21 minute read
Government CIO Barry Lowry discusses building on digital
Post Covid-19: The future of digital public services services
Irish Government CIO at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Barry Lowry, discusses the acceleration of digital public services use and the influence on the forthcoming National Digital Strategy.
Highlighting the acceleration of digital services since the outset of the pandemic, the Government CIO believes that changed habits are here to stay and must be built upon if Ireland is to achieve its digital first ambitions.
Speaking in broader terms than government alone, Lowry points to significant shifts in purchasing habits but also in businesses, with digital pervading in sectors in ways that were never thought possible in 2019.
“Circumstances have forced organisations to rethink the entire way in which they work, and they have had to respond, or they wouldn’t be here,” states Lowry, emphasising that governments have also had to change.
The CIO is quick to point out that while the past two years of pandemic have served to accelerate uptake and interaction with digital public services, acceleration has built on a trend of constant improvement.
Gov.ie, the central portal for government services and information didn’t exist in 2016 but by 2019 it had achieved a “very respectable” five million hits for the year. However, between January and April 2020, the first few months of the pandemic, the portal had over 35 million visits.
Lowry points out that Gov.ie became to “go to” source of detailed information during the pandemic covering everything from infection figures to accessing emergency benefits and obtaining Digital Covid Certificates.
Similarly, the number of verified MyGovID accounts also saw exponential growth from below 500,000 in early January 2020 to over 630,000 accounts in early May. Again, this was a spike that was building upon a steady growth from 8,300 in 2016 to 447,000 in 2019. In 2020, this figure almost doubled to 929,000 and at the end of September 2021, almost 1.3 million verified accounts existed, meaning almost 40 per cent of the Irish adult population now have a MyGovID verified account.
The figures mean that Ireland has moved ahead of many heavy-hitting digital countries and research by
Gartner recently showed Ireland to be the fastest growing country in the world in terms of uptake and usage of digital ID accounts.
However, Lowry is quick to point out that there is still work to be done. In the latest DESI 2021 figures, while Ireland ranks at fifth place overall, it is 17th amongst EU member states for the eGovernment Services. Ireland’s 69 per cent score is below the EU member state average of 71 per cent.
The CIO believes that Ireland needs to go further than good growth and evolution of digital public services and actively push digital government at every opportunity, as is being done in many other EU countries.
Collaboration
The Government CIO outlines that beyond uptake and usage of digital services, the pandemic has also served as an accelerant of collaboration. Pointing to the emergence of Ireland’s Covid Tracker app and the digital Covid certificate as two very successful pieces of technology, he outlines that the projects were delivered through the excellent collaboration between five public service bodies and four private sector partners, who were never all in the same room together.
Lowry says that those projects are also exemplars of pandemic-driven innovation; the previously untested use of Bluetooth to identify contacts was successfully delivered in a very short space of time and APIs, QR codes and cloud were all critical elements of the Digital Covid Certificate solution.
Collaboration is being taken further by the Government’s The Future Tech Challenge pilot competition, a collaboration between Ireland’s public service and private sector actors to drive innovation and technology adoption in order to solve pressing public service challenges.
In October 2021, the Our Public Service team invited nine public service bodies to pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts across
three categories of remote connectivity; artificial intelligence; and cloud computing, with the winning projects securing services to the value of €100,000 and a partnership with an industry leader to develop their projects into fruition.
Pan-European digital
Lowry also contends that the two years since the onset of the pandemic have presented opportunities for digital government interoperability. He expresses his disappointment that the EU was not able to act on Ireland’s offer to deliver the digital tracker app together but says that that delivering interoperable systems was the next best step.
In seeking to deliver on its ambitions for a digital decade, the European Commission has launched the communication Digital Compass: The European Way for the Digital Decade identifying four main goals to reach over the next decade in the form of:
1. a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals;
2. secure and sustainable digital infrastructures;
3. digital transformation of businesses; and
4. digitalisation of public services. be the basis for Ireland’s National Digital Strategy to be published in January 2022. However, meeting some of the targets will be challenging. For example, in relation to eHealth the communication calls for 100 per cent availability of medical records digitally. Another challenge will be the ambition to have 20 million plus people skilled as ICT specialists in the EU, which equates to around 6 or 7 per cent of Ireland’s workforce. Significant steps will be taken to raise current levels of around 4 per cent of the workforce working in digital.
“At government level we have responded to the challenges coming from Europe and to some extent we have gone further in that we’re working to not just have government services available digitally, but that they are actually being consumed.
“Importantly, digital government is not just for those who can do digital. It is also about freeing up resources for those who cannot. The message from government going forward has to be that the use of technology can facilitate not just a better service for people that are comfortable with using it, but a better service for everyone,” Lowry states.
Re-emphasising the need to build upon pandemic-driven acceleration of digital public services, Lowry concludes: “2021 was a pivotal year and a year that we will build upon.”
eInvoicing: Taxing times across Europe
It is gradually becoming more important for Irish suppliers to be able to issue invoices in a structured electronic format in order to compete for cross border trade in the EU. There is also a growing trend by public administrations across Europe to further leverage eInvoicing to simplify tax reporting and compliance, reduce administrative costs for businesses and enable real-time management of aspects of both government and business finances.
How public bodies enabled eInvoicing
Electronic invoicing is changing the face of how we do business, and today public administrations across the EU are reaping the benefits of this digital milestone.
From day one, the OGP provided vital supports and advice around eInvoicing and it continues to play a crucial role in the entire process.
Since April 2020 when the European Union made it a legal requirement for all public bodies to be able to process electronic invoices, the OGP has been there every step of the way.
Firstly, the OGP set up an eInvoicing Ireland Programme to help public bodies transition to eInvoicing and meet their legal obligations.
Hackett explains: “A national approach was established for public bodies in Ireland to support the receipt of EU standard eInvoices through the Peppol network.
“To receive and process eInvoices, public bodies must avail of a service to connect to the Peppol network, and likewise, suppliers who wish to send eInvoices must avail of a similar connection service.
“So, the OGP established a National Framework Agreement to provide eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland.”
The eInvoicing service providers on the Framework connect public bodies to the Peppol network and offer solutions to enable compliance with the EU Directive around eInvoicing.
Hackett adds: “To date, our clients from across all sectors of the public service have found the framework easy to use to access the eInvoicing solutions and can now process EU standard eInvoices from suppliers.
“Getting suppliers on board is not as easy as they are not obliged to send eInvoices. Generally, where eInvoicing has been made mandatory for suppliers, like, for example, in Italy or Norway, the take up is very high.”
eInvoicing is proving popular across Europe. Last year alone saw Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Hungary move towards extending or introducing mandatory electronic Invoicing (eInvoicing) in their societies. Oonagh Hackett, eInvoicing Ireland Programme Manager in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), outlines a number of new policies and initiatives across Europe that shine a light on opportunities made possible when eInvoicing is the norm.
Reaping the benefits
Therefore, the focus now must move to suppliers and how to entice more of them to sign up to eInvoicing. From a business perspective, the more people using eInvoicing, the better as there are so many benefits to this digital process.
One of the most obvious and timely advantages to eInvoicing is the environmental impact. As the climate crisis intensifies, using less paper and reducing the associated energy and costs for transport and storage is always welcome.
As there is a standardised approach to eInvoicing across Ireland and Europe, it makes it easier for suppliers to do business with government agencies. Once suppliers are up and running with an eInvoicing system, they can also use it for other transactions.
Mandatory
Some member states have made eInvoicing mandatory for suppliers, others have introduced electronic
ordering and payments, while others have even established mandatory eInvoicing for business to business (B2B).
France has been ahead of the curve on eInvoicing. Since January 2020, all suppliers to the public sector were required to issue eInvoices. This year, France announced plans for B2B eInvoicing. The gradual mandate will start with large enterprises in 2024, extending to SMEs in 2026.
In Belgium, the Walloon regional Government say that eInvoicing will be the preferred option from next year. From January 2022, they will no longer accept invoices via email in PDF or word format. eInvoicing is already mandatory in other areas of Belgium.
In Poland, eInvoicing will also be the only option from January 2023, replacing the current paper and email invoices.
Hackett says: “Over the last year, we are seeing a trend as governments look to push the boundaries further and harness the potential of eInvoicing for tax reporting, compliance and real-time management of finance.
“In Italy, for example, both public and private sector invoices are processed through a centralised system known as the Sistema di Interscambio (SDI) which is controlled by the tax authority.
“Mandatory eInvoicing allows the tax authority to simplify tax compliance for businesses via the automatic capture of data in real-time from invoices. Italy estimates, around €2 billion could be directly attributed to the improvement in VAT compliance following the introduction of the measure.”
Hackett continues: “Furthermore, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in a recent submission to the European Commission, the Italian Government noted how data from mandatory eInvoicing proved to be of great help in analysing the changes in the economy associated with the health crisis, and in putting into place the most appropriate support measures.”
Leveraging eInvoicing data to help make tax administrations more effective for the greater good of economy and society is also an objective for other European countries such as France and Hungary.
It’s clear to see the wide-reaching benefits of eInvoicing, and the eInvoicing Ireland team along with partners in Central Government, Health, Education and Local Government will continue to raise awareness about the intrinsic value of this digital process for both suppliers and buyers.
The National Standard Authority of Ireland (NSAI) also plays a part in promoting the use of eInvoicing and is producing guidance for suppliers to support them in making this digital switch.
Several other initiatives are underway across the public service to enable suppliers get on board with eInvoicing, and crucially, to then reap the benefits for the future.
Office of Government Procurement eInvoicing supports for Public Bodies
To facilitate public bodies in reaching compliance with the eInvoicing Directive, the Office of Government Procurement established a National Framework Agreement for the provision of eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland.
The eInvoicing service providers on the Framework connect public bodies to the Peppol network and offer solutions and services to enable basic compliance with the Directive as well as a more fully integrated approach to eInvoicing, facilitating ‘straight-through processing’. eInvoicing and straight-through processing helps businesses pay and receive money faster and more efficiently.
T: +353 1 773 8310 E: oonagh.hackett@ogp.gov.ie / einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie W: https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/ office-of-government-procurement
For further information
Please log onto www.gov.ie/en/publication/d2be0-einvoicing-ireland/ or contact: einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie
Accessing the Framework
For anyone looking to access the OGP eInvoicing Framework, please log onto the OGP Buyer Zone via www.buyerzone.gov.ie/ and select/ search as follows: Category: Managed Services
Keyword: ‘PEPPOL’ or ‘eInvoicing systems’
OGP Clients must register to gain access to the Buyer zone available to all public service buyers accessing live contracts/frameworks.
The EU’s digital decade
In March 2021, the European Commission laid out its vision for digital transformation in Europe from 2021 to 2030, a timeframe it is terming the EU’s ‘Digital Decade’.
The Commission plans to use both “a robust joint governance framework to monitor progress and address insufficiencies” and “multi-country projects combining investments from the EU, member states and the private sector” to achieve the targets it has set out for the digital decade. The most notable of these targets fall under four main groupings.
Skills: In terms of digital skills, the Commission aims for there to be at least 20 million ICT specialists in Europe, with gender convergence in this workforce. It is also hoped that a minimum of 80 per cent of the European population will possess basic digital skills by 2030.
Digital infrastructure: “Gigabit for everyone, 5G everywhere” reads the first of the Commission’s aims in this regard, with plans also afoot to double the EU’s share in global production of cutting-edge semiconductors. In terms of edge and cloud data, the Commission plans to have 10,000 climate neutral highly secure edge nodes by 2030. It also hopes to see the building of the EU’s first computer with quantum acceleration.
Digital transformation of business: The Commission has set a target of 75 per cent of EU companies using cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and/or big data by 2030. It plans to “grow scale ups” and finance and to double the number of EU unicorn companies, a process that has already begun, with 23 companies becoming unicorns in 2021 as of June, compared to just eight in the whole of 2020. It is also hoped that more than 90 per cent of European SMEs will “reach at least a basic level of digital intensity”.
Digitalisation of public services: The Commission has set ambitious targets for the governments of its member states, with 100 per cent of key public services to be available online and 100 per cent of citizens having access to digital medical records by 2030 if targets are met. The Commission has also set an 80 per cent target for citizens using digital ID.
A framework of digital principles will be established to “help promote and uphold EU values in the digital space”, with the framework to be “identified through a wide societal debate”. Examples given by the Commission as to what this debate could concern include:
• Digital rights
o Freedom of expression and access to diverse, trustworthy information;
o Freedom to conduct business online;
o Protection of personal data and privacy; and
o Protection of the intellectual creations of individuals.
• Digital principles
o A secure and trusted online environment;
o Universal digital education and skills;
o Access to digital systems and devices that respect the environment;
o Accessible and human-centred digital public services;
o Ethical principles for human-centred algorithms;
o Protecting and empowering children online; and
o Access to digital health services.
The Commission proposes to reach the above targets and build the governance framework through its Path to the Digital Decade, which will be based on an “annual cooperation mechanism” between the Commission and member states, whereby the Commission will develop projected trajectories and the member states will formulate national roadmaps to meet these targets.
This proposed cooperation mechanism will consist of a “structured, transparent and shared monitoring system” which will be based on the Digital Economy and Society Index, an annual progress report throughout the digital decade, multi-annual digital decade national roadmaps, a “structured framework to discuss and address areas of insufficient progress through joint commitments between the Commission and member states”, and a mechanism to “support the implementation of multi-country projects”.
The Commission has explained that these multi-county projects will typically involve investment in areas such as data infrastructure, low-power processors, 5G communication, high performance computing, secure communication, public administration, blockchain, digital innovation hubs and digital skills. The Commission advises that each member state set aside 20 per cent of the funding received under the Covid-related Recovery and Resilience Facility for digital transition projects.
An example of a possible multi-country project offered by the Commission is a network of security operations centres, powered by AI, with the goal of anticipating, detecting and responding to cyberattacks at the national and EU level. These multicountry projects “could”: combine investments from the EU budget, including the Facility, from member states and the private sector; address gaps in the identified critical capacities of the EU; and support an interconnected, interoperable, and secure digital single market. A European Digital Infrastructure Consortium is newly available to “help interested member states speed up and simplify the implementation” of these projects.
The EU states that it plans to “promote its human-centred digital agenda” globally in order to promote “alignment or convergence with EU norms and standards” and will attempt to build international partnerships by investing in improved connectivity with the EU’s partners, designing digital economy packages, and building a toolbox of regulatory cooperation, capacity building and international investment. Possible areas of cooperation mentioned include 6G, quantum computing and the use of technology to fight climate change.
The Commission is currently in discussion with member states and the European Parliament, as well as economic and social partners, in an effort to progress towards an inter-institutional declaration on digital principles by the end of 2021. Such a declaration would then allow the Commission to develop projected trajectories for each target within its Path to the Digital Decade together with member states and allow those states to formulate their national plans.
Pexip simplifying video communications for Irish organisations
Niall Doyle
Global video conferencing software provider, Pexip, is trusted by many governments and public sector organisations for delivering secure and scalable video communications. Its unique offering simplifies video communications by unifying meeting participants across multiple platforms and devices; something which is proving to be extremely valuable as hybrid working becomes the norm.
Niall Doyle, Pexip’s Ireland Country Manager, outlines how Pexip is transforming the way video is being used and the benefits it brings to Irish organisations: “At Pexip one of our primary focuses is to remove complexity from collaboration. Our solutions can be easily integrated with existing collaboration tools to extend the reach and efficiency of these systems within organisations, as well as maximising return on investment by replacing the need to ‘rip and replace’ legacy infrastructure. As the requirement for video continues to grow throughout Ireland, Pexip is supporting mixed technology environments, which is essential to unify hybrid workplaces with teams in multiple locations.”
The experience
Now that users have become more comfortable with video, the focus has shifted to the experience, namely the ease of use, video, and audio quality. Users want to be able to schedule a meeting and connect quickly and easily regardless of technology or location and ultimately have a high-quality experience. The term ‘video fatigue’ has been used in line with experience. This is something that Pexip believes is a result of poor video experience and the number of meetings that people are having.
“Delivering an outstanding user experience is a key focus of Pexip’s and in turn reducing video fatigue with adaptive composition,” says Doyle. “Removing black screens, our adaptative composition automatically arranges the screen layout to elevate large groups and active speakers. It also automatically crops, pans and tilts so users can maintain better eye contact and focus on their conversation but most importantly, it works on any device or platform.”
Doyle adds, “Innovation is at the core of everything we do and that is why Pexip continues to break down the barriers that exist between collaboration platforms to create a simple, effective video solution that enables users to connect from any device at any time, from anywhere. We are already using AI to improve the user experience in video calls and recently announced a key partnership with Nvidia to further enhance the quality of our virtual meetings.”
Interoperability and flexibility
Pexip works with customers to understand their individual business needs and where Pexip and video can provide additional value to their existing workflows. The interoperability of Pexip offers a winning solution to organisations, who nowadays work with many different collaboration tools, by bringing these platforms together and removing the traditional barriers for truly pervasive video collaboration.
Pexip is also supporting organisations in their journey to being more flexible for their team. “Whether a customer is on a Microsoft Teams journey and looking to connect to existing/legacy endpoints or video systems, looking at integrating video into their customer workflows and customer journeys through contact centre integrations, or video enabling existing customer portals with video services (for example virtual banking) Pexip can help,” says Niall. “We are the only provider who can truly provide a ‘browser to the boardroom’ type experience.”
From a strategic perspective Pexip see their core success driven by delivering vertical solutions through their partners that enhance workflows and provide deeper and richer video integration for productivity enhancement. Pexip has already proven the value in replacing previously physical processes with a virtual solution as demonstrated through some of the solutions they have provided to public sector organisations in Ireland.
Secure tailored solutions
High security and data sovereignty is of paramount importance to Pexip when building its innovative, scalable software solutions. This is one of the reasons that Pexip is used by healthcare providers throughout Ireland to provide telehealth solutions for remote communication between healthcare professionals and their patients.
The Court Service of Ireland also utilise Pexip’s secure video solutions to facilitate remote hearings which helped to ease the backlog of legal cases heightened by the pandemic. The success of this solution has helped to pave the way for ‘hybrid hearings’ to be considered as a model for the future.
Doyle adds: “The healthcare and government sectors have really benefited from the successful implementation of integrated video solutions to enhance their existing services, tools and workflows as well as improving user experience. Pexip’s wide range of APIs enables services like telehealth consultations and virtual court hearings and is the platform powering many of these applications.”
Launched only a year ago, Pexip Health has strengthened Pexip’s reputation in the healthcare field by enabling healthcare providers to extend the reach of their practice, providing secure, easyto-join telehealth visits for patients from any device or location. The use of Pexip’s APIs means that those providing care can use their own technologies to meet virtually with patients so there is no need to purchase any additional hardware or tools.
To ensure that user data is stored securely and is protected, Pexip offers multiple deployment options. “We can provide a public cloud service or a private cloud service, or we can provide an on-premises deployment,” explains Doyle. “With an on-prem solution the customer can deploy a full video service on their own network using their own data centres. The recent cyber-attack on the HSE highlights the importance of security and the impact a breach of security can have. Security is one of our founding principles and we operate and maintain the highest standards of security globally. We have several very security conscious customers using our services, including the courts services both in the North and the South of Ireland.”
The future for Pexip
and accelerate growth by supercharging the existing sales model and expanding the current product offering. The company works with valued customers in the healthcare, judicial and enterprise sectors in Ireland and provides local support to the large multi-national and global customers headquartered in Ireland as well as supporting the public sector with vertical solutions for government.
Pexip plans to invest further in its headcount in Ireland for technical and partner management across the next three years. Pexip does not sell directly; 100 per cent of revenue is delivered through an accredited partner community and Pexip actively supports the growth of its Irish partners.
With the advent of the new video economy, and with video moving out of the meeting rooms to a broad range of applications, Pexip is powering that shift to a video-enabled world.
E: niall.doyle@pexip.com W: www.pexip.com
