ABSTRACT
Adoption of Digital technologies have proved very important to organizations especially in service delivery. Most government organizations have been adopting different digital technologies ranging from Social Media Communication, Telecommunication, Queuing Management System and Cashless System. The study intended to establish the Influence of adoption of digital technologies on service delivery in Huduma Centres in Nairobi county Kenya. The following research objectives guided the study: To establish the influence of Cashless system on service delivery in Huduma Centres in Nairobi county, to examine the influence of telecommunication on service delivery in Huduma Centres in Nairobi county, to assess the influence of Automated Queuing management system on service delivery in Huduma Centres in Nairobi county, to establish the influence of Social media communication on service delivery in Huduma Centres in Nairobi county and finally. The study relied on technology acceptance theory. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The target population was the 656 management and non-management employees of the five Huduma Centres in Nairobi County. This study adopted stratified random sampling. The research used questionnaire. To ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaires in this study, a pre-test was undertaken during pilot study. The researcher used the ‘drop and pick’ method of distributing the questionnaires. The researcher then used quantitative techniques in analysing the data. Data analysis involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that cashless system and automatic queuing management system had a statistically significant positive influence on customer service delivery. However, the influence of telecommunication and social media were not statistically significant even though they were positive. The study therefore concluded that Huduma centres could enhance their customer service delivery by improving cashless system and queuing management system. The study recommends to the management of Huduma centres in Nairobi to continue enhancing the cashless system, automatic queuing management system, telecommunications system and social media to enhance customer service delivery.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The Digital Revolution is the move from mechanical and simple electronic innovation to computerized gadgets which started around the late 1950s to the late 1970s with the reception and spread of advanced PCs and computerized keeping of records that proceeds to the present day (Schoenherr,2004, Rouse, 2014). Certainly, the term digital technologies likewise refer to the far-reaching developments realized by advanced processing and correspondence innovation amid (and after) the last 50% of the twentieth century. Like the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution denoted the start of the Information Age (Rouse, 2014). Integral to this transformation is the large-scale manufacturing and broad utilization of advanced rationale circuits, and its determined innovations, including the PC, computerized mobile phone, and the Internet (Roy, 2014). These mechanical developments have changed conventional creation and business systems (Bojanova, 2018). The thought of the advanced unrest is a piece of the Schumpeterian hypothesis of financial development (Freeman and Louçã ,2002) which comprises of a ceaseless procedure of inventive destruction that modernizes the business as usual of society, including political, cultural, social and economic association (Rouse, 2014). The engine of this relentless power of imaginative devastation is innovative change.
The key bearer innovation of the primary Industrial Revolution (1770– 1850) depended on water-fueled motorization, the second Kondratiev wave (1850– 1900) was empowered by steam-controlled innovation, the third (1900– 1940) was portrayed by the jolt of social and beneficial association, the fourth by mechanization and the robotized assembly of society (1940– 1970), and the latest one by the digitization of social frameworks (Bojanova, 2018). Every single one of those alleged long waves has been described by a continued time of social modernization, most prominently by supported times of expanding financial efficiency. As per Carlota Perez: this quantum hop in efficiency can
be viewed as a mechanical unrest, which is shown up in the general cost structure of a specific information that we could call the ‘scratch factor’, satisfying the accompanying conditions: (Schoenherr,2004) plainly seen low-and dropping relative expense; (Rouse, 2014) boundless supply for every handy reason; (Roy, 2014). Potential all-inescapability; (Rouse, 2014) an ability to lessen the expenses of capital, work and items and in addition to transform them subjectively. Computerized Information and Communication Technologies satisfy those necessities and, in this manner, speak to a broadly useful innovation that can change a whole economy, prompting a cutting edge, and progressively created type of financial and political association frequently alluded to as the post-modern culture, the fifth Kondratiev, Information society, advanced age, and system society, among others (Rouse, 2014). The Industrial Revolution and Digital Revolution are presently occurring simultaneously in China and India as individuals leave the provincial regions for modern and innovative urban communities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Mumbai.
Digital development and improvement in Kenya is as of now making a change in outlook by business. Digital advancements are wrecking old methods of working and shrewd youthful new companies’ visionaries are at the front line of this calm yet notable change. Groups of gifted designers and software engineers have jumped up in business incubators, accelerators and development centre points. In the meantime, the country has seen numerous spinoffs of Kenya’s special enterprising unrest venture crosswise over Africa and into different corners of the world, pulling in worldwide acknowledgment for the nation (Ndemo, 2016). Advanced Kenya tends to a wide range of parts of these mechanical changes, developments and enterprising exercises, including approach definition, obstacles and openings. It is the principal book to narrative the advanced enterprise upset in Africa and portray how it has risen even with high joblessness rates, destitution, absence of mechanical framework and dissimilar social translations of entrepreneurialism and hazard taking. In this unique circumstance, the book proclaims another mindset about and understanding rising open doors in the advanced world and how best to misuse them despite critical formative difficulties (Ndemo, 2016).
We also illustrate how the shift that facilitated Kenya’s digital revolution was the result of many overlapping factors. For one, India’s experience and policy framework served as a benchmark and source of inspiration for growth in the face of real challenges. As in India, innovators in Kenya learned that information and communications technology (ICT) has great potential to help propel the country out of unemployment and poverty. The percentage of Kenyans in gainful employment, compared with those actively seeking employment, has been estimated at 40 percent. The World Bank reported that of the Kenyan 800,000 youth (aged 15–35) that join the labour market every year, only 50,000 secure a job. Some 70 percent of them are unemployed. But rather than view youth unemployment as the ticking time bomb it is often described as, several innovators have used the platforms created by ICT as a strategy to absorb large numbers of well-educated unemployed youth and thus to contribute to economic growth. Digital Kenya reviews the many ways this was achieved, and the challenges faced along the way (Ndemo, 2016).
In addition, the development of pro-entrepreneurialism policies and partnerships in Kenya lead to development of a simple five-point policy that became a key driver of the shift focusing on ICT infrastructural development, leveraging of universal digital platforms to develop applications, creation of local content, building of personnel capacity, evolution of public-private partnerships, and establishment of employment opportunities for the growing youth population. Result was that Kenya’s policy environment has slowly become a conduit for successful ICT development. The laying of the first fibre-optic cable on the Eastern Seaboard of Africa, the TEAMS cable, was another crucial step and heralded a new chapter for cheaper telecommunication access. With it, opportunities using mainstream Internet access were created, such as subsidizing broadband for all universities and creating start-up hubs where entrepreneurs had access to high-speed Internet (Ndemo, 2016).
Soon new web applications were being created. M-Pesa, a money-transferring app, capitalized on the fact that only 5 percent of the Kenyan population had access to bank
accounts and created a solution that revolutionized citizens’ financial freedom. The post- election violence of 2007–2008 also brought some unexpected innovation when a small group consisting of concerned tech entrepreneurs began to collect eyewitness reports of violence from emails and text messages and upload them to Google Maps, giving rise to Ushahidi-Swahili for testimony or witness a ground-breaking information-gathering, visualization and interactive mapping tool that is now used around the globe and was recently deployed during the U.S. elections. Ushahidi, along with M-Pesa, changed the minds of even the doubters that it was possible for innovation to stimulate world-class entrepreneurialism in Kenya (Ndemo, 2016
Digital technology is essentially the breakdown of messages, signals or forms of communication between the creating device and the receiving device (i.e. mobile phones, computers) using a string of information known as the binary code (Bojanova, 2018). Digital technology uses digital code to transmit signals and information between different devices. This can be done with things like television programs or human voices. The data is converted into strings of ones and zeros and moved quickly to the next machine, where it is converted back into media form (Ndemo, 2016). One of the most prolific uses of digital technology comes in the form of the popular cell phone market. Cellular phones utilize digital technology to transmit voices and other types of information. This type of digital technology has also been used in incremental stages along the way, such as cordless phones with good quality (schoeherr,2004)
There are many transformative digital technologies driving the business including cashless system, telecommunications, automated queuing management system, and social media communication. Cashless system is a situation where there is little or very low cash flow in each society, thus every other purchases and transactions will be made via electronic channels. Ebeiyamba (2014) pointed out that cashless economy does not refer to an outright absence of cash transactions in the economic setting but one in which the amount of cash-based transactions are kept to the barest minimum. Automated queuing management systems are designed to accurately detect the number and behavior of people in the queue. Built-in predictive algorithms can provide notice on how many
checkouts or service points will be needed to meet demand (Mutali, 2008). Social media is a series of websites and applications designed to allow people to share content quickly, efficiently and in real-time. Most people today define social media as apps on their smartphone or tablet, but the truth is, this communication tool started with computers (Hudson, 2017).
The emergence of Digital Technology has provided means for faster and better communication, efficient storage and retrieval, processing of data, exchange, and utilization of information to its users, be they individuals, groups, businesses, organizations or governments. Digital technologies must be used to create and deliver a service, which is useful and has an effective impact for the businesses and for the citizens. Digital technologies are an integral component of government operations and service delivery. Digital technologies are increasingly used as a strategic tool to more efficiently support any Government’s priorities and program delivery. To have a successful e-Government, digital technology solutions, which are at the very core of the e-Government infrastructure, must be reachable by all citizens (Reffat, 2006).
