Case Study: Delivering Enterprise Technology Solutions in Developing Countries – Sustainable Development

Background: Trigyn was engaged by an international intergovernmental organization (IGO) to support its global initiative to digitize intellectual property records on a common platform. To foster greater compliance with global intellectual property conventions, the program sought to transition African countries away from paper-based intellectual property (IP) rights record keeping to a digital system. Digital record keeping allowed countries to quickly search historical records to ensure the IP of rights holders was easily identified and protected. The scope of the project included implementation of a localized technology solution in several African countries, integration with an established global platform, and implementing uniform processes for IP record keeping.

A major challenge facing the NGO in expanding the program to Africa was sustainability. Without a proactive sustainability strategy, technology investments in developing countries can foster long term dependence on out-of-country suppliers or outright abandonment due to the lack of affordable local support options.

Trigyn Approach: Trigyn Technologies was engaged to implement the program in African countries. The project required adaptation of a legacy application to digitize hundreds of thousands of paper-based intellectual property records into a searchable electronic database.

To overcome the challenge of sustainability, Trigyn deployed its innovative Sustainable Development Model for technology. projects adhering to the United Nations Principles for Sustainable Development including:

• Quality Education.
• Decent Work and Economic Growth.
• Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, and
• Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

To ensure the sustainability of the project long term, Trigyn implemented a project plan that relied heavily on local IT professionals and included a significant training component.

The approach combined general skills enhancement with solution-specific training to foster self-sufficiency among local IT professionals, to allow them to operate and maintain the solution post-delivery.

To ensure the maximum benefit from the project was retained in the local economy, Trigyn evolved its skill building strategy for subsequent deployments in other African countries. In addition to maintaining a significant focus on training and development of local IT professionals, subsequent projects went further by leveraging part of the skilled labor pool from previous implementations, thereby minimizing the need for non-African consultants.

Trigyn implemented the solution in several African countries and continues to be involved in maintaining the solution under a Managed Services model relying mostly on local African IT professionals.

Outcome:  Trigyn’s Sustainable Development model was credited with delivering the following benefits:

• Successful development and implementation across multiple African countries,
• Increased employment of local professionals,
• Enhanced capabilities of local labor force through mentoring and education,
• Maintenance of the application through a managed services model using local professionals,
• Maximized the economic benefit of the project to local economy,
• Reduce overall program cost,
• Increase return on funds invested, and
• Ensured a sustainable legacy for the program in recipient countries.

Trigyn's Sustainable Development Model for Information Technology has proven to be an effective framework for building a lasting legacy from technology investments in developing countries.

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