Interfront Annual Report 2022

PART A: GENERAL INFORMATION 15 5. STRATEGIC OVERVIEW Interfront is a wholly owned subsidiary of the South African Revenue Service (SARS). The cornerstone of the Interfront strategy was laid by the then Minister of Finance through the creation of Interfront as a state-owned company (SOC) and the conclusion of the contractual arrangements made at the time. The overall drivers which have positioned Interfront as the investment instrument in core customs and border management, through its relationship with SARS, and while maintaining its commercial obligations without investing significant financial risk capital, were determined early on by the Board in collaboration with the Shareholder. Interfront has delivered major customs and border management systems, which it supports and maintains, while development on future modules continues. The Board approved Interfront’s Strategic Plan for the 2018/2019 to 2022/2023 financial years and the objectives remained unchanged for the 2021/2022 financial year compared to the previous reporting periods. These strategic outcome-orientated goals are: • Quality Software Development and Support. • Maintaining a Software Development Centre of Excellence. The strategic outcome-orientated goals are, in turn, supported by six activities which serve as Interfront’s key performance indicators. A detailed report on the Interfront performance for the 2021/2022 financial year and the changes to its strategic outcome-orientated goals for the 2022/2023 financial year forms the substance of Part B: Performance Report . Towards the end of the 2021/2022 financial year, SARS, as Interfront’s Shareholder, was presented with a unique opportunity to acquire the skills and capabilities of the ShandonBusinessSolutions(Pty)Ltd(Shandon)personnel. Shandon was a mission-critical business development partner and service provider to SARS providing critical support, maintenance and enhancements to the front- end of the SARS eFiling channel and MobiApp solutions. The SARS eFiling channel is an integral digital platform in terms of the SARS journey to Vision 2024 and has become the primary channel for the SARS’ engagements with individuals and companies. Shandon provided these services to SARS for over a decade and has obtained a deep understanding of SARS’ digital systems over this period. The uniqueness of the opportunity in acquiring these personnel skills had an inter-related dual strategic benefit for both SARS and Interfront in that: • The acquisition of the personnel fundamentally added to and enhanced the skills and capabilities of Interfront, placing it at the forefront of supporting SARS in the realisation of its Vision 2024. In addition to the customs domain, Interfront gained capability, capacity and expertise for the development, maintenance and support of the front-end of the critical SARS eFiling and MobiApp systems. This enhanced Interfront’s value offering and enabled it to widen its scope from being purely customs solution-focused to now including the additional strategic platform of the tax sphere. In addition, the combination of the skills in the two combined teams added to Interfront’s capabilities that will be beneficial for both environments in the long term. • The insourcing of the personnel, now known as the Interfront Tax team, secured the retention of these essential skills for SARS into the foreseeable future. The Tax team was incorporated into Interfront on 1 April 2022, after the conclusion of a Memorandum of Agreement between SARS, Interfront and Shandon and a Section 197 Agreement in terms of the Labour Relations Act, No. 66 of 1995 between Interfront and Shandon. The incorporation of the Shandon resources required that Interfront revisit its Vision and Mission to align with its new offerings from the 2022/2023 financial year, as set out on the following page.