The Republic of Namibia ("Namibia") gained independence in 1990 and, today, covers a land area of some 825,418 square kms in Southern Africa with the South Atlantic Ocean to its west and, clockwise from north, the countries of Angola, Botswana and South Africa.

In a country with an estimated population of less than two million, the Government of Namibia has expressed strong commitment to the provision of adequate housing for its people. This responsibility falls under the purview of the National Housing Enterprise ("NHE"), a division of the country's Ministry of Regional and Local Government which has been mandated to provide affordable housing through development and finance.

The NHE supports local authorities in the planning of land developments, housing provision and in providing financial assistance within both the long and short terms. This previously proved to be an extremely challenging situation for a country so young in age, further compounded by a fragmented systems environment.

To say that the situation in the first ten years was difficult is an understatement. It was an insurmountable task to manage. For a start, there was the risk of relying on reports without proper data integrity, not to mention the manual process of calculation.

It was a desperate situation, one which led NHE Chief Executive Officer KRM Kavekotora to concede that, at its lowest point, NHE almost repossessed a house despite the fact that monthly instalments were up to date. He attributed the error to the manual computation process which failed in identifying the monthly payments that were made consistently by the purchaser.

To successfully manage its operations with a high degree of excellence, the NHE Board concluded that the organisation had to undergo a major transformation. NHE had to leverage on Information Technology in the best interest of its people.

Edging Ahead with IFCA’s Innovative Solutions

K.R.M. Kavekotora, Chief Executive Officer of NHE:

“….IFCA was selected after all the other companies that tendered for the contract failed to satisfy the requirements. We learned about IFCA through the Botswana Housing Corporation which uses the same software system”

To address a pool of operational and management problems experienced by NHE in their day-to-day processes, NHE turned to a renowned Malaysian company to provide and implement innovative enterprise-wide integrated business solutions -- IFCA MSC Berhad.

In partnerships with two of the world's largest IT companies, namely IBM and Microsoft, the IFCA Group has successfully leveraged on common grounds to complement its 'home-grown' solutions, before exporting expertise via global networks in our targeted markets.

In NHE's case, the IFCA Group successfully implemented its internationally-renowned Loans Plus and Property Plus solutions to streamline and optimise the enterprise's operations.

The IFCA Loans Plus solution proved instrumental in addressing NHE's important operational functionalities and processes. This financial solution paved the way for more concise report writing capabilities through the drilldown of underlying information. The solution also provided for a multi-dimensional approach in business intelligence for the analysis of potential risks while also capitalising on new opportunities. The Property Plus solution comprised a comprehensive and fully integrated business suite developed specifically to address property companies' core concern of building, selling and/or renting. In NHE's case, this property development and management system successfully integrated all NHE's various departments and functions onto a single database so that the various units can more easily share information and communicate with each other. The systems were implemented in phases so as to reduce risk and manpower constraints while day-today business was ongoing:

Phase 1 - Property development and sales management functions
Phase 2 - Loans portfolio and administration functions
Phase 3 - Notification alerts, business intelligence and workflow models

With the solutions in place, NHE's entire loan administration process and resource planning functions are now fully automated. This has led to an improvement in business productivity and less margin for error. This has made the organisation more responsive to its people needs and with greater focus on its day-to-day operations.

Leon Potgieter,General Manager of NHE

“Streamlining the processes involved took NHE from the dark ages, in the computer systems context, to the present and into the future. (It is) … a timely investment that will keep us fully abreast on what's happening with our operations nationwide. The system implemented exceeded my wildest expectations… it certainly bodes well for the NHE and Namibia.”

Benefits Achieved

Streamlined Working Processes: Streamlining its process has enabled NHE to better collaborate its various functions and departments. The efficiency and effectiveness is a boost to staff morale and creates a more conducive work environment.

Risk Management: Equipped with fully integrated software, NHE is now able to manage its risk portfolio, back-end financial accounting and reporting functions as well as front-end activities such as prospective customers, property sales, sales administration, document tracking, renovations, progress billings, sales receivables, handing over, warranty periods, tenancy agreements, tenancy receivables and utility billings. This means that, NHE is now able to make better management decisions, fully informed and aware of the financials and risk involved.

Better Time Management: The software solutions give key employees instant access to important data from various departments as well as other branches across Namibia. It also eliminates human errors associated with re-entry of data and reduces duplication of effort, hence enabling better time management amongst staff.

Improved Customer Service: With automation and instant availability of information, NHE is able to align administration schedules to specific customer needs while sound management decisions can be made quickly. As such, they are able to react quickly to the ever-increasing customer demands whilst delivering the best possible level of service.