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Outsourcing was also a road to greater efficiency and cost- effectiveness for the Human Resources function, which outsourced recruitment and relocation services in 2014. This action was taken as part of the department’s transformation from its previous business model to current role as strategic advisor.
A Process of Continuous Improvement
In 2013, through research and analysis of Corporate Services,
a new mission and objectives were established. By September 2013, the organisation’s operations functions had risen to the enterprise level rather than at the department level, with newly developed standards that were in the process of being implemented.
By 2014, the Regulatory Authority had a controlled corporate operations environment, with workflows, policies and updated procedures. Within departments, there was consistency across systems. From that point, it was a matter of enhancing the controlled stage to transform the Regulatory Authority into a world-class business environment. The aim was an environment where data was easily obtainable, one where KPIs and SLAs would be indicated.
By September of 2015, Corporate Services had reached the managed stage, where data
was readily available and reports could be system-produced to meet a variety of needs. The
goal in 2016 will be a stage of continuous process improvement and enhanced reporting, with regular assessments of processes, policies and reporting capabilities.
Repositioning the IT Environment
Automation and standardisation of processes and procedures were also key priorities for the Information Technology function. To accomplish this, as well as to improve system reliability and security, the IT team initiated
an ambitious improvement programme throughout 2014 and 2015.
Standardisation efforts focussed on the deployment of a standard software configuration with
an aligned governance and change management process. The new configuration replaced a variety of configurations
across Microsoft Office and other software, language and keyboard, internet browser, security and other settings.
When completed in 2015, in addition to improved employee satisfaction and productivity, benefits were evident in the faster performance and more consistent behaviour of hardware and software; faster deployment of new equipment, automated remote installation and software patching; heightened security; and reduced time and cost.
Outsourcing Specialised Tasks
In 2014, the Regulatory Authority’s data centre was migrated to
a robust, external, Tier 3* data centre in Qatar. Completed in early 2015, the outsourced data centre services provide the Regulatory Authority with “round the clock” systems monitoring and support and specialist IT expertise. Other services include email archiving, web mail and access via smart devices, data backup and disaster recovery.
*A Tier 3 data centre has fully fault-tolerant/ redundant hardware components and guarantees 99.982% availability.
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