Angaza Zone - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

The Kenyan Revenue Authority has implemented an Idea Management System called Angaza ZONE. It provides a structured way of tapping into innovative ideas from employees and the public. It permits the KRA to amalgamate the best solutions from various sources, via open innovation.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is the Kenyan government’s revenue collection agency in charge of administering all laws related to revenue. It is in the backdrop of digital explosion and evolving social behaviour that the Authority recognised the urgent need to innovate to solve challenges in Tax Administration and to enhance Service delivery to meet taxpayer needs.
The Kenya Revenue Authority established an Innovation function to drive innovation within KRA and help re-write the rules in tax administration. KRA seeks to crowdsource innovations from staff and the public with an aim to:
1. Create an enabling environment that unlocks the potential of employees and
2. Tap into the thriving Kenyan Innovation ecosystem by collaborating with innovative minds in the adoption of creative ways of doing things, all in a bid to improve the services offered to the public and increase revenue.
The success of innovation relies mostly on the structures put in place to ensure an effective innovation ecosystem that nurtures an innovation culture. There has to be a clear and structured way for people to submit their ideas to build trust by having a transparent process for innovation.
This is what led to the development of an idea management portal dubbed Angaza ZONE. Angaza is Swahili word meaning to shine upon or spread the light. Angaza ZONE is KRA’s idea management portal that enables staff and the public to share their ideas with the Authority and be able to track their ideas through all the approval stages in a very open and transparent way. Viable ideas are then selected for implementation and the relevant innovators awarded. To encourage participation of the registered users, there is a monthly forum to discuss the ideas submitted to make them better following the 5X model of innovation which was developed as a model for problem solving that focuses on one problem and 5 ways of solving the problem/ways in which the current situation can be done better.
This is a comprehensive crowdsourcing platform for the staff and the public with the objectives of providing a structured and transparent idea submission, implementation, monitoring and reward. Idea management is an important component of the overall innovation process. While many think of idea management as a funnel process – they tend to end up with a piped process where the pipe is slightly wider at the entrance than at the exit. At KRA we realized that it should be a funnel process full of feedback loops and forward loops. The entrance of the pipe wider by getting many more people involved in the process and by being “always-on” for idea capture.
At KRA we recognize the power of open innovation and building collaborations. Angaza ZONE is a Web-based application that makes it possible to solicit targeted ideas from all employees and the public — regardless of their geographic location — and gather them into a centralized online database. Innovators can discuss their ideas and collaborate with one another. Angaza ZONE also provides a structured process for evaluating and sharing ideas, so managers can quickly zero in on those with the greatest potential. In conclusion, the benefits of the implementation of Angaza ZONE include but not limited to:
1. Enable staff and the public to share their ideas and get rewarded (Royalties will be given to innovators)
2. Focus employee’s creativity around a single goal - Staff will seek to improve their work by use of innovative methods/processes and products
3. Foster internal collaboration thus breaking silos
4. Provide centralised management of ideas and a transparent process to the innovation process
5. Foster open innovation and collaboration with other innovation ecosystem players.
6. Foster entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: Creation of an environment that enables young innovators to form startups that provide certain innovative product or services to the organization or its customers (Tax payers).

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

Before the implementation of Angaza ZONE, KRA did not have a structured way of crowd-sourcing innovations from staff and the public except for the use of a suggestion box system which was only available to staff. After an employee contributes an idea to the box, they never usually learn what the company did with it. This will normally make employees less trusting when it comes to contributing new ideas in the organization. The old school suggestion box systems were never really focused on a specific goal. Thus, they usually attracted low-quality ideas and a small volume of submissions. Paper box systems made it hard to evaluate ideas in a timely and consistent fashion. Angaza ZONE – KRA’s Idea management portal helps gather ideas from employees and the public. The Organisation can now evaluate those ideas and bring them to implementation faster. The Kenyan citizens now have the power to contribute ideas and innovations that would improve the services they access from the organisation.

What is the current status of your innovation?

Angaza ZONE came about during the development of KRA’s innovation framework and strategy. In the spirit of creating a healthy innovation ecosystem that value ideas and innovations from various sources thereby fostering open innovation and citizen participation, there was need to have an idea management system that will provide a structured way for ideas to be submitted and implemented. Development then followed while involving users to ensure their needs were well captured. The system was launched in June 2017 upon successful development and hosting. There is an adoption strategy for the system that includes sensitizations and innovation forums both within the organization and outside, use of articles in the staff newsletter and videos in the Authority’s TV Screens in various locations.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

KRA has partnered with local hubs and innovation spaces that draw young talented minds with a knack for innovation. This partnership formed the basis for the early adoption of the platform. During the formulation of the Intellectual Property Rights policy, KRA held consultations with the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) which is the Kenyan government semi-public organisation that administers Intellectual Property rights.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Employees and the general public were involved in the ideation and User experience design sessions not only for their unique perspectives, but also to ensure ‘buy-in’ of the solution. The general public included innovators in hubs and other citizens that access one or more of KRA services.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

So far there are two innovation ideas submitted through the portal with 100 registered users in the portal. It is expected that more users will register and more ideas submitted as the innovation team embarks on an aggressive sensitization and training program for staff and the public.

Challenges and Failures

User Adoption – innovation is always a grey area when it comes to “what is in it for me” perspective by users. People still want to hold onto their ideas thus affecting use of the system because they are not sure of their protection. The innovation came up with a strategy to increase adoption that included marketing through videos and sensitization forums.
2. Negative perception of the organization by members of the public – The citizens are not willing to participate because they believe the organization is going to use their information to target them. Changing this perception is the most challenging part. One of the ways used to address this problem is to conduct aggressive taxpayer education to sensitize the citizens on the need to contribute their ideas to better facilitate tax administration.

Conditions for Success

1. Have the intellectual property rights policy in place before the system goes live.
2. Involve key stakeholders - It’s essential to involve employees and the general public in ideation with an innovation management platform not only for their unique perspectives, but also to ensure buy-in throughout the organization afterward.
3. Do not push employees, pull them in - Employees need to be explained the importance of ideation, the potential they have to benefit the organization, its customers, or broader business goals. Employees need to be motivated about participating through rewards & recognition.
4. Reward and recognition for innovation - Happy Employees = Happy Clients = Happy Profit. Therefore, developing and maintaining an effective reward and recognition system is a key aspect of maintaining and encouraging innovation.

Replication

The innovation can easily and very well be implemented in government or government agencies to spur national innovation culture making an ecosystem with a platform to submit innovative ideas that will help in nation-building through ideas/innovations that enhance service delivery, citizen participation and solving the problems that citizens face. An Idea Management System or platform such as Angaza ZONE will go a long way in promoting open innovation and breaking the silo mentality in government.

Lessons Learned

1. Design for the user – every innovation should be centred around the user. What is the main goal of the system, what the key things users look forward to having in the system and how will they interact with the system? This will greatly affect adoption.
2. Collaboration and Co-Creation - Engage stakeholders from the start. This helps in getting the buy-in from the onset of the project as all partners will understand the project, its intended objectives and their roles towards making the project a success.
3. Leadership support - Support for technological innovation at the executive and administrator level helps foster a campus culture where innovation is encouraged, allows for some level of risk, and strengthens the overall potential for success.

Anything Else?

KRA benefits from the system as it offers a structured and transparent platform for managing ideas and innovations. In the long run, the fruits of the innovations will be seen through an enhanced tax administration system. The portal will help in tax administration reforms in Kenya by giving a platform to staff and the Kenyan public to share their innovative ideas while giving them the power to own and earn from their ideas and innovations.

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