Canadian Government Executive - Volume 23 - Issue 09

December 2017 // Canadian Government Executive / 17 “Citizens are demanding that government change. The same way they interact with their banks is the same way they want to interact with their governments.” The Next Industrial Revolution Digital transformation is being talked about as the next Industrial Revolution. It is the means that will change business models, products, services and experiences that will not only impact organizations and governments but society as a whole. While digital transformation is mainly about operational efficiency today, the revolution that is germinating will have greater effects in the future. However, to reap these benefits, the journey of digi- tal transformation must begin now. The time for research and examining whether digital transformation is needed is now in the past. Digital transformation is vitally needed for the survival of society. Transforming Service Delivery Many governments around the world see the value of this digital change. Some are at various stages of investing and imple- menting business processes for a digital world. This includes providing the means for public servants to capture data at the point of origin while communicating and collaborating virtually. Some governments in different coun- tries, regions and cities are well into their journey of transformation. These exam- ples, as we will see later, reveal that digital government is now a realistic and achiev- able goal. It is no longer a buzz word but an essential means to improve service de- livery to its citizens. “The pace of change is unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Jason Hermitage, Vice President, Public Sector for Microsoft Canada. This is revolutionary for governments around the world, including our govern- ment. “This is an unprecedented time, not just for Ottawa, but for Canada and all Canadians,” said Hermitage. He went on to point out that this is an opportunity for government to rethink how to deliver “gov- ernment as a service” that will enable busi- nesses to make the jump that they need. Given the swift growth of cloud and mo- bile technologies, government employees can use digital tools to enhance service delivery in many areas. From virtual town halls for direct citizen engagement to the always-on virtual office for a mobile work- force, cloud-based services are being used as the key tool for this change. Those that have started this transformation are find- ing it to be uncomplicated, and fast to achieve while gaining a speedy return on investment. Examples of Improving Productivity and Citizen Experience When one thinks about digital govern- ment, Estonia is the poster child. It is com- monly known that Estonia was an early adopter of e-government. As the smallest nation by population in the European Union, Estonia implemented e-govern- ment before the advent of the cloud. To- day, less than 5 per cent of government transactions are paper-based, and the nation is moving data and legacy applica- tions to the cloud. Estonia offers pre-regis- tration for different government services as part of its citizens’ digital ID, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world. “Estonia took a different approach: they thought of government as a service. Every- thing is going to the cloud. Agility, security, and the ability to deliver on demand are all apart of Estonia’s e-government,” Her- mitage said. Just over a decade ago, Brazil passed a law that allowed judicial entities to re- ceive processes in a digital format. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of The State Court of Justice of Sao Paulo (TJSP) at that time, Rosely Castilho, saw it as an opportunity to change how the court did business to better serve the State of Sao Paulo’s 50 million citizens, and to comply with its Federal law. Castilho’s plan to digitize the TJSP was enormous and bore risks in security and business continuity. The end goal was to have all new judicial processes stored digi- tally in databases, train over 50,000 employ- ees, and establish governance policies – all to be done in 10 years. By the end of Novem- ber 2015, a month ahead of the deadline, TJSP became 100 per cent digital. Other examples of digital transforma- tion resulted in cost savings for many gov- ernments. The City Council of Renton in Washington state in the U.S. ordered its municipal court to reduce the number of employees by 23 per cent. This prompted a digital transformation to cloud-based digi- tal court technologies. With this transition, the Council was able to provide service to its constituents with ease and reduce the time spent on cases. The result: a savings of nearly half a million per year to Rent- on’s taxpayers. Various other governments in Mexico, South Africa, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK and New Zealand are in different phases of their digital transformation, which have resulted in improved service delivery, better staff morale, and ease at which to collaborate and increase effi- ciency. The common denominator in all of these cases is Microsoft. These governments embraced the technology and services of Microsoft in embarking on their digital transformation. As a leading company in cloud-based services, Microsoft is working with governments globally to accelerate the rate of digital transformation. The Roadmap to Transform As part of its digital transformation strat- egy in helping organizations begin their journey, Microsoft has pinpointed four key focus areas. These are core drivers for the transformational journey. The first area is to engage citizens. En- gaging citizens through mobile services can enable governments to better under- stand citizen needs and how to satisfy them. This requires governments to sanc- tion mobile citizen services and interact- ing with citizens on secure mobile govern- ment platforms. Next is to empower government work- ers. It is about providing the infrastructure for public servants to collaborate and in- crease productivity through mobile plat- forms. Another key area to focus on is to op- timize government operations. With a trusted cloud service and solution, govern- ments can increase operating efficiencies and cost savings. Transforming services is the last core area in Microsoft’s roadmap to achieve digital transformation. The vast amount of data collected by being digitalized can be