Opare writes: Ghana Link’s – ICUMS (Unipass) critiques, a mere collective humbugging!

I deem it as a compelling social obligation to express my views with the discerning public, but also to spread facts, and not lies, to those that love the truth but nothing else, with absolutely no malice about the above matter.

One of the major news that has trended for some time now and created myriad of debates on the various media platforms in the country, had been the decision by Government to bring on board Ghana Link’s new Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) to replace the pre-existing customs management solutions that were provided by GcNet and West Blue.

The quest to provide an indispensable End – to – End, absolute Paperless and an utterly Single Window customs administration solution were made an obvious public knowledge to Ghanaians by the Government as some of the core reasons behind the decision to jettison the pre-existing solutions and go for the ICUMS solution. On the other hand, the deficiencies and inadequacies in both the GcNet and West Blue port administration solutions that might have necessitated such move by the Government have become oblivious to most Ghanaians – something that these two companies must be happy about it , because it saved them from some public ridiculing.

The new ICUMS as explained by Government and Ghana Link is a one-stop e – customs administration solution (shop) that comes with these five main components namely, a single-window system; a clearance management system; a cargo management system; an information management system and an administration system, all these “on to one” e – portal. The unique and modern incorporations and functions of the ICUMS, undoubtedly makes it a distinctive deal worth to be bargained for by any Government.

However, irrespective of the numerous advantages that the ICUMS promises, both Ghana Link and their ICUMS port management solution has not been spared with the usual strict, ardent and rigorous public critiques that always characterized issues of this nature that found its way on our airwaves.

As expected in a revered, democratic and a rule of law country like Ghana that encourages freedom of speech and expression, the Ghana Link / Unipass matter could and should have never gone scout free without the expected discerning opinions of Ghanaians.

The various commentary that have been passed out by the public about the Ghana Link / Unipass saga has focused on two critical areas namely; the legal aspect and the efficiency of the ICUMS solution, I will bias this article on the latter that is; the efficiency of the system because of my curiosity for information systems sciences.

The public, think – tanks, stakeholders as well as Ghana Link’s rivals (competitors) have all churned out their views , especially about the implementation of the ICUMS.

Considering the supercritical role that the ICUMS is expected to play in the trade facilitation industry in the country and to the economy at large. A fair and balance critiques by CSOs, think – tanks and rivals (competitors) are inviolable require. But unfortunately, this has not been the case.

The critiques and criticisms about the new Ghana Link/ Unipass system and its implementation, by some of the above-mentioned actors have solely focused on the cons aspect alone and diabolically, ignoring the pros aspect. Listening and hearing some of these collective fictitious, malicious and troubling narratives against the ICUMS really breaks my heart.This has become a big worry for me, as well as some tech lovers and professionals, in the sense that, we see this collective humbugging critiques as a blasphemy and an attack on technology and innovation, hence the need to also scrutinize to rebuke these wonky and cavil commentaries against the exceedingly innovated ICUMS.

Why the need for a new system – (Ghana Link/Unipass new ICUMS)?

There are many reasons associated with the need for building new systems, these reasons are so simple, logic and lucid. The main reasons for initiating or building a new system to replace an existing system are namely; Addressing the problem with the existing system, Desire to explore new opportunities, Increasing competitions, Desire to make more effective use of information, Organizational growth, Merger or acquisition, Change in market or external environment among others.

Deducing from the reasons given by the government to make such an initiative and taking into consideration the whole context of the GcNet, West Blue and Ghana Link argument.

The realize reasons that would have warranted the government to go for Ghana Link - ICUMS to replace the pre-existing ones were; Addressing the problems with the existing systems, The desire to exploit new advantages, Increasing competition, Growth, Change in market and Making effective use of information.

Again, I will bias the continuation of this article on “addressing the problems with the existing systems” because of the gross hoodwinking campaigns against the ICUMS as if the solutions that were provided by GcNet and West Blue were flawless.

Addressing the problems with the existing systems

The imperfect nature of every system, makes the concept of known unknowns in system theory thinking very relevant, especially when it comes to exploring to invent new things.

The pre-existing port administration solutions provided by GcNet came in as a replacement for the manual/paper-based system that used to exist, for the ultimate goal of addressing the challenges that were associated with the old manual/paper-based system.

The obvious problems that were associated with the old system were namely; Time consuming in data and information processing at the port, Increase in cost of doing business, The dependent of the whole process on rare good individuals, Data being accessed by one person at a time, Reduced in information sharing, Large storage space for keeping data among others.

Clearly these and other relevant problems and difficulties that were associated with the old manual/paper-based system made it imperative for the introduction of a new system to address it.

In consequence - the birth of GcNet and their vaunted port administration solutions namely, Ghana Integrated Cargo Clearance System (GICCS), the Ghana Trade Net (an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) System, the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS); - the i-Transit among others.

Doubtlessly, the port solutions GcNet enlisted, tremendously improved the country’s port administration workflow as compared to the old system. It is right to say here that, the laborious old system was a prelude to the GcNet system.

Nonetheless, the success GcNet port administration solutions brought at the port and the commendations on them, they remained some challenges that needed to be addressed.

This buildout led to the coming on board West Blue Consulting to devise solutions to the problems that GcNet couldn’t address. One major problem that the then Government was keen in addressing was getting a “Single Window” port administration solution.

Fast-forward, West Blue Consulting was successfully engaged by Government to introduce their Single Window platform and other related solutions to run synchronously with the GcNet solutions.

Let me be quick to add that, even before West Blue Consulting rolled out their Single Window Solution, Ghana Link were already piloting a successful Single Window solution, But for reasons I and you don’t know, because “(you and I were not there)” West Blue Consulting had the green light at the expense of Ghana Link to carry on with their Single Window.

Whiles the introduction of GcNet solutions scrapped out the old/manual system, on the other hand, West Blue solutions came in, to complement or augment the GcNet solutions, specifically to give the country the Single Window platform.

Undeniably, the solutions GcNet and West Blue Consulting brought onboard truly yielded good results, i.e.; increased in revenue generation, time-saving, easing the workflow at the port among others. It is also incontrovertible to admit that, there were a lot of down – to – earth problems with the pre-existing solutions which needed a quicker and a better solution, those problems included;

The irreconcilability of the pre-existing solutions – As I write this article today, GcNet also claimed to provide a Single Window solution alongside the West Blue Single Window platform, meaning the existence of two/double “Single Window” platform – From technology perspective, the existence of two/double Single Window platforms that runs effectively shouldn’t be a problem, but the failure of these two entities to make their solutions inter-operable created a technological hotchpotch because the solutions couldn’t “speak to each other”.

Failure to provide end – to – end solution – West Blue’s Single Window platform failed to provide the Government need for an end to end e - port administration solution, the various GcNet solutions couldn’t also gave the country end-to end. The corporate efforts of both Gcnet and West Blue Consulting whether in their capacity(ies) as “previously known genuine rivals/competitor’s” or recently known duress coopetitor's failed to provide the much-needed end – to – end solution.

Absolute paperless – The need to have a complete paperless work flow in the trade facilitation industry was still not addressed by both GcNet and West Blue. Though these two companies’ solutions were computer base, the use of papers in the cycle still existed.

Integrated port administration solution: For a proper Single Window to achieve it requires the integration of all the various port administration solutions into one solution. The existence of two/double “single window” platform made the pre-existing port administration solution fragmented and for that matter segregated.

These listed points were, but some of the few problems that became a noose of worries on the country’s port administration setup.

In today’s world of stiff competition in Business and Technology, the ability to think outside the box and invest massively in research and development is more than require to be able to stay in competition. Listening to Ghana Link, their relentless investment into research and development after losing the Single Window deal to West Blue, clearly steered them into conducting a thorough feasibility study, to know the loopholes in the pre-existing solutions, in order to enable them come up with an up – to – scratch solution, thus the ICUMS.

My understanding of - Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS)

After getting the opportunity to study and go through the ICUMS platform amidst the hullabaloo and targeted media campaign against it, in my own terms I will explain the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) as;

A non-segregated and non-fragmented e – customs administration solution that incorporates all the various customs solutions that were provided by GcNet and West Blue, plus more advance, useful and secured features onto a one intuitive integrated e-trade facilitation platform, with a complete Paperless, total End-to-End and an out-and-out Single Window solution.

It is a one-stop e- port administration solution (shop) that comes with five main components namely, a single-window system; a clearance management system; a cargo management system; an information management system and an administration system – these self-explanatory components also comes with other concatenate intuitive sub-components, all into a one e- port administration portal.

The advantages I see with the ICUMS;
End – to –end (E2E) advantage – the ICUMS provides an end-to-end solution which means that, the platform will take care of the entire port processes flow from the beginning to end, without needing to obtain anything from a third party. In a layman’s perspective, the ICUMS e2e platform is a solution that will see the entire trade facilitation from beginning to end, without the input of third parties, middle layers among others, this helps in optimizing the overall trade facilitation processes. The ICUMS e2e platform will reduce hassles, cost, resources and time.

The paperless benefit: The ICUMS platform comes with a total paperless solution that will ensure a port administration operations in which the use of paper is eliminated – an offer that will, reduce costs, improve data and information exchange, saving space, providing better security of information, eliminating manual keying, improving processing quality and increasing overall effectiveness and efficiency among others. The paperless advantage of the ICUMS perfectly fits into the Government digitization agenda.

Single Window platform: Ghana Link/ Unipass ICUMS is a comprehensive out-and-out computerized, fifth-generation compatible, Single Window platform that allows the various actors in both the local and international trade facilitation space to submit and exchange homogenous official papers, documents and information to a single point of entry, which then realizes all transit, export, and import related needs. Simplified filling, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction, transparency, speed and among others are some of the benefits that the ICUMS single window offers. The highly innovated ICUMS pot administration solution meets the technical requirements to fit into the WTO envisage “Single Window Systems International Interoperability”.

User friendly – Like design thinking, Human-computer interaction focuses on the user, especially on how to interact with technology, the ICUMS platform intuitive and highly interactive nature and user-friendliness is in compliance with HCI design principles of “UX design – a design concept that seeks to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product and UI design – a design concept that seeks to create designs users will find easy to use and pleasurable”

Easier to use – The Login-in, Login-out, opening new browser tabs, closing browser tabs as well as opening new browsers and closing makes online work indolent and difficult. The ICUMS platform answers this problem because it requires the creation of one user account details for accessing all the various e -port administrations solutions as compared to the GcNet and West Blue platforms that required the creation of multiple login details for accessing their various solutions.

In fact, the advantages and benefits that comes with the ICUMS per my user and technical experience with it is inexhaustible, making it virtually impossible to list and explain all the benefits, The ICUMS also comes with the following features that are non-negotiable requirements in modern e- Single Window Solutions;

An advance and enhanced risk management system
Advance data warehousing system
Advance information management system
Extremely security features
Administrative system
Customer relationship management and feedback system etc.

The numerous and unalterable advantages and benefits that comes with the ICUMS makes it worth more than what Ghana Link Network Services bargained for with Government, and the least I think we should do for Ghana Link as citizens, is to applaud them for their patriotism!

The Challenges I see with - ICUMS
Reviewing the architecture of the ICUMS from technical perspective, an unbiased assessment will grade the ICUMS as a better system that is better than the swanked best, But then, I will be hypocrite to say the system and everything about it, is 100%,

The implementation of the system as we all know have become an issue - the technical implementation of the solution itself – deployment, installation and configuration have been excellent, but the issue that faced the implementation stage of the system was the inability of key actors like: clearing agent, freight forwarders, cargo agents and other users to fully utilize the enormous potentials of the ICUMS.

But one should not blow this challenge out of proportion as if it has never happened before, it takes time for users of every new system (upgraded, updated or newly introduce system) to fully adapt to it , An example is, when Windows 10 operating system, a successor or advance of Windows 8 was debuted on July 29, 2015, it took time for users to learn, even till date a lot of users of ‘Windows 10 OS” are still learning they system after 5years of its existence.

In the early years of GcNet implementation, operators of the system faced a similar or perhaps more problems with it than what we are experiencing today with the ICUMS, but with time and continuous training and learning, users were able to master it use.

The intensive training that have been organized by Ghana Link cum Ghana Revenue Authority to enable operators to expert with the use of the ICUMS must be lauded, unfortunately, this training has failed to yield the expected results because of the cascading lies that was spewed on the ICUMS from the onset which waned down the interest of the users.

In my candid view, the main challenge I see with the ICUMS is “a mere collective humbugging critiques” base on malicious motives to subject the ICUMS to mass rejection.

In winding – up, the swamp that has been created about the Ghana Link/Unipass ICUMS solution by the gross bias opinions through targeted media campaigns from some Think – Tanks and Rivals (competitors) needs to be drain by Ghana Link Network Services and the GRA, to drain this swamp – Let Ghanaians know this simple truth;

The ICUMS solution is and advance and enhance modern and future-oriented port administration solution that supersedes the efficiency and effectiveness of the pre-existing port solutions.

#SpreadFactsButNotLies.
The views in this article is personal and belongs solely to me.