Digital Services Post Pandemic: The Government Perspective

The pandemic accelerated digital technology adoption. But it was not all equal, and the experience across government is a case in point.

Building further on the article series inspired from that published in Australia’s Nobel Laureates Volume III, where we highlighted the amazing speed of technology adoption through the pandemic and then considered the sectors that we work with at IPG. The broad view was very positive on how technology, community and government interests aligned to accelerate technology adoption and create many benefits.

As we consider those sectors, we work with at IPG, in Government, Local Government, Utilities, Health and Community Services and Growing Companies, this article unpacks the Government sector.

The phenomenon put forward previously and well unpacked by Scott Galloway , Professor of Marketing at New York University Stern School of Business, is also very true of Government. The pandemic accelerated pre-existing trends, underway prior to the pandemic. With pre-existing trajectories accelerated, those that had digitisation journeys underway were better placed to accelerate much more rapidly than others.

By Mark Nicholls

PERTH, WA - 21st FEBRUARY 2021: QR code of SafeWA. A COVIDSafe app sign that collects information from customers, store, government and public buildings.

Mobile hot spot sign in remote location in Western Australia. Mobile hotspots are devices that connect to a cellular network, like 4G or 5G.

The digitisation journey is about more than the technology. The technology is an important ingredient, but just as important, or even more so is the culture and capability to utilise technology to support shifts in business strategy, policy, and legislation or to deliver existing policy more effectively.

The opportunity for lifting the productivity and effectiveness of service delivery through digital technology in Government is immense. And we saw significant investments by some governments through the pandemic. We also saw some not investing. The biggest difference does seem to be the differences in the digital aspirations of governments. This aspiration then manifests in the extent to which they invest financial resources and in capability development.

Some governments have received past criticism for digital technology investment "failures". Some have forged on regardless. While others seem to consider the risk of digital technology project failure as a political risk best avoided.

The nature of digital technology implementations presents risk. They can be new and novel investments, requiring new capabilities for successful delivery. Some failures will occur, such is the nature of this work. This is a topic outside the scope of this article, but it does fit into the culture and capability elements of technology adoption. And one thing we know is that you don’t go from low capability to high capability over-night. And you don’t build this capability by avoiding it. Moving back to digital aspiration, if we consider the use of QR codes and check-in apps, a common technology adopted by all state governments through the end of 2020 and early 2021. This provides an example of digital capability, and a potential sign of digital aspiration.

The early adopter was NSW, launched in August 2020, five months after the pandemic took hold here in Australia. The laggard sadly was QLD (being a Queenslander), launched in Feb 2021, a further six months later. NSW's check-in app was part of a broader package of services available to NSW citizens via the Service NSW app. They weren't the only state that took this approach.

The multi-purpose Service NSW app, for example, also supports the NSW digital license (car driving). With the increased need for use of the app, due to check in requirements, the adoption of the digital license was also accelerated, massively. NSW Government reported a take-up of 550,000 digital licenses in November 2019, just months before the pandemic. There are now 4.1 million issued, a growth of 3.6 million or over 600%. Additionally, the app also provides support for other licenses (e.g., Seniors, Fishing, Working with Children), and supports grants programs, and is proving to be a useful platform for a range of

government service delivery. There is even a performance dashboard on the take-up rates. See www.service.nsw. gov.au/performance-dashboard/digital-licences-statistics.

QLD's check-in app was delivered six months later than NSW. It was a one-off single purpose application. It is of no use now that the check-in app is no longer required. And has done nothing to support government service delivery more broadly.

As most observers know, QLD has no citizen services app, no digital license, and a variety of separate websites to be found and navigated depending on the service being sought.

While the check-in app is a one-off example, it provides a pertinent example for how some Governments continued to accelerate digitisation through the pandemic, while others failed to do so. The trajectories that pre-existed prior to the pandemic were accelerated or not, through the pandemic.

We have considered a few other indicators of digital aspiration in the table below: • The Telstra Digital Inclusion ranking. Prepared annually by Telstra, and while limited by its methodology and data, is a useful guide. • The CISCO Digital Readiness ranking. Prepared

annually by CISCO and now extended into an international review, is also a useful guide. • 2021-2022 budget funding, based on new investment of digital technology (excluding business as usual costs) announced in budget papers.

The below table shows two states (ACT and NSW) being clear in having high digital aspiration, and the rest battling or languishing behind that. VIC is leading this latter group right now.

As can be seen, this is not about party politics. ACT is a long-term labor government and NSW is a longterm liberal-national coalition government. It is very much about a government’s aspirations to use digital as an enabler for good government service delivery. Those that work within these governments know all this. They are the victims or beneficiaries of the aspiration, the strategy, and the funding of the Government they are in, or lack thereof. And while it can vary markedly between departments, what seems clear is that each Government as a whole sets the tone for that Government. After all, a Cabinet buys into the risk and opportunity of digital technology investment in whatever way they choose. Some see mainly risk. Some also see opportunity.

Whatever Government you are in, and however wellfunded your department, there is always more to do. The world does not stop moving, technology providers do not stop retiring old tech, customer expectations are not going backwards, and the best staff will not hang around to maintain 20-year-old infrastructure. So, what choices do you have to keep progressing. No matter where you are on the journey, these will all apply: • Enterprise platforms and cloud. These establish the foundation on which you can build future services. Moving to common enterprise platforms and into the cloud to aid agility and scalability is likely to be the best path. The high aspiration governments have whole-of-government approaches. For example, in NSW, GovDC and a number of defined whole-of-government platforms provide accelerators. Outside of these Governments, departments and agencies can adopt similar approaches on their own, or in collaboration with other departments. • Funding and costs. Transitioning your digital technology spend away from Business-asUsual (BAU) and moving higher percentage of spend into business improvement is a journey every organisation is on. This is coupled with a transition from capital spend (for asset-intensive purchasing such as servers and software licenses) to expense spend (for cloud services). Higher aspiration higher maturity governments are further advanced on this journey and are making the treasury and finance adjustments to recognise this shift from capital to expense spend. Plus, continuity of business improvement spend is more guaranteed in higher aspiration governments. Lower aspiration, lower maturity governments will welcome a reduction in BAU spend and then claw the savings back into Treasury. This does undermine capability development, continuity of progress, and damages the ability to make the longer-term strategic shifts that are required. Working on these challenges within your department become crucial. • Agile and iterative development. If done well, this can reduce delivery risk, get business and technology personnel working together, and ensures that investments deliver improvements on the ground more quickly. But it also takes some time to develop this capability. And the capability needs to exist both within the IT group and within the business. Being further advanced on Enterprise Platforms, cloud adoption and funding helps

some to be further advanced in this area too. But there is plenty that can be done here regardless. One is making this challenge a shared challenge with business areas in developing this capability, and in doing so, gaining broader support for the financial challenges. Another is finding those areas where small investments can be delivered quickly with obvious impacts. This generates confidence and momentum. Some government departments achieve this, but some local governments seem particularly good at this. • Workflow, Automation, and AI. Workflow and automation are examples of where small investments can generate obvious positive impacts. And every organisation has many opportunities here to generate productivity, reduce risk, improve service quality, and generate staff and customer benefits.

Each of the above three areas (Enterprise platforms, funding, and agile delivery) accelerate and support this area but that doesn’t stop you from making progress here. And if you are looking for agile and iterative development opportunities then implementation of workflow and automation will be excellent candidates.

These examples prove once again, that regardless of sector, the organisations that have found most success are those with the culture, capability and technology that are able to support the delivery of, and shifts in, strategy and policy. The culture, capability and technology that existed pre-pandemic supported what was required through the pandemic.

We would welcome your views and input on all aspects of this article, so please get in touch to share your views.

For more on getting the building blocks of innovation delivery in place, see this article, by IPG CEO, Mark Nicholls

A RESILIENT DIGITAL AUSTRALIA

Digital readiness is a defining characteristic of successful 21st century societies, and where we choose to invest is key.

Digital readiness is defined as how well-positioned a country, state or territory is to benefit from the digital economy across seven components: basic needs, human capital, business and government investment, ease of doing business, startup environment, technology adoption and technology Infrastructure.

Understanding our digital readiness supports decision-making in key areas where further investment or acceleration of capabilities may be required.

Cisco released its second Australian Digital

Readiness Index in 2020, providing a snapshot of Australia’s evolving digital capability at the state and territory level, and acting as a guide for where investments are needed.

Australia remains among the forefront of digitally transformed nations, ranking 12th across the globe in terms of digital readiness (according to Cisco’s 2019

Global Digital Readiness Index). It follows Iceland and

Luxembourg, and stands among Singapore, the US and European nations.

Little did we know that two years later the value of those investments would be repaid many times over by providing Australia with a robust and comprehensive digital capability that has played a critical role in our response to the

COVID-19 crisis. While the pandemic has exacted a high economic and social toll, its consequences would have been much greater had Australia not already made significant investments in digital readiness.

For example, the deployment of high-speed national network infrastructure has meant many organisations can keep their staff both safe and productive by enabling them to work from home. That same infrastructure provides a vital connection for thousands of students who participate in remote learning and has become the backbone for remote health consultations, keeping many frontline responders safe. Likewise, investment in digital skills has allowed businesses and government agencies to accelerate their rollout of digital services, including bricks-and-mortar restaurants and retailers who have switched to e-commerce to continue trading.

The investments will play a vital role in helping Australia navigate through the post-COVID-19 world, but further work is needed if we are to achieve the productivity uplifts necessary to bring Australia out of recession and ensure we remain competitive. Cisco’s global research has always shown a high correlation between digital readiness and economic prosperity, and other nations are stepping up their investments accordingly.

By Ken Boal

This infrastructure will deliver to its full potential only if we invest in building the skills of our people to use, create and defend digital services.

Australian industry has a desperate and growing need for people equipped for a dynamic, digitised world

In addition to the need for ongoing support of the higher education sector, Cisco has joined forces with TAFE Directors Australia and our partner Optus to call on the Australian Government to assess the growth in technology-intensive jobs requiring sub-degree-level qualifications in order to help the TAFE sector more rapidly prepare for, and respond to, anticipated demand. We have also called for funding of the development and delivery of micro-credential digital programs to help in the reskilling and upskilling of workers displaced by recent developments.

Australian industry has a desperate and growing need for people equipped for a dynamic, digitised world, including having general digital skills that help businesses to move up the value chain as industries further automate. Development of "blue tech" or digital trade skills will be vital to meeting those needs.

Critically, we must also be sure not to lose sight of the need for the outcomes of these investments to be shared equitably across Australia. Equitable access to digital services and training represents the 21st century equivalent of the age-old Australian concept of giving everyone a "fair go". The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of continued investment to ensure those communities that are least served digitally today do not experience additional hardship from future events.

It is important that we don’t become complacent about Australia’s digital readiness. The index highlights the need for accelerating new investment with a focus on improving Australia’s global competitiveness and bridging the divide between states to build further societal resilience. Growing digital divides within and between states need to be addressed for Australia to unleash the totality of its digital potential. Government, industry and academia will have key roles to play in empowering our country to become a global digital leader and build resilience for our economy. The example of rapidly emerging countries such as Singapore, which ranked first in the global Index, should help Australia set its ambition for digital readiness.

Digital readiness is the key to economic prosperity, but it is also critical to building societal resilience. Only by continuing to invest in our digital capabilities can we maximise the benefits in the good times and ensure we are best placed to manage the future crises that will inevitably come our way.

Ken Boal is vice president, Cisco, Australia & New Zealand.