack of broad support. Understanding the national development strategy and translating the current business-ofgovernment strategy as a first step, is an indisputable best practice in shaping the ICT 4.1 strategy and architecture in alignment with the goals and objectives of the SVG stakeholder community. Engaging the strategy’s leadership at an early stage makes the strategy definition process a strong confidence-building measure. This is critically important for obtaining funding and ensuring successful implementation. The close partnering of ICT and sponsors (including business, government, and civil-society) in a collaborative manner delivers transparency and ensures that strong relationships are created which results in a partnership that delivers a rapid and agile approach to the use of ICT at a national level. ICT Strategy & Core Team Governance Infrastructure Legal & regulatory Public Sector Transformation Specific Sector Content & Application Training Human Resources eCommerce ICT Sector E-GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES, NATIONAL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR STAKEHOLDERS. THE DIASPORA AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS e2G Strategy All Encompassing Team The strategic plan must address the demands for transparency and privacy which require defined, documented security, standards and baselines for all national ICT assets. It must apply coherent, consistent risk management processes across all major classes of risk, especially in addressing compliance and governance requirements. DEVELOPING THE NATIONAL ICT POLICY AND PLAN A national ICT Policy and associated Strategic Plan have far reaching impacts, and must therefore be developed as a national effort to ensure ownership and support for its implementation. The private sector and key stakeholders must be part of the development process. Government therefore appointed several Sector-Specific Working Groups or SWGs. The architecture of the SWG is illustrated in Figure 16 and included: Technical Infrastructure Government (including Justice and National Security) Agriculture Community Development Health 4.2 Figure 16: Architecture of SWG Accelerating Forward P a g e | 55