GTR Nov-Dec 2014 sample

NOV/DEC 2014 • ISSUE 27 GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

TRAINING FROM A DISTANCE MANAGING THE HUMAN SECURITY RISK IMMIGRATION'S SOCIAL-MEDIA MIGRATION

YOUR

CITIZENS ARE YOUR

CUSTOMERS HAVE YOU BEEN NAUGHTY TO THEM, OR NICE?

Christmas

GADGETS GALORE

HEAD TO HEAD: BIG DATA

NBN ROUNDUP

I’m unleashed

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Contents

10

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Feature Story YOUR CITIZENS ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS

Progressive government agencies have long been working to shift from a top-down, prescriptive mode of operation to a more inclusive, service-focused approach. The ubiquitous Web, mobiles and easy-to-access cloud services make the technology easier than ever – but how well are agencies realising the vision of the citizen as customer?

REGULARS 2 Editor’s Letter 4 News 46 Opinion: Ovum, Motorola, Bellridge, SAS, Fuji Xerox, Berkeley IT, Esri, Outback Imaging 47 NBN Update

FEATURES 16 CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

Stuck for Christmas presents for your loved ones?

Flip through our Christmas guide and you're sure to find a winner.

26 MANAGING THE HUMAN SECURITY RISK

For all the discussion about external security threats, one of the biggest – and often most difficult – parts of security is managing your own people and their devices. Are you aware of your human risk?

Special Features

30 20 TRAINING FROM A DISTANCE

HEAD-TO-HEAD: BIG DATA

Delivering staff training consistently and effectively at government department scale has always been a challenge, but new cloudbased models for content delivery and learning management promise to help bring relevant training programs to scale with far less effort than in the past.

The explosion of big-data tools and data has driven the software market to revisit its approach to data analysis, delivering a crucial new paradigm for the democratisation of data. Yet big data is replete with both challenges and opportunities. We talk to two experts about what lies ahead.

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 1

Editor’s Letter What's on your plate for 2015?

Even as some wind down for the end of another busy year, others are already getting ready for the challenges that await in 2015. And while many of the biggest IT challenges are already well elucidated – cloud, mobility, big data and security are regulars on the list of priorities these days – each will impact your agency in its own unique way.

Just be sure you're considering the way old standbys take on new meaning in the new, citizen-centric government. One place we're seeing this is in the development of a customerservice culture – which would have been anathema a decade ago but has become mandatory as citizens come to expect faster, more intimate response from their government bodies.

Training is another area getting a new look, with online education offering significant improvements over established classroom-based techniques and government organisations looking into new ways of managing their skills training, mandatory certification and other education.

One area particularly in need of education is users, although – as any IT manager will tell you – they can be the hardest to change. This has led to some significant oversight when it comes to organisational data security, with many agencies spending big on technological security solutions but struggling to rein in the behaviour of their employees. With those same employees getting more empowered than ever, the risk is getting bigger all the time.

These and other issues are covered off in our features this issue, while further on you will find a very interesting discussion about the latest developments in the big-data arena.

If you're not already underway with your big-data initiative, you're already well behind the curve – but it's not too late.

Add big data to your to-do list for 2015, and while you're laying on the beach this summer let your thoughts drift to how big data might feed into other business and IT goals for the coming year. Everyone agrees that it's a big change – but they also agree that it's one you should be making.

Also in this issue you'll find the usual mixed-bag of opinion pieces and, because we all love a bit of shiny stuff, a Christmas gift guide that runs down some of the latest, shiniest and coolest gadgets available for your giving pleasure this holiday season. You're sure to find something fantastic for you and yours in there; I know I sure did.

Here's wishing you a happy new year and all the best with your strategy development, implementations and whatever else is on your plate for next year. As always, I'd love to hear what you're up to; drop me a line and I'll read it from my banana lounge in the sun.

EDITOR David Braue e: editor@govtechreview.com.au NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Yuri Mamistvalov e: yuri@commstrat.com.au Tel: 03 8534 5008 ART DIRECTOR Annette Epifanidis e: annette@commstrat.com.au Tel: 03 8534 5030 DESIGN & PRODUCTION Nicholas Thorne CONTRIBUTORS Brad Howarth, Adam Turner, Steve Hodgkinson MELBOURNE OFFICE Level 8, 574 St Kilda Rd. Melbourne Vic 3004 PO Box 6137, St Kilda Rd Central 8008 Phone: 03 8534 5000 Fax: 03 9530 8911 Government Technology Review is published by CommStrat ABN 31 008 434 802

www.commstrat.com.au All material in Government Technology Review is copyright.

Reproduction in whole or in part is not allowed without written permission from the Publisher.

To subscribe to GTR magazine phone: 03 8534 5009

David Braue, Editor E: editor@govtechreview.com.au

2 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

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News PACNET TARGETS NSW STATE DEPARTMENTS WITH GOVDC PRESENCE, VIRTUAL NETWORK SERVICE Managed data connectivity provider Pacnet has capitalised upon software defined networking (SDN) technology to offer NSW government departments a scalable network service offering bandwidth on demand.

Pacnet's network as a service (NaaS) platform has been deployed within the NSW Government's new GovDC data centre in Silverwater, NSW, which has progressively come online as the state government shifts to consolidate services from a broad range of standalone facilities into just two sites, at Silverwater and Unanderra.

The Pacnet services form part of the company's Pacnet Enabled Network (PEN), which enables the construction of hybrid IT environments by moving workloads between GovDC facilities and other connected sites, such as Pacnet's Sydney CloudSpace Data Centre.

PEN's novel design was recently acknowledged when the company received analyst firm Frost & Sullivan's 2014 Asia Pacific Data Communications Product Line Differentiation Award.

“We had witnessed the availability of computing and storage as a pay-peruse resource providing greater flexibility and scalability for enterprise IT than ever before,” Danni Xu, Industry Analyst, Asia Pacific Data Center and Cloud Practice with Frost & Sullivan, said in a statement. “However, the network had not caught up with the trend.”

As part of the GovDC Marketplace http://www.govdc.nsw.gov.au/, Pacnet will offer its NaaS services to state government agencies as well as bundling managed services such as unified communications and IP VPN services.

Pacnet is joined in the GovDC Marketplace by dozens of service providers that have come onboard this year with a range of infrastructure, platform, and software as a service offerings as well as managed services and other solutions. Pacnet, ac3, Datacom Systems, Dimension Data, Fujitsu Australia, HP, Huawei, and other providers will be joined in 2015 by the likes of Telstra, NTT Com ICT Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent, Alphawest Optus, Dell, Data#3, NEC IT Solutions, and more.

Establishing a beachhead in the Silverwater data centre is a key strategic move for companies providing services to government agencies – and Pacnet is ready to capitalise on the opportunity that GovDC offers to reach the entire government.

“Opening a Point of Presence and enabling the Pacnet Enabled Network at the NSW Government’s Silverwater data centre gives all agencies access to Pacnet’s full suite of managed services, and its bandwidth on demand network,” said Pacnet ANZ CEO Nigel Stitt in a statement.

“NSW Government departments can rapidly deploy to hybrid cloud services and adopt full ICT solutions ‘as a service’ in a cost-effective manner, utilising the range of offerings within the Government Marketplace.”

Public-safety alliance puts Motorola in Telstra's 4G fast LANES The debate about the best way to deliver 4G connectivity for public-safety authorities has raged for years, but a partnership between Motorola Solutions and Telstra will break important ground by helping Motorola devices prioritise access to Telstra 4G services during times of emergency.

Signed in late October, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two companies will see Motorola delivering purpose-built applications and devices for emergency services personnel.

Using Telstra's recently developed LANES (LTE Advanced Network for Emergency Services) capabilities, the Motorola devices will not only be able to access high-speed broadband to transmit live video and other information – but will be able to preserve portions of the 4G LTE bandwidth radiofrequency spectrum to prevent competition from the inevitable surge in public mobile usage during emergency events.

Prioritising access to broadband will allow emergency-services organisations to build and deploy new applications with the confidence that necessary bandwidth will be available when, where and as needed.

“We have completed a number of successful trials of the LANES solution allowing us to see that it is possible to provide dedicated services to a number of users while still managing the telecommunications needs of the general public,” said Mike Wright, Telstra's Networks group managing director, in a statement.

“Our relationship with Motorola Solutions allows us to work together to enhance the service and develop additional solutions that can be tailored for the benefit of emergency services organisations.”

Other important capabilities – including interoperability with existing land mobile radio networks, end-to-end security and encryption – are also available using LANES.

4 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

“This is a significant opportunity for Australia’s public safety industry,” Motorola Solutions senior vice president for the Asia Pacific and Middle East Dr Mohammad Akhtar said in a statement.

“Agencies are already contemplating how to convert the masses of available data into usable intelligence. Our relationship with Telstra is intent on putting intelligence into the hands of the people who need it most.”

LANES was trialled for the first time during the G20 Summit in Brisbane, with Telstra and the Queensland State Government exploring the technology's capabilities in a real-world situation.

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Customer Relationship Management

ARE YOU TREATING YOUR CITIZENS LIKE CUSTOMERS?

IT SEEMS EVEN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE NOT IMMUNE TO THE RISING INTEREST IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR IN DELIVERING BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES.

BY BRAD HOWARTH

10 | GTR SEPT/OCT 2014

M

any traditional businesses are facing disruption from new bornon-the-web competitors, such as upstart ride sharing service Uber raising $1.5 billion to take on the world’s taxi and limousine hire industry.

Consumers across a wide range of industries are enjoying the benefits of unprecedented competition from organisations that are fundamentally reinventing how services are consumed. As a result, old notions of customer loyalty are proving to be paper thin when challenged by a superior product or service delivered via an outstanding experience.

Indeed, according to the Future of Business Report released by Optus in mid-2014, only organisations that are rated by customers as delivering outstanding experiences can expect their customers to retain loyalty. The percentage of respondents who indicated they would remain loyal to a brand fell from 95 per cent to 39 per cent when experience dropped from ‘outstanding’ to just ‘good’.

The report also found, however, that only 12 per cent of organisations across all industries are delivering outstanding customer experiences.

Even government agencies, which often face little in the way of direct competition, are finding there is value in upping the quality of experience they deliver to taxpayers.

The Future of Business report found that 42 per cent of federal government agencies and 43 per cent of local governments now had a formal customer experience strategy, compared to the average across all sectors of 41 per cent. State governments lagged, however, with only 29 per cent reporting they had a defined strategy.

Dr Catriona Wallace, CEO, Fifth Quadrant

“The power of consumers now, particularly through the rising mobile digital and social channels, means that governments actually have to get their act together around knowing how to deal with customers who are more powerful than they have ever been.”

Those high numbers for federal and local government reflect efforts to redefine how they think about their citizens, according to Dr Catriona Wallace, chief executive of customer experience strategy firm company Fifth Quadrant.

“Government was set up on very old Westminster models that we’ve inherited from the UK about how government should be, and it was all about controlling people,” Wallace explains. ”Government was never designed to be individually focused on people, to be citizencentric or customer-centric.”

However, she says new factors such as the rising power of the middle class, improved education, and the emergence of a more empathic society with greater concern for individuals, are changing that perspective.

“Whereas previously we were concerned about segments and communities and populations, now the whole world is much more interested in the concept of personalisation and individuals,” Wallace says. “Business is doing that and government is following.”

“The power of consumers now, particularly through the rising mobile digital and social channels, means that governments actually have to get their act together around knowing how to deal with customers who are more powerful than they have ever been.”

And it seems numerous government agencies are responding, often through the implementation of mobile technology. Brisbane City Council, for instance, is currently equipping its field service workers with mobile technology, including 700 tablets and 100 laptops, to automate the management of work notifications and orders in the field, leading to improvement in service delivery and efficiency.

The Environment Protection Authority in Victoria is also using mobile technology and SAP CRM with SAP Investigate Case Management software to improve the logging and tracking of pollution incidents, enabling field officers to respond more swiftly and effectively to reports as they arise.

Wallace has worked with numerous agencies across all three tiers of government to design better experiences, often involving consumers in the design of the new services, using a process known as co-creation.

While this generally leads to better experiences for consumers, Wallace says there is another, more selfish reason why governments might want to invest more in delivering better experiences: improving internal efficiency.

“Most of the reviews that we do of government agencies show at least 20 to 30 per cent

GTR SEPT/OCT 2014 | 11

Customer Relationship Management inefficiency,” she says. “With the continued pressure to reduce the cost of government, governments now have to look for a much more efficient way to operate. And having a very well designed customer experience strategy, where you are solving the problems of individuals, is a lot more efficient.”

Wallace says that efficiency dividend can actually run as high as 10 to 15 per cent savings on specific processes, through resolving customer interactions more swiftly while utilising fewer resources. This does not automatically mean eliminating humans from the process however.

She says there are even benefits that flow through at the political level, as consumers look more favourably on a government if customer service is consistently good.

ONE-STOP SHOP One of the agencies that Fifth Quadrant has worked with is the Service NSW initiative being undertaken by the NSW government. This long-running project is working to put the customer at the heart of public sector service design and delivery, with all activities informed through customer interaction.

It seeks to create a one-stop shop, currently offering more than 800 transactions such as vehicle registrations, boating licences, fishing licences, applications for birth certificates, Seniors Cards, fines and owner builder permits at times and through channels that are most convenient to users.

This has included extending service centre hours to 7.00am to 7.00pm on weekdays and from 9.00am until 3.00pm on Saturdays, along with the introduction of new features such as concierges, self-service kiosks and pre-booked appointments.

Further service centres are planned.

More services are also being moved online, as well as numerous processes being rolled up into a single workflow, such as enabling the application for a Seniors Card to be completed entirely online. The NSW government is also introducing new initiatives such as LiveChat to further save time for citizens.

The initiative kicked off in July 2013 with the new online and 24 hour phone service, and the opening of the first of 20 service centres in Kiama. Since then more than 6.5 million customers have been served by Service NSW. The customer satisfaction score from the initiative currently sits at 98 per cent, and has remained steady over the past 12 months.

According to the NSW Minister for Finance and Services the Hon. Dominic Perrottet, the NSW government has learned from the customer experience initiatives of the private sector.

12 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

The Hon. Dominic Perrottet, NSW Minister for Finance and Services

“We’ve seen banks, insurance companies and retailers all redesign their processes and systems to make it easier for their customers.

Government should not be an exception to this rule.”

“The private sector learned the lesson many years ago that the customer experience is a key driver of organisational success,” Perrottet says.

“We’ve seen banks, insurance companies and retailers all redesign their processes and systems to make it easier for their customers.

“Government should not be an exception to this rule.”

Perrottet says one of the greater challenges faced within government now is that many agencies operate in silos, with little to no cooperation.

“This results in waste, duplication and a fragmented customer experience,” Perrottet says.

“Service NSW has redefined the standards of customer service excellence in the public sector.”

A key component of the implementation is a cloud-based contact centre designed and implemented by NEC Australia and based on technology from Genesys, which enables the government to easily increase seats as new services come on, or as workloads demand.

Another key part of the solution is the implementation of the Salesforce Service Cloud, which was deployed in just six weeks.

According to Salesforce’s vice president of sales engineering Dan Bognar, one of the motivators for NSW and other governments in providing better customer experiences is their desire to keep up with the expectations that customers have of commercial engagements.

“The experience that they get when they connect to a government department is worlds away,” Bognar says. “And the onus is really on the public sector and various agencies to deliver an experience that is akin to what consumers are experiencing in their consumer lives.

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Customer Relationship Management “Everyone is becoming connected, everything is being connected, and we are probably at the single most innovative time in the history of technology. And a lot of that has to do with the consumer perspective, in that everyone literally has a supercomputer in their pocket. And what citizens experience in their consumer life is outpacing the experience that they are seeing from government.”

In the case of Service NSW, Bognar says the starting point was simply to ask what citizens wanted. Not surprisingly, they responded by asking for longer opening hours and the ability to interact through digital channels when appropriate.

“And when they did contact NSW Government through the call centre, they wanted to be dealt with quickly and addressed by a person,” Bognar says.

Salesforce has facilitated numerous cloud and social-based government customer service initiatives around the world, Bognar says, including development of a social listening strategy for the City of San Francisco – which is now reaching out directly to influential people within the community – and an app for the Chicago Housing Authority which helps customers to connect to service providers. This latter project is also delivering a wealth of information back to the city.

But while Bognar says many governments would like to emulate Service NSW, often they face problems of their own making.

“The regulatory environment has been a key inhibitor that has certainly held the public sector back in terms of looking at innovative cloud-based solutions,” Bognar says. “And if you look at social and community, (technologies) we have almost seen the public sector in Australia be a little sceptical around social engagement and social listening.”

To accept that stance is to ignore the growing chorus of consumer voices, Bognar warns. “The customer is king, and they have a voice and they are not afraid to share that voice, and they are holding governments accountable,” he says.

“Government agencies are looking to reduce their cost profile for IT projects, but are also looking for innovation. And increased transparency of projects and interactions with citizens is really forcing governments to be much more open, much more transparent around their dealings with customers and having the appropriate systems to manage those engagements.”

Government agencies may have the power of an effective service monopoly on their side, but they shouldn’t take it for granted: survey after survey shows that customers are ready to walk if they perceive they aren’t being treated well.

Consider the results of a recent survey of 2004 Australian adults by NewVoiceMedia, which found that 58 percent had taken their business elsewhere because of inadequate customer service. Fully 55 percent will switch to a competitor rather than trying to resolve issues because they fear long hold times, while 58 percent would tell friends and colleagues not to use a business where they had had a poor experience.

TOP REASONS CONSUMERS LEAVE

46%

Lack of appreciation

38%

Unhelpful/rude contact centre staff

32%

Being passed around to multiple agents

PREFERRED CONTACT CHANNEL

59%

Phone

32%

Email

27%

Social media (Gen Y)

<5%

Social media (Over 55s)

HOLD TIMES

85% of women are prepared to wait more than 5 minutes on hold

77% of men are prepared to wait more than 5 minutes on hold

BUT women object more to being kept on hold

GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE ENGENDERS LOYALTY

77% “The customer is king, and they have a voice and they are not afraid to share that voice, and they are holding governments accountable.”

14 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

Said good customer service had a considerable influence on customer loyalty

51% Would use the business more frequently if it provided good service

76% Would recommend a company providing good service to others

35% Prepared to spend more money with the business if it provided good service

Source: New Voice Media www.newvoicemedia.com

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SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. © 2014 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved. S132676US.1014

Christmas Gadgets Galore

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Garmin Approach S6 Swing analysis and course intelligence on your wrist $499 from buy.garmin.com If you're a keen golfer, or are shopping for one, you're pretty much sure to win Christmas with this purpose-built watch. With a sharp colour touchscreen, GPS capabilities, and detailed maps for over 30,000 golf courses, Garmin has packed in everything but the 19th hole in this wrist-mounted, waterproof golf computer. The PinPointer feature tells you the direction to the green even when you can't see it, while built-in swing analysis features help you perfect your swing.

ASUS MeMOPad 7 Miniature tablet, miniature price $229 from asus.com.au

GoPro Hero 4 Extreme sports docos get the 4K treatment

There is considerable movement in the 7-inch tablet market, and ASUS' entry is designed to balance features with price.

The 1280x800 IPS display is paired with 5MP rear and 2MP front cameras, with a quad-core 64-bit Intel Atom CPU and features like Miracast enabling interaction with TVs and other media devices. The well-reviewed unit is based on the Android operating system and can be personalised with a range of colourful protective covers.

$639 from shop.gopro.com How do you follow up the most popular sports-photography gadget going? If you're GoPro, you expand the specs of your waterproof, shockproof, idiot-proof video cameras with features like 4K-resolution recording, 12MP photos at up to 30 images per second, and 1080p video at 120 frames per second for stunning slow-motion video. The new model (which caps a range that includes cheaper, less-capable Hero Silver and Hero models) also includes improvements to the night-capture mode, better manual video controls, and a HiLight Tag that lets users mark a moment in a video. All you need to bring is your guts.

16 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

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Apple 27 inch iMac with 5K Retina display The iMac gets sharper than ever $2,999.00 from apple.com.au The sharp Retina screen on Apple's iPad and MacBook Pro devices has made the jump to its desktop-class iMac, with the latest iMacs gaining a 5K display running at 5120x2880 pixels. That's the equivalent of four Full HD-resolution screens, providing a sharp, 27-inch picture that's the banner headline of the new system. But there's much to love inside as well, with Apple's hybrid flash RAM-packing Fusion Drive; the newlook Mac OS X 'Yosemite' operating system; and the latest in processors and graphics.

Acer Aspire Switch 10 The best of both worlds $699 from acer.com.au Can't decide whether to get a laptop or a tablet? Acer is offering both in the same package. Its Aspire Switch 10 includes a Full HD-resolution display and Gorilla Glass 3 display that can be attached to a keyboard to be used in clamshell laptop style, folded around to work as a handheld tablet, or turned to share the screen with someone else. Its 8.9mm thick aluminium body is designed to minimise fingerprints, and the whole thing weighs just 1.17kg.

BlackBerry Passport The BlackBerry you love, with a square screen $999 from blackberrystore.com.au Your mother told you not to watch so much TV or your eyes would go square, but she probably didn't say anything about your smartphone. Yet that's exactly what has happened with the BlackBerry Passport. The company's latest entry to the smartphone market features a 1440x1440, 4.5-inch display as well as the famous BlackBerry physical keyboard and is paired with a 13MP camera, 1080p HD video recording at 60fps, 32GB of internal storage, the BlackBerry 10 operating system, and a 30-hour battery life.

Time will tell whether it really is hip to be square.

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 17

Christmas Gadgets Galore

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Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and PS4 Remote Play app Take your PlayStation 4 wherever you go Around $800 from sony.com.au Sony has targeted the Apple iPad Mini with its Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, adding a waterproof design and a quad-core 2.5GHz processor into a package that measures just 6.4mm thick and weighs 270g. While you can weigh up the respective devices' features as much as you want, however, one feature that sets the Z3 Tablet Compact aside is its support for the PS4 Remote Play app. This Sony-developed tool allows you to link your device to your PS4 over your home Wi-Fi network: just connect a Sony DUALSHOCK 4 wireless game controller and start up the app, and you can take your gaming wherever your Wi-Fi reaches.

Oppo N3 and R5 Thinnest smartphone, coolest camera Price TBD

LG G Watch R Works like a smart watch, looks like a normal watch $US299 LG's G Watch may have brought the functionality of a smart watch to your wrist, but the G Watch R takes it a step further by putting the 'watch' back into 'smart watch'.

This model W110 is built around a round metal casing that supports a 1.3-inch P-OLED screen onto which are projected a range of watch faces and anything else that your linked smartphone may care to throw onto it (courtesy of Google's Android Wear interface). Use any 22mm watch band to match your own tastes, with IP67 compliance making it dust and waterproof up to 1m.

18 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

Chinese company Oppo will target Australian smartphone market early in 2015 with two devices that each have their own claim to fame. The N3, for one, includes a 5.5-inch screen and a motorised 16MP camera that can automatically pan through 206 degrees for effortless panoramas. And the claim to fame of the 5.2-inch R5 is its 4.85mm thickness, which makes it so thin that it doesn't even have enough space for a conventional headphone jack (Bluetooth only for this model). There is a 13MP camera and everything else you'd expect in an Android smartphone, while both models feature a rapid-charging system that can give you 2 hours' worth of calling time from a 5-minute charge.

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Lenovo YOGA Tablet 2 Pro Home theatre in your hand $799 from lenovo.com.au In a world where laptop-cum-tablets are a dime a dozen, Lenovo has done something truly unique by bundling a high-resolution projector into this unit. The device, which includes twin front-facing speakers and a 5W subwoofer as well as Dolby surround sound, offers a 13-inch 2560x1440 resolution display and can project whatever's on its screen onto a nearby wall as an image of up to 50 inches diagonal. A built-in stand allows it to sit upright for viewing.

Other models ditch the projector and variously come in 8-inch or 18-inch sizes with the choice of Windows instead of Android.

Acer Chromebox CX1 Google takes over your desktop $359 from www.synex.com.au Google's efforts to build out the Chrome ecosystem have extended to the desktop, with the company's Chrome OS operating platform finally extending to purpose-built devices that can function as an easy-to-manage desktop for Web applications and purpose-built Chrome applications. The diminutive, inexpensive computers can be attached to the back of a monitor but pack 802.11n-class WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, and HDMI ports for attaching to external displays. The units are Citrix-certified for direct access to Citrix remote-desktop environments. â&#x2014;?

MOBiLE CLOTH The cleaner for all your shiny From $10.99 at www.mobilecloth.com.au If you've never read the stories about the huge volumes of bacteria lingering on shared electronic devices and computer keyboards, don't. Just trust us when we say that the MOBiLE CLOTH's claim to remove 98 percent of the bacteria on your devices is not superfluous. Not just a standard microfibre cloth, the cloth is made up of tiny 'nubs' that suction-cup the fingerprints and dirt off of screens, glasses, camera lenses and such. Works dry or wet, and can be easily cleaned for long life.

Well worth the small investment if you're investing in any of the other shiny things in this guide. Makes a great stocking stuffer.

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 19

Education & Training

LEARNING ONCE CONSIDERED LITTLE MORE THAN A COMPLIANCE TRAINING SHORTCUT, LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS HAVE MATURED â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OFFERING GOVERNMENT AGENCIES EASY ACCESS TO A WIDE RANGE OF LEARNING RESOURCES, AS WELL AS A CLEARER PICTURE OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS WHICH THEIR STAFF ALREADY POSSESS.

BY ADAM TURNER

T

he new generation of learning management systems (LMSes) aim to avoid the 'Next Button Fatigue Syndrome' inflicted by some traditional eLearning tools.

A modern LMS makes it easier for government agencies to acquire or produce interactive multimedia training materials, helping to improve learning outcomes while ensuring they align with required business outcomes.

While it helps to partner with LMS suppliers and integrators capable of producing content, industry standards also allow government agencies to draw on a range of existing learning resources, says Simon Hann, president of Australia's eLearning Industry Association.

For example, Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is a collection of eLearning format standards that support the transfer of content between LMSes. Building on SCORM is the more recent Tin Can API, now officially known as the Experience API (xAPI). It allows LMS software to read and write experiential data – offering the ability to record and track all types of learning experiences in a variety of environments.

Such standards allow government agencies to utilise a wide range of learning material, including multimedia content such as the vast reserves of online training and education videos. Standards also make it easier for government agencies to reuse generic compliance materials in areas such as workplace safety and anti-discrimination, rather than producing this content from scratch.

The rise of rapid eLearning development tools is also empowering organisations to develop their own resources, Hann says. This allows government agencies to make the most of inhouse expertise and subject matter experts without the need for specialist programming skills to create content.

"LinkedIn is a rich source of professional development content, plus sites like YouTube have an abundance of learning materials, but probably the biggest change in the last few years is the ability to produce your own video at a much lower cost," Hann says.

"There was a time when you'd go for high production values with actors, studios, expensive cameras and professional editing – an expensive and time-consuming process. With today's tools you can easily record a short three or four-minute video from a subject matter expert within your organisation and quickly import that video into your learning management system where you can make the most of it."

“With today's tools you can easily record a short three or fourminute video from a subject matter expert within your organisation and quickly import that video into your learning management system where you can make the most of it."

MORE THAN COMPLIANCE Many government agencies initially approach eLearning purely from a compliance perspective.

Rather than face-to-face training in a traditional classroom environment, they turn to an LMS as a quick and easy way to handle onboarding and tick the compliance boxes regarding policy awareness.

While compliance is the low-hanging fruit, a robust LMS can contribute much more to a government agency. The keys to effective eLearning are engaging content, effective assessment and flexible reporting, says Tony Carrucan, CEO and managing director of Australian eLearning provider Mediasphere.

Taking this next step with an LMS can require looking beyond the traditional "turn the page" eLearning concept, Carrucan says, to consider other approaches to learning such as scenario mapping.

A form of constructivist learning – constructing knowledge and meaning from one's experiences – scenario mapping allows learners to work through real-world scenarios. For example, call centre staff can work through real-life situations within the LMS, based on real call recordings. They can listen to the call and choose which action to take, which creates a string of reactions that in turn require more choices.

"It's a bit like Choose Your Own Adventure," Carrucan says, "but you can achieve even more with these training scenarios by applying risk profiles to each decision and analysing the results. If a few staff members are continually making the wrong decision at critical times then you can be proactive in your training for those few who need extra assistance."

Simon Hann, President, eLearning Industry Association of Australia

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 21

Education & Training

Tony Carrucan, CEO and MD, Mediasphere

As in the private sector, Carrucan is seeing government agencies pushing to achieve productivity gains from their LMS – aligning learning outcomes with business outcomes. As a result, more government customers are looking to build courses, map them to a competency and then build a learning program that incorporates a range of competencies.

"At this point the aim of the LMS is to make staff more productive, not just ensure they know what to do during a fire drill," Carrucan says. "From here the LMS helps organisations really begin to value and develop their staff members."

The LMS, he adds, “act as an intelligence portal, letting you search for talent throughout the organisation. It can also map completed modules against requirements for further training and certifications. This lets government agencies give advanced opportunities to staff who are committed to the department and keen to learn."

Once the LMS becomes a valuable department resource, it's necessary to rethink who will access the system and what information they will need at their fingertips. Along with varied access rights for key staff members, it's also important to consider the APIs required to integrate with other key systems such as human resources and enterprise resource planning.

"Buying an LMS that's landlocked is one of the worst things a department can do," Carrucan says.

"You don't want a standalone platform that sits in the corner, it needs to integrate with other systems."

Many government clients first approach the organisation assuming they'll only have a single administrator handling all the reporting. However, Carrucan says, they realistically need to support a range of stakeholders and they often end up needing multiple user groups with different access rights.

“The emergence of operational reporting is changing the way governments view learning,” he says, “when a

22 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

"It's a bit

like Choose Your Own

Adventure,

but you can achieve

even more with these training

scenarios

by applying

risk profiles to each

decision and

analysing

the results.”

department head can call up a snapshot in the middle of a meeting and see how things are tracking. A robust LMS puts a lot of useful information at your disposal."

As with many software platforms, LMS providers are making the transition to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) delivery models. SaaS not only introduces new pricing models, but equips an LMS for better scalability as well as the ability to offer remote access from a range of devices.

Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform recently established two data centres in Australia, joining global competitor Amazon Web Services in meeting the onshore hosting requirements of government agencies. Azure is the first public cloud service in Australia to pass the Australian Signals Directorate's Industry Security Registered Assessors Program compliance assessment – allowing it to securely handle a range of operational government data.

As an Australian Azure launch partner, eLearning provider Janison is benifiting from the high availability offered by data centres in New South Wales and Victoria, according to Janison business manager Tony Rothacker.

"Data jurisdiction issues can become complicated in cloud environments, which is why partnering with Azure in Australia makes a lot of sense for us and our government clients," Rothacker explains.

"Even if the data is unclassified, you need to address security concerns – and that's something that every government agency needs to consider when evaluating learning management systems and the technology behind them."

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PARTNER “External connectivity is also important when it comes to reporting features,” he adds, “so it's important to look for an LMS partner which knows

Cheryl Moore, Marketing Manager, Dimension Data Learning Solutions

how to integrate the new system with your existing systems like SAP. If you're upgrading to a flexible and powerful LMS you want to make the most of it."

Mal Shaw, chief executive of Dimension Data Learning Solutions, reiterates Rothacker's advice that choosing the right implementation partner is one of the keys to getting the most from your LMS investment.

"I think many organisations have content and they have ideas on how it could be deployed as eLearning, but in terms of driving the business outcomes they want from learning outcomes I would guide organisations to engage with learning solutions specialists," Shaw says.

Mobility is one key area where an LMS implementation partner can prove their worth, adds Dimension Data Learning Solutions national vendor and marketing manager Cheryl Moore.

"People don't have time necessarily to sit in a classroom, which is one reason why eLearning does have a place in many organisations. Making

"Data jurisdiction issues can become complicated in cloud environments, which is why partnering with Azure in Australia makes a lot of sense for us and our government clients. Even if the data is unclassified, you need to address security concerns â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and that's something that every government agency needs to consider when evaluating learning management systems and the technology behind them."

Mal Shaw, CEO, Dimension Data Learning Solutions

learning and training available from smartphones and tablets increases the likelihood of that training being completed, with a robust LMS on the back-end providing an audit trail," Moore says.

"If you're using it properly an LMS can manage not just your eLearning but also your face-to-face instructor-led training. It can tie into other systems that maybe clients would use for performance reviews, plus it's becoming more social â&#x20AC;&#x201C; more like Facebook or Yammer for the enterprise. There's more discussion and forums, where you get more collaboration and engagement."

It's essential that these kinds of requirements are clearly addressed in the planning and tender phases, rather than being treated as an afterthought, says Simon Hann of the eLearning Industry Association.

"The fact is that many LMS implementations do not work out, or do not meet the full expectations of the organisation putting them in place," he says.

"Where you just take something out of the box and don't allow sufficient investment in the set-up, implementation and design, that's when an LMS project typically fails. Often it's one of those 'you don't know what you don't know' situations where the support from an LMS provider and/or an integrator makes all the difference." â&#x2014;?

Tony Rothacker, Business Manager, Janison .

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 23

Interview

IMMIGRATION HELPS SKILLED WORKERS LIVE THE LIFE AUSTRALIA The appeal of the Aussie lifestyle rates high on the reasons foreign workers come to Australia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so it was a natural place to start when the Department of Immigration and Border Protection set out on an ambitious socialmedia campaign to raise awareness of Australia as a migration destination for skilled workers.

That campaign resulted in Live the Life Australia, an ongoing social-media campaign that combines a series of animated videos with Facebook and other socialmedia interactions. It has proved extremely popular amongst the department's clientele, helping direct them to relevant information on Australian visas.

The project was a finalist in the 2014 GTR Social Media in the Public Sector awards, and GTR spoke with public affairs officers Timo Greenwood and Rebecca English to hear more about their social-media success.

30 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

ENGLISH: The live the life Australia campaign came about with the need to fill Australia's migration program.

Each year the department sets a certain umber of permanent visas for skilled and family visas. We focus on skilled migration because it's good for Australia's economy, it's good for Australian businesses to fill the skill shortages they have in their own businesses.

So we went about researching previous skilled migrants who had applied for a skilled visa, and found out that they are really attracted to Australia for lifestyle reasons. So, we tried to incorporate that as much as possible in the messaging. That came about by working with an external agency to develop the concept, and it pretty much went from there.

GREENWOOD: In terms of the concept we worked on a torn page motif, so writing a note to yourself about what your'e going to do that day or what your plans are. And the plan is to Live the Life Australia. So, we really wanted to concentrate on the lifestyle aspect of Australia, less so the working aspect of Australia, which is what came out of the research.

So, we had two forms that we produced this through, static images that we branded with the torn paper motif and also a video series and animated video series that we worked with the external company to produce â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and we branded our social media channels and produced all this content across these channels.

GTR: What made you decide to do the animated series?

GREENWOOD: Because we're doing targeted posts to our key countries, which had different demographics and different wants and needs to become skilled migrants to come to Australia, we wanted something that was quite universal – non gender specific, non race specific. And the best way to do that, we found, was through animation, so we could encapsulate the most through each video and engage with the biggest audience.

ENGLISH: Absolutely. And we really wanted something that was quite shareable, and would cut across cultures. And I think the video has achieved that. Migration is a big step for people to take to another country, so to be able to share information with family and friends about opportunities in Australia and the visa options available to them, it's really just the first step of the journey on their way to Australia if they choose to make that journey.

GTR: So you intentionally worked to make a very friendly, approachable image for Australia? It was almost a tourism campaign, wasn't it?

GREENWOOD: We tried our best to stay away from all that, but our research showed that the lifestyle is the biggest thing that attracts skilled migrants to Australia.

ENGLISH: It's not all about the career prospects. I think the lifestyle and career go hand in hand. That's what Australia is famous for.

GREENWOOD: People see Australia as the ultimate in work-life balance.

GTR: And that was reflected throughout your campaign. What did you find was the most effective channel for engaging people?

ENGLISH: Facebook, without a doubt. We were really blown away by the extent to which people engage with us on Facebook, and were willing to share and like the content. Particularly the videos. The still images did quite well, and the stories of the previous skilled migrants that we shared online. But the videos – I think, because they were just so fun, and different, and creative, and quirky – that people just really wanted to get onboard and share the message.

GREENWOOD: I think with all our channels we're pretty lucky that they have settled themselves into key audiences. And with

Facebook we find that's where skilled migrants go as well as students. So, we knew that was going to be a big channel for us.

Normally, we're doing face to camera, about 90 second to 60 second videos, highly informative, giving notes on how to apply for a visa and things such as that. So, this campaign really stepped away from that in the animated aspect and the 30 second grab of it all really seemed to engage with our clients on Facebook.

GTR: How did you manage the branding of a department which really is very high visibility?

GREENWOOD: We are pretty liberal in the way that we brand our social media. We have a few campaigns throughout the year, 5 or 6, and we brand all social media that way. And throughout the rest of the year it's a generic branding.

But we have to take account every time we do a campaign on social media, that it doesn't turn our Facebook page into Live the Life Australia for the month or 3 months or 6 months that we're doing that campaign. There's still a page that's going to generate questions on student visas, and advocacy groups talking to us on Twitter about refugee issues, and things like that.

So, we're fully aware that these things are not specific to certain campaigns, and have to take into account that our clients use them for a variety of reasons.

ENGLISH: Absolutely, and I think people realise that there is a difference between our branding and a campaign branding, in a sense. It is short-term campaigns, and not necessarily forever.

GREENWOOD: Like you said, it's quite out there in the public eye. People know our brand, and we have the opportunity to rebrand for specific campaigns, and people still know that we are the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

ENGLISH: And it's such a positive message as well, and I think people are happy to share the positivity around our work. It's quite rewarding.

GTR: Is that reflected in the feedback you're getting? Was there a sense that this helped make the department in Australia more friendly and more known?

GREENWOOD: We found that when we do a post, we sometimes get questions on all aspects of the department. But we found that this campaign is really centralised, and that people are really interested in coming to Australia, to Live the Life Australia, to be a skilled migrant.

So, I think it's been our most successful campaign so far in terms of really centralising the conversation on one topic. And people really respond to that. We don't get a lot of questions that were “how do I apply” multiple times over and over again, which is easy to respond to. But then we did get more challenging questions where people are giving the specifics of XYZ and how will this affect my visa application?

GTR: How do you draw the line between what you can offer them and what you can respond to them? How flexible can you be?

ENGLISH: With each of our social media pages we have commenting guidelines around what we can and can't respond to. We draw the line, if it's really quite a client specific query we can't respond about client specific cases in a public forum, just for privacy reasons really.

And if people provide personal details, unfortunately we do have to remove them.

But we do let people know, we tag them in the responses and say “sorry, we've had to remove your post as you have provided personal details, but here's information about your visa. And if you need to contact us, here's a contact page to contact a client service officer.”

As long as you provide that feedback why you've removed the post, and follow up and try to assist them as much as you can through Facebook, I think people realise we can only do so much through Facebook.

This is an excerpt from a video interview on the GTR Knowledge Series Web site. Please visit www.gtrknowledgeseries.com.au to view the rest of this and many other insightful interviews with public-sector technology thought leaders. ●

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 31

Head-to-Head

BIG DATA

GETTING BIGGER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND BUSINESSES ALIKE ARE STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP WITH THE RUSH OF DATA THEIR SYSTEMS ARE GENERATING – YET THEIR VERY SUCCESS AND OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY DEPENDS ON BEING ABLE TO USE THAT DATA IN MORE STRATEGIC AND EFFECTIVE WAYS. THIS HAS CREATED A PRESSING NEED FOR BETTER SOLUTIONS – AND THE RISE OF BIG-DATA ANALYSIS SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES HAS PROVIDED THE BEST OPPORTUNITY YET TO KEEP ON TOP OF THE DATA FLOOD.

32 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

W

hile big data is an evolution of early methods of data analysis in many ways – data warehousing, OLAP, and business analytics have all found their niches but typically been constrained in application to specific tasks for specific users – it also integrates new technologies and techniques such as cloud computing, new application platforms and mobile devices.

Done correctly, big-data investments promise to deliver more value than ever from organisational data – often delivering insight as soon as it's created. But there are risks and challenges involved as well.

To find out where those challenges lie – and what government agencies can do to make big data work for them – we sat down with Dirk Klein, ANZ director for public sector with analytics specialists SAS and Dan Hookham, principal consultant with transformational consulting firm Velrada, to hear how they're helping Australian agencies make the most of big data.

GTR: BIG DATA HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MAJOR STRATEGIC DRIVERS FOR BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT USERS. HOW MATURE IS THE VISION? KLEIN: 'Big data' is a new word put on something that has been around for quite a long time. What the whole discussion around it has done, is really raised people's consciousness about the value that's locked up in the data – and the need to move to analytics in a systemic and endemic way across the organisation to unlock value for better decision and program management.

HOOKHAM: There is no question that the value of using big data techniques and tools is becoming ubiquitous, but we are finding that there is still a very risk averse approach being taken. There is a significant amount of trepidation around the skills required to implement the technology, the data privacy concerns – which are always raised when we talk about big data in government – and a misunderstanding about the entry costs.

GTR: ONE OF THE BIG OBSTACLES TO PREVIOUS DATA-WAREHOUSING STRATEGIES WAS THE PERCEPTION THAT DATA NEEDED TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAN BEFORE IT COULD BE PROPERLY USED. IS THAT ALSO THE CASE FOR BIG-DATA EFFORTS?

“IN THE PAST, BIG DATA HAS BEEN APPROACHED FROM A TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVE. PEOPLE WERE FOCUSED ON SOLVING THE TECHNOLOGY ISSUES, BUT ISSUES LIKE DATA QUALITY, MIGRATION, AND MANAGEMENT ARE NOT ISSUES THAT WILL EVER BE 100 PERCENT RESOLVED. NOW, THE FOCUS HAS SHIFTED TO PEOPLE SAYING THAT DATA HAS TO BE GOOD, USABLE, AND TRUSTWORTHY – BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT.” Dirk Klein, SAS

HOOKHAM: Traditional ETL (extract, transform and load) is predominantly built around a batch model, where integration processes either push or pull information from source systems (such as the HR system, the finance system or the core banking system), on a time-based schedule or trigger event.

Data is then factored through the information architecture, towards the exploitation layer for consumers to interrogate or other systems to use. An apt analogy is creating stacks of red and green LEGO, each pin interconnecting through a consistent interlock.

The data integration model for big data is built around the three V’s – Volume, Velocity, and especially Variety – and requires a different approach to ensure the changing nature/shape of information is managed, in real time, and at pace.

The LEGO analogy relates a large bucket of different shaped bricks, piped though industrial fire hoses.

As examples of existing capabilities, solution offerings such as Microsoft Analytics Platform System appliance incorporate traditional ETL (SQL Server) and big data integration (HDInsight/Hadoop) with an overarching query model (PolyBase, which enables users to easily query PDW and HDInsight data using T-SQL, without investing in Hadoop-based skills or training). Hortonworks Data Platform provides orchestration to integrate a variety of source data models with Hadoop.

KLEIN: In the past, big data has been approached from a technology perspective. People were focused on solving the technology issues, but issues like data quality, migration, and management are not issues that will ever be 100 percent resolved. Now, the focus has shifted to people saying that data has to be good, usable, and trustworthy – but it doesn't have to be perfect. There's a more pragmatic view of the process saying 'let's focus on the data which is valuable to the decision making process'.

GTR: What requirements are driving government agencies to embrace big data?

HOOKHAM: The entities we are seeing use these technologies either have teams who do statistical work (occasionally with a Data Scientist) or have an undeniable need for the technology. The Australian Crime Commission, for example, need big data techniques and tools to keep on top of the different ways individuals and groups communicate between one another.

KLEIN: Part of the desire that gets talked about a lot is to gain that single view of the citizen or taxpayer, breaking through internal silos and adding external perspectives to that. This way, you can tailor your interaction to the taxpayer in their circumstances rather than having a one size fits all approach. This avoids the fallout you get when certain decisions get

GTR NOV/DEC 2014 | 33

Head-to-Head

made in isolation off some data that is accessible but not known about.

The areas we've focused on, and that are being confirmed by the government, focus on areas that we term proactive compliance management – using analytics to detect non-compliance; to deal with issues of fraud, waste and abuse; and a focus on money flows and financials around that. They're also working on understanding citizen behaviour to deal with issues of inadvertent non-compliance where systems are too complex and hard to use.

With big data they are abel to see where people are stumbling.

GTR: OLD BUSINESS-INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS RELIED HEAVILY ON SPECIALISED DATA ANALYSTS TO PREPARE REPORTS FOR OTHER USERS. HOW MUCH DO TODAY'S BIGDATA SYSTEMS RELY ON THIS? HOOKHAM: In our view, the Big Data model is a complementary offering that can effectively co-exist with traditional enterprise data warehouses or data repositories. Over the years, data warehousing has primarily focused on consolidating multiple systemsof-record, applying business rules and implementing conformity to enable a single source of truth on a (mostly) singular platform. The Big Data paradigm metaphorically represents a constant stream of data, not necessarily structured but of a consistency (think web traffic) which loosely represents states of systems, sensors or devices.

KLEIN: We've moved on from thinking that is you get a data warehouse and run it up, then your problem is solved. The focus now is very much on what you can do with that data, and people are becoming more pragmatic about what they need to do to make that accessible.

One of the things we've seen is that as you use some of these modern, user-friendly tools and push that analytical capability out to the actual business user, the front-line policy developers, program managers, and customer service people are starting to see everything they can do with this data that they now have access to and can slice and dice and discover.

They become part of the feedback loop in the data management area; they can point the technical people to those areas where they see shortcomings, and where improvement would lead to better analytical outcomes. Then the technology guys can focus on the stuff that really needs fixing, rather than trying to come up with the perfect solution around this.

34 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

“IF YOU CAN FIND THE PEOPLE IN YOUR ORGANISATION WHO KNOW UNDERSTAND HOW THE ORGANISATION RUNS AND TRANSLATE THAT INTO DATA FLOWS, YOU JUST NEED TO PARTNER THEM WITH ONE OF YOUR YOUNG, UP AND COMING BIG DATA TECHNOLOGISTS AND THE POSSIBILITIES ARE TRULY LIMITLESS.” Dan Hookham, Velrada

GTR: HOW HAS THIS CHANGED THE RELATIVE ROLES OF TECHNICAL STAFF AND BUSINESS USERS? KLEIN: What we're seeing in a lot of our customer engagements is a tandem arrangement: It defines its role as providing a service and making all the parts of the data accessible to the business. Then they provide self-service capabilities to the business users through in-memory visual analytics where people can access their database and profile depending on what they see. Then they can do their own analytics, discovery, and so on.

If you go back to the old model with OLAP there was a considerable amount of work involved in creating those cubes, and it was a very cumbersome sort of arrangement. But the need for that has mostly gone away, and IT no longer becomes the constraint.

This has enabled a significant shift – from analytics being the domain of a few really clever people, to moving that capability right through the organisation and making it an endemic, core enterprise capability the same as other productivity tools.

HOOKHAM: The movement to adding big data tools and techniques to an organisation’s BI portfolio is one of people capability. Whereas data warehousing has high technical demands, big data tools do not require anything more complex, but place a higher dependency on users who have the combination of technical skills and an understanding of the business and its data to add real value to any work that is done.

GTR: HOW CAN GOVERNMENT AGENCIES MAKE A BIG DATA BUSINESS CASE WORK? HOOKHAM: Working with customers who are at various stages on their big data journey, we’re seeing some very different approaches to the more traditional BI business cases. Firstly, we’ve seen some companies using big data technology to speed up their ETL processes. This is taking advantage of the big data software to take the weight off standard ETL processes in the heavy lifting areas. The cost benefit ratio here is a small margin, but it allows teams to better understand how to use the technology.

On the opposite end of the scale, we’re seeing people invest in the technology and the people (data scientists) as a sunk cost for the first year or two. They are treating it like an R&D investment with the knowledge that it only requires one ‘big break’ to make their investment stack up against more BAU activity. There’s a clear understanding that

Head-to-Head

big data provides options to answer questions that were previously not possible to answer without very significant manual effort. However, the organisation needs to know what questions to ask before they can unlock that value, hence the R&D approach.

If you don’t have a specific question that you want to answer and the people who know what to look for to answer that question, then need to accept that you are going to have to invest. How long you have to invest for is dependant on those you invest in. Therefore, one of the major challenges here is managing expectations and getting buy-in for outlaying a sum of money that may not yield a return in a standard annual cycle.

GTR: THE RELEASE OF AGIMO'S BIG DATA STRATEGY HAS FORMALISED BIG-DATA EXPECTATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, BUT HOW MUCH WILL IT HELP SPUR ADOPTION? KLEIN: Through the development of that strategy the thinking was reshaped from this focus on data management towards the value of big data analytics, and fundamentally what they've said was absolutely right. It was absolutely consistent with what we have been saying to people, and to the discussions I've been having. Whether it's the case that it's us or AGIMO, they're getting pretty much the same advice – and heeding that advice.

GTR: How involved should executives be in bigdata initiatives?

KLEIN: We're certainly seeing that where senior executives 'get it' and adopt big data, the adoption across the organisation happens much more quickly. And my observation over decades of work in government is that real change only occurs when the pressure comes downwards – when executives and ministers become more demanding, and demand to see evidential policies for the programs that are being put up and the suggestions being made. It forces a very different work practice on the organisation. And until that happens, typically many people will resist change.

HOOKHAM: The Lateral Economics reports suggests that harnessing big data in Federal government is worth at least $16bn in cost savings and revenue generation. This sort of motivator exists in the minds of many CIOs, but defining the business case on a topic that is still immature has proven challenging.

One of the ways we approach this is to use a proof of concept on a very specific business issue, and use this to demonstrate value to a subset of business users who may be quite sceptical. A proof of concept is not a one-off (it is actually a repeatable process done to

36 | GTR NOV/DEC 2014

validate requirements) and is invaluable in performing the dual purpose of educating around the potential of BI solutions, as well as demonstrating the business value for a specific issue.

“THE LATERAL ECONOMICS REPORT SUGGESTS THAT HARNESSING BIG DATA IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS WORTH AT LEAST $16BN IN COST SAVINGS AND REVENUE GENERATION. THIS SORT OF MOTIVATOR EXISTS IN THE MINDS OF MANY CIOS, BUT DEFINING THE BUSINESS CASE ON A TOPIC THAT IS STILL IMMATURE

GTR: WHERE CAN ORGANISATIONS GET THE SKILLS TO MAKE BIG DATA A SUCCESS? KLEIN: One thing we've done as a company, in the government space in particular, is to re-work our go to market approach. If we went back four years we were pretty typical as a software vendor in that we would sell the software to solve a problem, come install it, provide training, and basically leave people to themselves.

Now, we have massively increased our service and consulting capability: a typical model is that we will not only sell the software but the experts with it, who wil work within the customer teams to really work on the business problem and find a solution to it. Customers love it and the uptake has been staggering.

HOOKHAM: In terms of using the technology, we’re seeing the younger generation of programmers really take flight here. Those who are learning Java in university as a first language and think of problems from an Internet perspective – for example, that you might need to interrogate data in more than one place on the internet – are those who can really help unlock the minds of the more ‘classic’ technology people.

On the other side of the coin, the most successful example we’ve seen yet was a PhD student/ lecturer who had a doctorate in one topic and had studied programming. His understanding of the subject and the data that made up that subject were complemented by his technical abilities that we just enhanced. A true data scientist. He is one of a very select bunch, but if you can find the people in your organisation who know understand how the organisation runs and translate that into data flows, you just need to partner them with one of your young, up and coming big data technologists and the possibilities are truly limitless.

HAS PROVEN CHALLENGING. ” Dan Hookham, Velrada

GTR: MOBILITY HAS ADDED A NEW ELEMENT TO BIG DATA BY ALLOWING INSTANTANEOUS ACCESS TO RICH ANALYTICS NO MATTER WHERE AN EMPLOYEE IS. HOW ARE YOU SEEING MOBILITY HELP THE BIG-DATA CAUSE? KLEIN: Once you have your data in a tool like Visual Analytics, exposing that through an Apple or

Android device is very straightforward. Dashboards, and the ability to drill down into the data, is made available to executives, managers, and others.

GTR: Cloud services have also become part of the mix, whether for cloud storage or full cloud analytics. How important is it that big-data adopters consider cloud usage as part of their solution?

HOOKHAM: The cloud presents the most significant opportunity for government agencies to create completely scalable solutions. The historic challenge of performance in the cloud is becoming a non-issue leaving only the ever-present challenge of data sovereignty. With the introduction of Australian data centres from companies like Microsoft the challenge of data sovereignty moves away from being a legal problem and remains as a mindset challenge.

Analytics in the cloud offer an extremely cost effective solution, especially given the nature of analytics work requires that datasets be created, deleted, changed and then deleted again before repeating the process. It may present some data integration challenges at times (security and moving data), but this is a surmountable issue.

KLEIN: We do a lot of cloud delivery already – we have something like 400 cloud customers in 70 countries – so cloud has its place. However, I'm not convinced it's the panacea that some people would paint it to be. It's definitely an option that's in line with the government's own cloud policy, and it's something the agency needs to look at to establish its suitability. But there are caveats, and issues that organisations need to take into consideration.

Within analytics, I think some parts lend themselves well to cloud delivery – particularly in analytics where you're getting that capability into business processes. If they're not in the cloud, you can see the issue that raises – and then there's the issue of network performance in the cloud environment.

A cloud concept can work well in large agencies or in state governments, where you may have analytics set up as an internal, private cloud that provides an easy means of delivering those services to all parts of the business. And for smaller agencies that have had no analytical capability and barriers to entry might be a challenge, the cloud is well worth looking at.

GTR: HOW SHOULD AGENCIES WEIGH THE BALANCE OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CLOUD? HOOKHAM: There are many advantages to using a cloud based approach, with the primary being the flexibility of the infrastructure and the

“A CLOUD CONCEPT CAN WORK WELL IN LARGE AGENCIES OR IN STATE GOVERNMENTS, WHERE YOU MAY HAVE ANALYTICS SET UP AS AN INTERNAL, PRIVATE CLOUD THAT PROVIDES AN EASY MEANS OF DELIVERING THOSE SERVICES TO ALL PARTS OF THE BUSINESS. AND FOR SMALLER AGENCIES THAT HAVE HAD NO ANALYTICAL CAPABILITY AND BARRIERS TO ENTRY MIGHT BE A CHALLENGE, THE CLOUD IS WELL WORTH LOOKING AT. ” Dirk Klein, SAS

ability to flex environments and resources up and down as you need to. Accepting you’re going to need to invest in big data means you accept the R&D nature of it, so supporting it with the right technology approach is giving you the best chance of getting value out it.

On the matter of public versus private cloud, the capabilities are often no different. If anything, the public cloud should give you greater flexibility at a cheaper cost (due to economies of scale). This then brings us back to the discussion of data sovereignty in the public sector. Given the ‘exploratory’ nature of investing in big data and the fact the business case doesn’t hold any guarantees, the more reasons you can give your executive to invest the better. If that’s using a private cloud to remove the uncertainty around data privacy and sovereignty, then it’s a good investment.

GTR: HOW MUCH OF A ROLE HAS HADOOP PLAYED IN IMPROVING ACCESS TO BIG-DATA CAPABILITIES? HOOKHAM: We would consider Big Data technology to be complementary to existing data management solutions such as data warehouses, rather than a replacement. We would expect an investment in the tools to yield a real benefit of being able to maximise the value of the data in your data warehouse by using it as one source of data amongst many others.

We would also expect that analysis done through the big data toolset be summarised and stored within an enterprise data warehouse (in some cases) for presentation back to users who are not data scientists or analysts. Investing in Big Data tools changes your data landscape and should enable you unlock the value of your data, but it is one of many tools, not a complete replacement.

KLEIN: Hadoop significantly lowers the cost of storing the data, but also speeds up access to the data because of the nature of its architecture. Also, the fact that it runs on commodity platforms, rather than bespoke platforms, helps to lower the cost. And we are certainly seeing a significant shift amongst customers from enterprise data warehouse centric thinking to a more hybrid approach, where you might have a data warehouse but might be looking at Hadoop.

It really has opened up more possibilities, and suggests greater variety in terms of the approaches that can be adopted. It's like cloud: It's a matter of looking at the nature of the business, the nature of the data, the architectures and so on – and asking what is the best approach in this particular context? ●

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Opinion

TRANSFORMING SOCIAL WELFARE WITH ANALYTICS

BY SAS

THE NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT USES BIG DATA TO PROFOUNDLY IMPROVE THE LIVES OF CITIZENS.

Social welfare accounts for nearly a quarter of New Zealand’s gross domestic product. Tasked with improving services while spending these funds responsibly, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is transforming its welfare system with the help of SAS Analytics.

MSD is New Zealand’s largest government agency. It spends $22 billion a year providing child protection and youth, family and employment services to more than a million New Zealanders in need. But with data showing that a startling 13 percent of the working population is on an adult benefit – many of whom had been on benefit for a decade – the agency knew a change was needed.

“The welfare system was not providing people with the support they needed to build a better future for themselves,” says Paula Bennett, Minister of Social Development.

In 2010 the agency began examining ways of reducing long-term benefit dependency. MSD’s research uncovered that a third of its total liability was attributable to those who entered the welfare system under the age of 18, and a further 40 percent was attributable to those who entered between 18 and 20 years old. It became clear if MSD was going to significantly reduce benefit dependency, it needed to focus its efforts on struggling young people.

A SMARTER STRATEGY

Out of these findings emerged what MSD refers to as the 'investment approach', a strategy designed to achieve better social and fiscal outcomes through smarter targeting of services. As with a commercial marketing campaign, the key objective is to optimise spending on various initiatives to achieve the best results. But while the private sector provides a more targeted service to increase customer retention, MSD aims to use better targeting to improve outcomes and decrease retention – that is, to support New Zealanders to be less reliant on the welfare system.

“By taking the same approach to data analytics that the corporate sector has been doing for decades,” says Bennett, “MSD saw a huge opportunity to learn more about who receives benefit and to make better decisions about the support and investment they need.”

The first step was creating a data model to estimate the risks of welfare dependency among the most vulnerable group: teen parents and young people unable to live with their families. By matching and

Paula Bennett, New Zealand's Minister of Social Development.

analysing data across several government agencies using SAS Data Management technology, MSD was able to predict the probability of this population going on to an adult benefit and, in turn, offer targeted services intended to reduce their long-term benefit dependency.

Such services included being matched with a personal mentor, learning budgeting skills, and receiving more education or training.

The strategy worked, as findings revealed that those who received the extra investment moved onto an adult benefit at the lowest level since 2008, with employment rising 9.3 percent in 2013.

BETTER TARGETING, BETTER OUTCOMES

MSD decided to take its investment approach a step further and performed a baseline valuation of the entire welfare system. The agency used 20 years of historical data to calculate the lifetime cost of everyone in the welfare system. What it found was astonishing. The valuation showed that future unemployment benefit payments – where MSD’s interventions had been focused – made up only 5 percent of the country’s overall welfare costs. With the total lifetime cost of all beneficiaries at $78 billion as of 2011, there was clear value in extending the investment approach to other groups.

This insight led to a greater focus on identifying and targeting these high-risk groups. Using SAS Campaign Management, MSD can run real-time trials to determine what works fast and track the impact of different initiatives.

Last year MSD turned its attention to sole parents and, through targeted investments in education and job placement, was able to have 8,000 sole parents come off benefit – a 9.4 percent drop.

“This is light years away from how it was in the past … with every person on benefit getting the same support,” says Bennett. “I now hear from sole parents every week who are grateful for the support they receive from case managers … people who are often the first to ask them what they want to do with their lives and then help them find work.”

“We have a golden opportunity in the social sector to use data analytics to transform the lives of New Zealanders,” says Bennett. “And that’s what we’re doing.”

For more government stories see www.sas.com/au/gov

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