GovTech Review Q2 2024

WOMEN IN PUBLIC SECTOR IT

INCREASING GENDER-DIVERSE

PERSPECTIVES

SYSTEM COMPLEXITY MANAGING COMPLEX HYBRID ENVIRONMENTS

OPTIMISING AI DRIVING SOCIETAL ADVANCEMENT

Insider

Our collective experience with artificial intelligence thus far has raised many concerns in relation to how much we can trust automated systems to be unbiased and inclusive, and to provide the services we need in the way we need them to be — while maintaining our security and privacy. Implementing automated technology without human input may well be a recipe for major problems down the line.

Senior technology roles have long been male-dominated, but now more than ever there is a need for women to play a greater role — especially when it comes to providing more diverse perspectives and influencing cybersecurity regulatory compliance and data protection policy standards across government. Today, women still only represent approximately 25% of the technology sector in Australia — even less among executive levels — highlighting the need to not only invest more in attracting women into STEM programs but also to focus on looking beyond technical skills, where gender-diverse perspectives and insights can help influence and shape regulatory policy, particularly in sectors where women dominate in numbers.

On an apparently different subject, our lead story this issue looks at the problem of too much complexity in government IT systems, where there is a need for tools to help manage the increasing complexity — made worse by an increasing mix of legacy, hybrid and cloud technologies — and AI can play a role here. When government employees are unable to obtain a unified view of data they are limited in their ability to collaborate, make decisions and work efficiently, once again highlighting the relationship between people and the technology that is meant to serve us.

The idea of utilising AI to help with these issues will be a hot topic of discussion for some time to come. Some governments (particularly at the state and local government levels) are already implementing automated decision-making systems — with the aim of improving services for citizens — but the spectre of the Robodebt scandal still looms large, and government agencies need to take great care to balance AI with human involvement and to maintain transparency in pursuing AI-based automation.

The challenges and risks of implementing AI at scale need to be carefully considered, balancing stakeholder interests, governance, data privacy and security and ethical risks — an area where diverse views need to be considered in order to avoid the types of problems that the lack of transparency and effective governance the Robodebt debacle exposed.

AI by itself cannot solve all problems. After all, the purpose of government is to support the people, and it is the human aspect of government services that need to be front of mind in any technology advances: whether it is managing IT systems or providing public services.

Glenn Johnson, Editor gtr@wfmedia.com.au

ART

(SHY

Glenn

Deborah

ART/PRODUCTION

Marija Tutkovska

CIRCULATION

Dianna Alberry circulation@wfmedia.com.au

Mitchie Mullins copy@wfmedia.com.au

ADVERTISING

Headlines

Australian researchers launch global misinformation database

A group of Australian researchers has launched an online database to track global policies and regulations around misinformation. The aim of the world-first database is to eventually provide freely accessible information on all digital policies.

After receiving funding from the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities program, academics from the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales (UNSW) and University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) developed the International Digital Policy Observatory (IDPO), a free online database tracking policies and regulations from 50 countries around the world.

The database will first focus on misinformation and fake news, and will eventually include artificial intelligence regulation, online harms, cybersecurity and digital identity.

It will serve as what the researchers describe as the “world’s first comprehensive open-source and freely accessible database to track developments in digital and internet regulation internationally”.

Project lead and University of Sydney Professor Terry Flew said the database has been developed to allow all Australians to access accurate information on digital policies and industry insights from around the globe in order to “advance multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing and regulatory best practice”.

“With the internet increasingly monopolised by a small number of tech giants, governments and community organisations need information and resources that provide countervailing power,” he said. “The IDPO is enabling infrastructure that policymakers and regulators can use to be aware of what is happening globally around key issues in the digital economy.”

The aim is for the database to help academics, policymakers, regulators, the ICT industry and advocacy groups to raise awareness of global issues in the digital economy space, beginning with misinformation, and to place Australia at the “forefront of regulatory best practice in the digital economy”

Macquarie Government selected for Australian Defence procurement panel

Macquarie Government, part of Macquarie Technology Group, has announced it has been added to the Information Communications Technology Provider Arrangement (ICTPA) panel.

Established in 2018 to replace the Applications Managed Service Partner Agreement (AMSPA), the ICTPA has been designed to facilitate IT service buying for Defence and related government agencies.

The addition to the ICTPA panel will enable Australian defence and intelligence agencies to leverage Macquarie Government’s sovereign cloud, network perimeter cybersecurity and Security Operations Centre (SOC). Macquarie already works with more than 42% of federal government agencies and is the only strategic levelcertified provider of both data centre and cloud services in Australia under the government’s Hosting Certification Framework.

“This is a significant step which reflects the trust and recognition of Australian companies investing in sovereign outcomes,” said Michael Davies, Head of Federal Government at Macquarie Government. “Our longstanding delivery of Defence services through our Defence partners and primes demonstrates our dedication to supporting the Australian Government and its secure digital transformation journey.”

This appointment comes at a pivotal time for Australia, with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles recently unveiling an increase to defence spending of an additional $50.3 billion over the next decade, paving the way for a sovereign capability uplift, building on the 2023 Defence Strategic Review. It also comes as the government is progressing its national Cyber Security Strategy, in which sovereign capabilities were highlighted as a vital ‘shield’ to boost homegrown capabilities and reduce Australia’s dependence on offshore providers.

Macquarie Government Managing Director Aidan Tudehope welcomed the panel selection, given Macquarie Government’s history of providing services and expertise in cybersecurity, infrastructure and cloud services to a large and increasing range of government agencies and personnel.

“We see this as a pivotal moment for Macquarie Government, which reflects our commitment to supporting Australian Defence and national security,” he said.

Aidan Tudehope, Managing Director of Macquarie Government, and Adam Flint, Director of ICT Strategy, Department of Defence.

ADDRESSING PUBLIC SECTOR IT COMPLEXITY

OBSERVABILITY CAN HELP GOVERNMENT IT LEADERS REDUCE TODAY’S SYSTEM COMPLEXITY AND MANAGE COMPLEX HYBRID ENVIRONMENTS.

Sascha Giese*

Awell-executed home renovation goes beyond cosmetic repairs and surface-level aesthetics — it delves into the structural bones of a home. This approach doesn’t just revitalise the house’s appearance, but also enhances its overall integrity and efficiency. Meaningful digital transformation requires a similar approach.

The key to digital transformation in the public sector lies in unifying data. Over the years, the Australian Government’s data and digital ecosystem have become a hotchpotch of disjointed legacy systems, bespoke technologies1 and architecture solutions designed to solve common issues rather than address whole-of-government needs. With limited information flowing between these services, government employees are unable to obtain a unified view of data. This limits their ability to collaborate, make decisions and work efficiently.

To complicate matters further, most government organisations have moved at least part of their operations to the cloud. The current mix of legacy, hybrid, and cloud technologies makes it difficult for IT administrators to monitor and manage distributed network, cloud, system, application, and database infrastructure. In such circumstances, it isn’t unusual for different teams, departments, and agencies to acquire their own monitoring tools. The result? Even more complexity due to toolset overlap, inefficiency, and even shadow IT concerns.

To overcome these challenges, the government must streamline IT operations and prioritise end-to-end visibility across the IT stack. One long-term solution is observability, which provides centralised insights, automated analytics and actionable intelligence across onpremises and multi-cloud environments.

Let’s examine three ways that observability goes beyond traditional monitoring to help government IT leaders efficiently manage hybrid IT complexity.

1. CENTRALISING VISIBILITY AND REDUCING TOOL SPRAWL

Traditionally, government organisations adopted a diverse set of best-of-breed and bespoke products to monitor and manage different parts of their technology stacks. However, over time this approach has led to tool sprawl and escalating costs. Disparate monitoring tools often result in information silos, conflicting data and alert fatigue. This ultimately burdens IT teams seeking to obtain the comprehensive view of issues and outages required to ensure the continuity of mission-critical government systems.

Modern observability solutions provide end-to-end oversight of service delivery and component dependencies across on-premises, hybrid and multicloud environments. Through a single pane of glass, teams can receive health scores and insights from all networks, applications, databases and systems. This fully integrated view enables IT teams to identify and diagnose service issues and determine root causes more efficiently. It also allows teams to identify which tools are mission-critical and which are largely redundant. This supports efforts to ‘trim the fat’, leading to lower maintenance costs and optimised IT spending.

Having a single source of truth for the entire IT environment doesn’t just eliminate the need for costly piecemeal monitoring and IT management tools — it also frees employees to focus on higher-value work. Once they’re no longer required to chase down a barrage of alerts or errors that could be false positives, IT professionals can devote more energy to evaluating ways to improve the stability and uptime of crucial digital services. Beyond combating tool sprawl complexity and runaway costs, observability solutions offer government agencies an effective way to maximise their most valuable resource: talented and competent IT professionals.

Observability

2. GAINING FORESIGHT WITH AIOPS

Observability solutions can apply cross-domain correlation, machine learning and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) to analyse data from across the entire IT environment, producing deep but digestible insights into network operations. With this intelligent view of an organisation’s sprawling infrastructure, government IT administrators can reduce alert noise and accelerate issue remediation.

AIOps-powered observability also allows administrators to anticipate network issues, detect anomalies and proactively address issues before they impact the availability of essential public services, employee experience and day-to-day operations. Machine learning technology means the solution will continually refine its intelligent alerting capabilities over time, improving the accuracy of alert logs while reducing time to resolution for the most common IT issues.

Imagine these capabilities deployed across the entire government organisation. AIOps has the potential to significantly accelerate organisationwide IT analysis and response by automatically collecting and correlating all relevant background data for issue diagnosis from the patchwork of applications, systems or solutions used by various agency teams. IT teams are equipped with the intelligence and insight they need to build automated responses, ensuring that the right people are alerted and the proper processes are triggered at the appropriate time.

3. MODERNISING WHILE MAINTAINING LEGACY SYSTEM SUPPORT

The Australian Government’s new Data and Digital Government Strategy2 aims to deliver simple, secure and connected public services for all people and businesses through world-class data and digital capabilities by 2030. However, digital transformation of the public sector will require the digitisation

of sensitive and confidential documents in various formats, usually for longterm preservation. The enormity of this task means that legacy IT systems will likely remain in place for some time, and IT admins will still need to manage complex hybrid environments.

The complexity and risks involved in hybrid IT environments cannot be understated. When even one minor misconfiguration or system outage can rapidly cascade and impact multiple systems before IT has time to react, proactive prevention and risk mitigation is key. On the most basic level, observability solutions built for hybrid cloud environments equip admins to better manage risks through combined visibility over both legacy and modern systems. This allows them to detect anomalous system interactions or deviations that could collectively cascade into a crippling outage.

Observability’s risk mitigation benefits also work the other way: facilitating managed integrations of new applications, services and infrastructure into the hybrid environment. By studying telemetry data created by both new and legacy infrastructure, IT teams will better understand the potential gaps and integration issues they may encounter down the line. This empowers them to allocate the appropriate resources to build a solution before that happens. Proactivity is further supported by AIOps, which introduces the possibilities of automated self-remediation and improved resiliency in hybrid environments. IT teams can uphold service continuity and stability without being bogged down by the inherent complexity and ambiguity of hybrid environments.

All in all, government agencies are better served by observability solutions designed for today’s dynamic hybrid cloud environments. By leveraging an observability solution that can be self-hosted or in the cloud, government agencies can select the deployment option that works for them, now and in the future.

LESS IS MORE: THE KEY TO SIMPLIFYING PUBLIC SECTOR INFRASTRUCTURES

The current mix of legacy, hybrid and cloud technologies used by the government has created a complex operational environment. IT teams should prioritise observability to address this complexity before implementing the Data and Digital Government Strategy. With end-to-end visibility, IT administrators can properly oversee their entire IT infrastructure, sunset piecemeal monitoring tools and increase productivity with AIOps.

The advantages of observability aren’t limited to the management of complex hybrid environments. Equipped with the right observability solution, government agencies will also have the confidence and control they need to build, deploy and stabilise future digital services that meet the everevolving needs of citizens. Ultimately, observability will ensure that the government’s new digital architecture improves service delivery for citizens and provides meaningful benefits to public sector employees.

1. Commonwealth of Australia, Mission: Simple and seamless services, Data and Digital Government Strategy, <<https:// www.dataanddigital.gov.au/strategy/ missions/simple-and-seamless-services>>

2. Digital Transformation Agency, Data and Digital Government Strategy, <<https://www. dta.gov.au/digital-government-strategy>>

*Sascha Giese has more than 15 years of technical IT experience, four of which have been as a senior pre-sales engineer at SolarWinds. As a senior pre-sales engineer, Sascha was responsible for product training SolarWinds channel partners and customers, regularly participated in the annual SolarWinds Partner Summit EMEA, and contributed in the company’s professional certification program, SolarWinds Certified Professional.

TECHNOLOGY IN CONTEXT

NATIONAL COVERAGE MODEL OPTIMISES WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT

The National Coverage Model (NCM) is a cloud-based platform from Powertec Wireless Technology (Powertec) that is used to analyse the coverage and performance of Australia’s 4G and 5G networks.

The platform is the first of its kind. It provides a true, highresolution snapshot of Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone 4G/5G networks across the entire country and out to sea. With an intuitive and familiar interface, users can check and compare mobile coverage for any location in the country with unparalleled accuracy.

NCM enables technology professionals to plan, deploy, and optimise wireless solutions reliant on 4G and 5G connectivity right from their web browser. For consultants and property developers, the platform provides indispensable insights into the availability and speed of 4G and 5G mobile networks, whether the task is understanding mobile coverage of a new subdivision, drone BVLOS flight planning, or identifying blackspots along a traffic corridor.

NCM FEATURES

The NCM offers a comprehensive suite of features including:

• Coverage checking and signal strength prediction: Users can type in an address or GPS coordinates to check the availability of Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone 4G-5G at that location. A signal level estimate (RSRP) can be obtained based on real-world data, with a single click.

• Mobile data speed prediction: The NCM makes it possible to understand the performance capabilities of the 4G/5G network. It also shows how data speed is impacted by terrain, vegetation, and buildings between you and the tower.

• Identify best and alternative serving cell towers: With the NCM, users can understand which tower is providing signal to a location, along with alternatives for effective emergency outage and disaster planning scenarios.

• Cell elevation profile, distance and direction: Users can plan technology deployment with detailed information on terrain and distances, and optimal antenna height and azimuth for aiming equipment at the tower.

• Report preparation: Extensive graphical mapping features allow for the easy generation of connectivity reports, including the ability to assess sites in bulk.

POWERTEC SERVICES

Bulk site analysis

The NCM allows Powertec to provide batch-analysis of thousands of sites simultaneously, allowing your team to access accurate predictions of 4G-5G signal or device performance, in many cases avoiding the need for a physical technician visit entirely.

A CSV output file lists network characteristics such as the best serving base station, signal strength, quality, and data speed, along with installation parameters such as antenna azimuth and tilt.

Compare expected coverage

Selecting a network operator for your large-scale rollout means evaluating coverage against cost. NCM provides an impartial and empirically backed mechanism to compare the coverage and performance of Australian mobile networks anywhere within the country. NCM can help you determine the availability of each network in each location and avoid costly service calls.

Simulate your device

Powertec can develop performance comparisons between different UE devices, scientifically quantifying the coverage and performance benefits of higher device categories, larger antennas, higher order MIMO, and more.

ABOUT POWERTEC WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

Since its inception in 1995, Powertec Wireless Technology has established itself as a leading player in connectivity, offering clients the best solutions for their communications requirements. Powertec is a leading provider of connectivity solutions to mobile network operators, private enterprise, government departments, defence and emergency services.

WOMEN CAN PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN SHAPING CYBER POLICY

Wendy Komadina*

DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES ARE ESSENTIAL IN SHAPING CYBERSECURITY AND DATA PROTECTION POLICY.

The shimmer and sparkle of International Women’s Day has come and gone, but its message is one we should be working towards all year round. The theme this year focused on ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’,1 bringing to the forefront the importance of educating the public and amplifying the positive impact that investing in women can have on business. This is especially important in the government IT sector, where

women can play a vital role in providing diverse perspectives and influence cybersecurity regulatory compliance and data protection policy standards across several industries, particularly where women have high representation, such as health care and education.

WHAT INFLUENCE CAN WOMEN HAVE ON REGULATORY POLICY?

Let’s face it, despite decades of working to increase representation, women still only represent approximately 25% of the

technology sector in Australia, even less among executive levels. So realistically, we need two strategies working in parallel: one focused on continuing to invest in attracting women into STEM programs to build a pipeline for the future and one focused on looking beyond technical skills, where gender-diverse perspectives and insights can be garnered to influence and shape regulatory policy, particularly in sectors where women dominate in numbers2, including the healthcare and education sectors.

In Deloitte’s recent ‘2024 Global Healthcare Sector Outlook’ report3, trends transforming the healthcare sector include the role and impact of artificial intelligence (AI), where investments in AI will accelerate the reduction of manual administration work and increase the availability of AI-led telehealth consultations, streamlining diagnosis, analysis and patient record keeping. The cost of transformative progress is the increased risk of cyber attacks that could threaten patient

confidentiality, data integrity and patient safety through interrupted availability of health records. Women can contribute by being given a voice to input into regulatory policies and compliance recommendations that guide public government funded healthcare providers. Their diverse perspectives in understanding how risk is managed; how patient data privacy is guarded, particularly in regard to children and the elderly; and their views on the ethical disclosure of patient information would provide a different vantage point for creating policies that mitigate risk.

In the education arena, parents were given a front row seat, during the COVID era, in educating their children through online platforms. Students were given access to learning resources through user IDs to complete work. Fast forward to the present, and the impact on how we learn has been transformed including the acceleration of cyber threats, where access to student data has increased the threat to child safety and vulnerability. As with the healthcare sector, women can play a vital role by being given a voice in outlining the risks and in policy recommendations.

To summarise, women can most definitely make significant contributions with no coding or developer skills: what is vital is foundational cyber knowledge, and that requires educational investment.

INVEST IN EDUCATION TO ACCELERATE FASTER

The Hon Clare O’Neil MP states in the ‘2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy’ report: “Cyber security requires government and big business to lead. From today, we are shifting more of the cyber risk to those who are most capable. We are holding industry to higher standards to protect our devices, our data, and our critical infrastructure. For the first time, the Government will hold itself to the same standard it expects of industry.”

iStock.com/metamorworks

Gender diversity

“... despite decades of working to increase representation, women still only represent approximately 25% of the technology sector in Australia ...”

We are blessed to live in a country with boundless opportunity and access to education. However, the report indicates that big businesses are asked to lead the implementation of Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy. The challenge is that globally, there is a cyber skills shortage, both within public and private sectors, and access to education is disproportionately out of reach for women due to the cost of education and family commitments.

SO WHAT CAN BE DONE DIFFERENTLY?

The good news is that the government has taken a small step forward to support building the skills of the future, by launching a fee-free initiative available at TAFE NSW on selected cybersecurity and technology courses (subject to change). I will confess that I personally took advantage of a fee-free course in 2023 and found myself amongst a class of males with few female students — which was intimidating — but more importantly, the course ran twice weekly from 6 pm to 9

pm, which was prohibitive due to family commitments, leading me to abandon the course after two terms.

To attract women, we need to rethink how we offer up education. A step further to attract and retain a more gender-diverse cohort of students could be to offer female-only classes, or offer education as an incorporated part of an employee development plan — where an arrangement is made to allow an employee time to study during work hours, to advance their education and pair that with enhanced continuous onthe-job training.

GET PROACTIVE

We can all play a role in presenting opportunities to diverse groups to attract the skills we need for the future and to capture the broad spectrum of perspectives needed to build robust cybersecurity compliance and policies. We can all hold ourselves accountable to invest in women, to accelerate progress. My personal tip: despite best efforts from government and communities, ultimately each one

of us owns our path and the key is to get proactive. Make yourself visible by sharing with your peer groups, stakeholders, managers and business community your commitment and curiosity to learning. Owning our journey is the best contribution we can make to influencing and shaping the future.

1. United Nations 2014, Invest in women: Accelerate progress, International Women’s Day, <<https://www.un.org/en/ observances/womens-day>>

2. Workplace Gender Equality Agency 2019, Gender Segregation in Australia’s Workforce, Australian Government, <<https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/ files/documents/18_04_Industrial_ segregation.pdf>>

3. Deloitte 2024, 2024 Global Healthcare Sector Outlook, <<https://www.deloitte.com/ au/en/Industries/life-sciences-health-care/ analysis/global-health-care-outlook.html>>

*Wendy Komadina is the Head of Channels Partnerships for Asia Pacific, Japan and China at Cloudflare. She is responsible for defining the vision, creating the strategy and leading the channel sales organisation to build and support partnership growth and customer adoption across all product and market segments in the region.

Wendy Komadina

TECHNOLOGY IN CONTEXT

COMPREHENSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING FOR SERVICE AVAILABILITY

Comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring by Paessler PRTG will prevent government entities from being blindsided by IT infrastructure outages. It can identify system, application and network issues, allowing government employees to stay productive and active in their mission to serve the public by preventing any downtime before it occurs.

Government agencies and councils must be digital-first, flexible and responsive to address their citizens’ changing needs and when it is your mandate to keep the public safe; there’s no time for downtime. Downtime doesn’t just affect the employees who work for the government agency; it can also be harmful and inconvenient to the public that relies on its essential online services daily. Therefore, comprehensive infrastructure monitoring is essential for government entities to prevent outages.

IT infrastructure monitoring using Paessler PRTG helps government entities and councils maintain network health and ensures citizen safety by keeping a 24/7 watch on every physical and virtual device, application and system running on their network.

If a government entity’s key performance indicators see drastic changes inconsistent with optimal or standard levels, the appropriate IT team will be alerted of an issue to address. The best strategy is for government agencies and councils to stay one step ahead of potential IT infrastructure problems with Paessler PRTG, which will stop them before they cause downtime.

Government agencies and councils can use Paessler PRTG to maintain the full power of their networks by monitoring network utilisation levels to ensure peak performance. Monitoring their network’s bandwidth goes beyond just looking at internet traffic, bandwidth speed or capacity as Paessler PRTG will also monitor the network traffic between devices.

Government IT departments can use PRTG to set traffic and device thresholds to highlight network activity, alerting them when those levels have been reached. This prevents performance bottlenecks and connectivity issues and provides usage trends

to monitor which devices are over-utilising bandwidth. PRTG also enables government agencies and councils to identify abnormal traffic levels that could be potential cybersecurity threats.

A LOCAL GOVERNMENT APPLICATION

Being caught out by IT infrastructure outages is not only a problem for government or council employees but can also be detrimental to public safety. For example, what if a pram falls onto a railway station track, the traffic lights stop working at a busy intersection during the morning commute, or an inmate escapes prison?

Paessler PRTG can prevent a safety system outage from resulting in a catastrophic incident by ensuring the right people are immediately notified of a surveillance system outage.

Paessler PRTG has been successfully implemented by a major Australian council. It has revolutionised its IT infrastructure management, ensuring the constant availability of its network and online services for staff and citizens are always working. The council also uses Paessler PRTG to ensure its Disaster Management System, which alerts employees, citizens and emergency services about bushfires, flooding and other extreme weather events, is always on.

Another way Paessler PRTG monitors this Australian council’s IT infrastructure is to check for the expiry of external website SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates to ensure they do not expire, rendering the website inaccessible. It is also used to monitor the third-party software and hardware it has implemented to report any Service Level Agreement breaches.

GovTEAMS: boosting the efficiency of government and its suppliers

For vendors working with or considering working with the Australian Public Service (APS), leveraging GovTEAMS is essential for ensuring secure, flexible, and efficient collaboration.

Developed by the Department of Finance in 2019, GovTEAMS boasts a client base of more than 38,000 APS staff across all departments, including Defence, and 5,000+ Guest Memberships who have been able to achieve higher levels of delivery, value, and engagement.

Recently, GovTEAMS introduced a new offering tailored for non-government vendors: GovTEAMS Partner Memberships. These memberships provide access to the full

suite of GovTEAMS extensive features and applications such as email, chat, file sharing, online meetings, and access to the entire Microsoft 365 suite, ensuring efficient and secure collaboration for non-government vendors and their government clients.

GovTEAMS Partner Memberships are especially useful for those needing autonomy when driving the engagement with their APS clients; if you’re a trainer, project manager, delivery manager or business analyst, you should have a GovTEAMS Partner Membership.

When a vendor or industry professional becomes a GovTEAMS Partner they can immediately:

• Create and manage GovTEAMS

communities — and invite others to join them (including guests).

• Use the Calendar to schedule and facilitate meetings, sessions and workshops using advanced facilitator tools.

• Collaborate with and provide reports, documents, and feedback to their government clients.

If you’re already a GovTEAMS user within the APS, you understand its value firsthand. Encouraging your external partners to register for a GovTEAMS Partner Membership is a logical step to streamline collaboration. Likewise, if you’re an APS member yet to utilise GovTEAMS, you’re missing out on a wealth of productivityenhancing features and benefits.

GovTEAMS is secure

Security is paramount in GovTEAMS, with rigorous assessments ensuring the system’s security complies with Australian Government policies and guidelines.

GovTEAMS offers two versions tailored to different security classifications: GovTEAMS OFFICIAL for information classified up to OFFICIAL:Sensitive and GovTEAMS PROTECTED for information classified up to PROTECTED.

State and local government members, industry partners and other guests have access to GovTEAMS OFFICIAL. Access to GovTEAMS PROTECTED can be provided if necessary for their work with government and the required security checks are passed.

How GovTEAMS will benefit you and your organisation:

• Multiple layers of security and protection.

• Access to the customised Microsoft Office 365 and applications suite, including Creately, an Australian-owned virtual whiteboarding tool.

• GovTEAMS supports any device, anywhere. GovTEAMS

OFFICIAL:Sensitive is approved for use on any device from any location. You can work wherever you choose using your own desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

• Bypass lengthy on-boarding processes for non-government vendors with Partner Memberships.

You can find the full list of apps and features on the GovTEAMS website: Apps and Features | GovTEAMS

Get on board with GovTEAMS! Why wait? Join the thousands already benefiting from GovTEAMS and unlock a new level of efficiency in your collaborations.

If you’re an APS employee, join over 38,000 others who are already reaping the rewards of GovTEAMS. It’s quick and easy — get started on our website

If you’re employed by a state or local government, State Government Membership is tailored to your needs. Sign up on our website

For those collaborating with the APS, GovTEAMS OFFICIAL Partner

Membership grants comprehensive access, streamlining your workflow. Applying is a breeze — just fill out this form

(Please note, you will need a current or upcoming contract with the APS and an APS Sponsor to become a GovTEAMS Partner.)

Department of Finance www.govteams.gov.au

OPTIMISING THE VALUE OF AI IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Keir Garrett*

AUSTRALIA HAS GREAT POTENTIAL TO LEVERAGE MACHINE LEARNING AND AI TECHNOLOGIES TO ACCELERATE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND BOOST ITS COMPETITIVENESS ON THE GLOBAL STAGE.

The trajectory of generative AI is poised to pivot from conceptualisation to tangible application, as industries across the board ramp up adoption this year. GenAI capabilities are maturing, particularly within enterprise realms such as content creation, software development and data scrutiny.

In this climate of technological advancement, organisations spanning various sectors, including the public sector, are harnessing GenAI to foster creativity and enhance productivity.

In parallel, the Australian Government has initiated an AI policy committee1, integrating perspectives from both the public and private sectors, to oversee the deployment of AI technologies.

Australia has great potential to leverage GenAI, machine learning and other AI technologies to accelerate its digital transformation and boost its competitiveness on the global stage. Recent research2 shows AI has the potential to add between $1 trillion and $4 trillion to Australia’s economy in the next decade, significantly boosting the country’s current annual GDP of about $1.5 trillion. GenAI will also reshape the future of work, leading to an estimated 1.3 million job transition in Australia3 by 2030.

AI INITIATIVES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN AUSTRALIA

Across Australia and New Zealand’s public sector, AI is already being used to streamline administrative processes and

improve the quality of public service. For example, the Queensland Government uses the CSIRO Patient Admission Prediction Tool (PAPT) to forecast the demand for hospital resources and cut patient waiting times at 27 major hospitals across the state. Recent initiatives such as predictive policing by the NSW Police Force, utilising AI, further demonstrate how AI can change and improve the service within the public sector.

There is also great potential for AI to revolutionise traditional industries such as agriculture, farming and manufacturing by optimising production, distribution and consumption. For example, the eGrazor collar system for cattle by CSIRO in collaboration with the NSW Department of Primary Industries utilises sensors and machine learning to monitor the grazing behaviour of cattle, enabling the prediction of pasture intake based on their movements.

THE RISKS AND LIMITATIONS HINDERING ADOPTION

Implementing AI solutions at scale is not without its challenges or risks. Operational challenges include varying stakeholder interests; concerns about governance, data privacy and security; high implementation costs; existing government frameworks; and ethical risks. Gartner reported4 that more sophisticated cyber attacks and growing regulatory obligations are keeping Australian organisations on their toes this year, spending more than $7.3bn — an 11.5% increase — on security and risk management from 2023. However, AI models are only as good as the data they are fed. Therefore, trusting AI begins with first trusting your dataset. Agencies must have robust data governance frameworks in place to ensure their data assets are trusted and protected.

As the environment for AI development in Australia is still maturing, there may be resistance or lack of support for AI initiatives. Recent research by Cloudera shows that the

iStock.com/cherdchai chawienghong

Public sector AI

main challenges for APAC in regard to deploying AI include: scalability and deployment (38%), change management and organisational culture (36%) and data quality and availability (35%).

On this, Australia has recently developed a new Cyber Security Strategy, which — while having a high focus on the cybersecurity landscape — also offers insight into the changes for the digital landscape and data management by 2030.

Furthermore, the shortage of skilled professionals who can develop and implement AI technologies, and the existing ICT infrastructure, may not be sufficient to support the advanced requirements of AI technologies.

There are also ethical risks associated with AI5, such as the potential for bias in AI algorithms. These challenges require complex, effective and efficient strategic regulations to fulfil the vision of AI development, such as regulatory frameworks that clearly set out the requirements and implementation of AI technology.

HARNESSING THE VALUE OF AI TO SERVE CITIZENS

As government agencies continue to look to AI to transform operations and citizen services, here are some suggestions on how agencies can optimise the value of AI today while balancing risks and limitations:

1. Start small: Limit access and capabilities initially. Start with narrow, low-risk use cases. Slowly expand capabilities as benefits are proven and risks addressed.

2. Improve dataset quality: Ensure you can trust your data by using only diverse, high-quality training data that represents different demographics and viewpoints. Make sure to audit data regularly.

3. Develop mitigation strategies: Have plans to address issues like harmful content generation, data

abuse and algorithmic bias. Disable models if serious problems occur.

4. Identify operational problems AI can solve: Identify and prioritise potential use cases by their potential value to the organisation, potential impact and feasibility.

5. Establish clear AI ethics principles and policies: Form an ethics review board to oversee AI projects and ensure they align with ethical values. Update policies as needed when new challenges emerge.

6. Implement rigorous testing: Thoroughly test generative AI models for errors, bias and safety issues before deployment. Continuously monitor models postlaunch.

7. Increase AI model explainability: Employ techniques like LIME to better understand model behaviour. Make key decisions interpretable.

8. Collaborate across sectors: Partner with academia, industry and civil society to develop best practices. Learn from each other’s experiences.

9. Enhance AI expertise within the government: Hire technical talent, and provide training on AI ethics, governance and risk mitigation.

10. Communicate transparently with the public: Share progress updates and involve citizens in AI policymaking. Build public trust through education on AI. The transformative power of AI technologies, particularly generative AI, has the potential to significantly boost economies and revolutionise industries.

As seen in Australia, AI is already being leveraged to streamline administrative processes, improve public services and optimise traditional industries. However, the implementation of AI solutions at scale within the public sector is not without its challenges. These include operational hurdles, data governance, privacy and security concerns, high implementation costs and ethical risks.

To optimise the value of AI while balancing these risks and limitations, it is crucial to consider the building blocks above to harness the full potential of AI to transform operations and citizen services, ultimately driving economic growth and societal advancement.

1. Department of Industry, Science and Resources 2024, New expert group will help guide the future of safe and responsible AI in Australia, Australian Government, <<https://www.industry.gov.au/news/newexpert-group-will-help-guide-future-safeand-responsible-ai-australia>>

2. Technology Council of Australia 2023, Generative AI could contribute $115 billion annually to Australia’s economy by 2030, <<https://techcouncil.com.au/newsroom/ generative-ai-could-contribute-115-billionannually-to-australias-economy-by-2030/>>

3. Mitchell A and Bruce D 2024, Proceed with caution: Three questions for Australian governments to answer as they consider gen AI, McKinsey & Company, <<https:// www.mckinsey.com/au/our-insights/ australia-and-new-zealand-perspectives/ proceed-with-caution-three-questionsfor-australian-governments-to-answer-asthey-consider-gen-ai>>

4. Tan A 2024, Australia’s cyber security spending to grow 11.5% this year, TechTarget, <<https://www. computerweekly.com/news/366574452/ Australias-cyber-security-spending-togrow-115-this-year>>

5. Australian Human Rights Commission 2023, Australia needs to be a world leader in ethical AI, <<https://humanrights. gov.au/about/news/opinions/australianeeds-be-world-leader-ethical-ai>>

*Keir Garrett is Regional VP ANZ at Cloudera. Keir brings more than 20 years of management, strategic consulting and digital transformation experience to Cloudera, and has successfully developed lines of business in global markets and across multiple industries, both directly with customers and in collaboration with the partner ecosystem. Most recently, Keir spent two years at Crayon in the role of Chief Executive Officer and prior to this was Head of Software, Cloud, Advisory, Professional & Managed Services Sales at Datacom. She has also held several senior positions at Microsoft, SAP and Infor.

Infrastructure projects a funding black hole without asset management

David Forman, Government Industry Leader, TechnologyOne

Death and taxes, they say, are the only two certainties in life.

Perhaps challenging for third place is the seeming inevitability that every budget — state or federal, will feature announcements of record-breaking commitments to investment in infrastructure. The promise of new roads, rail, bridges, and public facilities has obvious political appeal and there is also a powerful argument to be made that spending on infrastructure is the economically responsible way for governments to stimulate jobs and growth.

But with the federal budget colliding with a fiscal crisis, persistent inflation, and sagging growth we must ask: are we compounding the problem with inefficient and poorly managed assets?

By its nature, infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, expanded, retired and replaced. And, most importantly for information and communications technology infrastructure, it needs to be kept up to date.

There is no better example of that than technology infrastructure.

Imagine if we had not invested in upgraded telecommunications, or alternatively, look at the struggles of government agencies trying

to meet citizens’ expectations using obsolete information technology.

While most government infrastructure investments are subject to some cost-benefit analysis in the planning stages, there is often little visibility into whether the build project is being managed in the most efficient way.

Too often, governments have no way of accurately knowing how much recurrent cost has been added to their budgets from recent investment in infrastructure and assets, and no idea if money is being wasted.

Worse, poor assets management practices can risk damage to irreplaceable assets or even create risks to the public.

Modern asset management software means organisations can resolve these issues by giving real-time information on costs and maintenance from cradle to grave. This delivers the ability to identify and manage build processes much more effectively, avoiding the slipped timelines and budget blowouts that beset big projects.

With most organisations managing assets on numerous spreadsheets, the transition to these systems can unearth a few unwelcome surprises in the first instance.

Once the single source of truth is established, it not only captures the state of the assets and all associated characteristics, but it can

also directly integrate into finance systems. In other words, the days of the information black hole are gone forever. Organisations — including governments — know exactly where every dollar is spent on new assets.

Private businesses have long understood the value of systems that provide detailed insights into asset management across their whole life, and many are leading the use of the next generation of these systems. Governments, with their diverse departments and agencies and annual budget pressures, have been slow to seize the opportunity.

The implementation of modern asset management systems across government will pay for themselves over time, but this would likely take years to achieve, even if it began immediately.

However, one way the Federal Government could speed up the process is by attaching a requirement that any asset or infrastructure project above $10 million in value must be supported by a modern system. With the fiscal management challenge we are in, getting started should be a matter of urgency.

REIMAGINING POLICYMAKING WITH GENAI

Government policymakers bear the crucial role of fostering Australia’s collective growth and functionality for the shared benefit of its citizens. In the quest for governmental excellence, the journey from policy conception to implementation is often a marathon of endurance, punctuated by hurdles of bureaucracy and archaic processes.

*Rob Bollard is the Industry Principal – Public Sector, APJ at Pegasystems. With two decades’ experience in the public sector, previously working as CIO for IP Australia, he now focuses on transforming customer experience within government agencies and public sector organisations. Rob is a previous state and national AIIA iAward Winner.

To no one’s surprise, the challenge of maintaining and updating numerous policies is continually met with slow, manual procedures and hold-ups, all within the complex landscape of government operations. In pursuit of efficiency, public servants have spent decades attempting to streamline and refine these processes, aiming for increased precision and effectiveness, yet results have been varied.

In the current policymaking landscape, the way Australia is governed plays a crucial role in the quality of life its citizens enjoy. Public policies are at the heart of shaping our society, driving social advancement and supporting collective national objectives. These policies are detailed and comprehensive, and while essential, the traditional method of manually examining and applying these policies results in government employees spending significant amounts of time on policy development and delivery — a process that, if optimised, could significantly enhance existing and new policy frameworks.

Furthermore, the reality of managing and updating hundreds of policies across

federal, state and local levels often results in a slow and unclear process, hampered by manual labour and procedural delays. Unfortunately, this slow pace often leads to uncertainty in policies, which in turn spreads confusion and distrust among Australians. When the objectives of policies are not clearly shared, accessible and easy to grasp, it leaves room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation. But what if there was a way to not only expedite this process but also enhance its accuracy and security?

Enter the era where responsible GenAI, which scans and sifts through data in seconds, doesn’t just speed up the policymaking process but also ensures precision and clarity. With similar capabilities, data within government repositories can be scanned in moments, extracting precise answers.

HOW CAN THIS WORK IN PRACTICE?

Having undertaken a range of large government digital transformations and led highly successful AI teams for almost a decade, I am often asked by government digital leaders on how best to navigate this space. My philosophy has always been to drive value quickly for both staff and citizens — and to do so in a responsible manner. The transformation of policymaking hinges on an outcome-led approach that delivers swift, secure value. A valuable first step for agencies could involve adopting generative AI assistants powered by a Real-Time Adaptive Governance (RAG) model. This model leverages AI

to dynamically adjust policies based on real-time data, thereby enhancing responsiveness and decision-making. The benefits are manifold, including increased agility in addressing challenges and bolstering public trust through transparent, data-driven governance.

The RAG model allows agencies to be confident that answers are being synthesised from their own approved knowledge bases including legislation, policies and guidelines. The approach underpins traceability, eliminates hallucination in responses and provides a secure platform for government. This capability can be stood up within days to deliver real outcomes within a safe framework for government.

Furthermore, AI-powered systems can streamline policy development and evaluation, offering recommendations for adjustments to ensure policies achieve their intended outcomes. AI-driven analysis also allows for a more proactive approach in identifying policy biases, gaps and ambiguities, leading to a smoother policy lifecycle.

AI can also enhance the inclusivity of the policymaking process by analysing citizen feedback and assessing policy impacts on diverse demographic groups. By prioritising ethical considerations, responsible AI frameworks can mitigate biases and ensure decisions reflect societal values, thereby enhancing policy efficacy, responsiveness and trust.

HELLO FUTURE OF POLICYMAKING, MEET AI

Much like the discovery of fire, which has been harnessed for humanity’s incredible benefit, the introduction of AI into government policymaking must be respected and utilised responsibly to avoid the obvious dangers. The integration of GenAI-powered assistants into the fabric of government operations offers a promising path forward to improve decisionmaking, increase agility in addressing emerging challenges, and increase public trust through transparent, data-driven governance. It’s a journey that requires careful navigation, but the destination — a more efficient, transparent and responsive government — is well worth the effort.

Combining 5G connectivity with SASE

John Hopping, Director, Sales Engineering Asia Pacific, Cradlepoint

Connected network devices are exploding in numbers and functionality because of the growth of 5G enterprise connectivity, but how do organisations protect this larger attack surface from bad actors?

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a cloud-based architecture designed to secure today’s corporate networks as they demand simplicity, flexibility, low latency, and security at the WAN edge.

In a recent survey conducted by Cradlepoint1, part of Ericsson, security was highlighted as an area for improvement for many Australian businesses, with more than 40% of those surveyed reporting having been subject to a network security attack in the last 12 months. Of those that were the target of a network security attack, over one-quarter suffered a major security breach which resulted in loss of data, and over 20% resulted in significant company fines.

Why combine 5G and SASE now?

With Australia on track to reach 95% of the population with 5G coverage by mid2025, and security selected as a network connectivity priority by 52% of Australian businesses surveyed by Cradlepoint, more businesses are considering investing in 5G and should bring together 5G and SASE to create a highly secure yet agile, scalable, and cost-effective connectivity solution. There are six key components of SASE.

1. Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) Enterprises can use SD-WAN to improve overall network performance and reliability through application identification and traffic steering. It can also segment the network

based on priority, use case, and cloudmanaged policies.

2. Secure web gateway (SWG)

An SWG2 provides security controls for web traffic, including URL filtering, malware protection, and data loss prevention. Once a web request is initiated, the SWG decides whether it should be allowed based on established policies for robust internet security3

3. Cloud access security broker (CASB) A CASB can be implemented with SWG4 This technology functions as an intermediary between end users and a cloud service provider to ensure security policies are enforced on the entire network, securing both on-premises and cloud-based data.

4. Firewall as a service (FWaaS) FWaaS delivers firewall functionality from the cloud to devices anywhere. Instead of relying on physical firewall appliances or on-premise software, FWaaS leverages cloud infrastructure to provide firewall capabilities as a service, which is much more costeffective and easier to manage.

5. Zero trust network access (ZTNA) ZTNA implements a ‘never trust; always verify’ strategy, where every attempt to access any content is treated as potentially malicious. Access is given only to authorised users, and only to the specific resources they require.

6. Remote browser isolation (RBI) Instead of allowing web content to be processed directly on the user’s device or within a corporate network, RBI isolates web browsing activity in a remote container environment, creating a digital air gap5 When a user clicks on a link, all web content — including sites opened from email links

— is executed in isolated virtual browsers in the cloud, separate from the user’s device or network, mitigating the risk of malware infections.

5G and SASE: Preparation for the future

It’s important for organisations to combine the latest technology with the best security features. 5G and SASE help organisations take their networks to new places, while making sure they are always safe. Looking at the future, as 5G standalone networks6 give way to more mainstream network slicing, a comprehensive network approach that combines 5G and SASE will provide efficiency and security for the networks of today — while setting the foundation for networks of the future.

1. Cradlepoint 2024, The State of Connectivity in Australia 2024, https://resources.cradlepoint.com/ state-of-connectivity/the-state-of-connectivityaustralia-2024

2. Silva P 2023, Where and How Does a Secure Web Gateway Fit Into Your Enterprise Network Architecture?, https://cradlepoint.com/resources/ blog/where-and-how-does-a-secure-web-gatewayfit-into-your-enterprise-network-architecture

3. Cradlepoint 2024, What is the Best Internet Security for Your Enterprise Needs?, https://cradlepoint.com/ resources/blog/what-is-the-best-internet-securityfor-your-enterprise-needs

4. Silva P 2023, The Alphabet Soup of SASE: SWG vs. CASB, FWaaS, and more, https://cradlepoint.com/ resources/blog/the-alphabet-soup-of-sase-swg-vscasb-fwaas-and-more

5. Silva P 2023, How Digital Air Gap Security Empowers Enterprises to Keep Evolving, https:// cradlepoint.com/resources/blog/how-digital-air-gapsecurity-empowers-enterprises-to-keep-evolving

6. Billings R 2023, What is 5G Standalone? 5G SA Means Network Slicing, Security, and Automation https://cradlepoint.com/resources/blog/what-is-5gstandalone-5g-sa-means-network-slicing-securityand-automation

BUILDING HUMAN-CENTRIC APPLICATIONS

INACTION IS NO LONGER AN OPTION

John Yang*

PRIORITISING A HUMAN-CENTRED APPROACH IS CRUCIAL TO REALISING THE 2030 DATA AND DIGITAL STRATEGY.

The Australian Government’s visionary 2030 Data and Digital Government Strategy1 seeks to revolutionise public service delivery through world-class data and digital capabilities, offering simple, secure and connected services for all citizens and businesses.

With a little more than five years to realise the vision, the stakes are high for the government to overcome some key challenges including the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) across different levels of

government and maintaining public trust amidst escalating global and national cybersecurity concerns. Efforts are underway to implement AI guardrails in high-risk industries and to introduce new cybersecurity legislation. However, a shift in focus is needed to achieve the Strategy’s core principle of human-centred design. This sentiment is reflected in a recent survey2 which found that 64% of Australian IT decisionmakers consider building human-centric applications more important than it was two years ago, driven by a mix of business considerations and wider cultural shifts.

Customer experience

Human-centred design focuses on the needs, behaviours and experiences of citizens, developing digital services that are user-friendly, accessible and effective for everyone — regardless of their physical or mental abilities, demographic factors, emotional responses to technology, language or cultural background. This methodology places citizens at the heart of service design, ensuring technology solutions enhance daily interactions with government agencies, simplify complexities, and boost overall engagement and trust in digital initiatives.

To fully realise the Strategy by 2030, inaction is no longer an option, so how can the Australian Government prioritise human-centred design in the development of citizen services?

THE CHALLENGES ARE REAL

Despite the clear and urgent need to embrace human-centred design principles, actualising the government’s vision can prove challenging.

In reality, the role of government agencies is to serve citizens. And yet, one of the biggest challenges in their digital transformation agendas is ensuring all demographics have equitable access. Designing services that cater effectively to varied groups — including the elderly, people with disabilities, remote populations and non-native English speakers — requires extensive research and robust engagement strategies that may not currently be in place at the required scale.

Another challenge is shifting a service design that traditionally focuses on compliance and functionality to one that prioritises user experience and accessibility. This shift demands not only new skills and tools but also a significant change in how government initiatives are conceptualised and evaluated. Success metrics need to evolve from mere service delivery to user satisfaction and engagement, which

necessitates ongoing user feedback and iterative design processes. These processes must be integrated into the government’s operational model, which can be a substantial change management endeavour.

Furthermore, Progress recently conducted research3 into the barriers organisations face when attempting to build human-centred applications, and stark parallels can be made in relation to what the Strategy is hoping to achieve.

According to the research, there is a lack of in-house skills and resources in human-centred design, as indicated by 38% of Australian IT decision-makers. This shortage highlights a significant gap in the required expertise necessary to drive initiatives that prioritise user experience and design. Without adequate skills, the ability to create intuitive and accessible digital services for citizens could be impacted.

Further compounding the issue is the complexity and lack of agility in the software development process, as stated by 36% of Australian respondents. This may suggest that legacy processes cannot simply adopt to new approaches such as human-centred design, which requires flexibility and rapid iteration based on user feedback loop.

Additionally, 34% of Australian respondents pointed out the difficulty in measuring whether services are genuinely human-centric, which underscores a fundamental challenge in evaluation and continuous improvement. The lack of tools and technology investment in this area (32%) and a focus on speed of development over user needs (32%) are additional barriers that could lead to digital services that do not fully meet the needs or expectations of users. Moreover, insufficient collaboration among teams and unclear ownership or responsibility for outcomes are issues that need addressing to ensure a unified approach to developing humancentric digital services.

Ultimately, these challenges call for a strategic response. Addressing these barriers is critical for the Australian Government to meet its objectives for the Strategy effectively by 2030, and to ensure that its digital services are truly centred around the needs of its citizens.

TURNING INACTION TO ACTION

Human-centric design is crucial for the Australian Government because it fundamentally shifts the focus from the organisations to the citizens they serve.

“Human-centric design is crucial for the Australian Government because it fundamentally shifts the focus from the organisations to the citizens they serve.”

By understanding and prioritising the needs, behaviours and experiences of citizens, they can design services that are intuitive, accessible and inclusive, enhancing overall user satisfaction and engagement. This approach recognises the diversity of the population, ensuring that digital services cater to varying abilities, demographics and cultural backgrounds. As a result, services become more effective and efficient, reducing barriers to access and simplifying interactions with government entities.

While there is no simple fix, there are steps the Australian Government needs to consider and to proactively pivot towards a human-centred design approach.

BETTER TRAINING OF EXISTING TALENT

AND MORE DIVERSIFIED HIRES

Public sector employees play a critical part in transformation projects. Giving them opportunities to develop their skills can help clarify the best path forward when pursuing human-centred design. Existing teams can benefit from training programs or career paths centred on human-centric design practices, along with hiring diverse talent to help lead these efforts. Moreover, this will help employees feel empowered and engaged in the transformation process.

CONTINUOUS

EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

Beyond regular training, offer certification programs for government employees and external partners in human-centric design. Recognising specialised skills can create a shared commitment to high-quality service delivery across departments.

OBJECTIVE SELF-ASSESSMENT

A wide disconnect persists between perceptions of human-centred design maturity and business reality. To achieve the gains government agencies want, they must first engage in more rigorous internal testing, cross-team collaboration and goal setting to settle on a clear current state. For example, developing detailed personas representing various user demographics and mapping out their digital journeys could be beneficial. This practice can help highlight pain points and areas where existing services could be enhanced — ultimately guiding design teams to develop more intuitive and responsive digital solutions. Furthermore, they can then partner with external vendors to bridge the gap — ever mindful of regulatory requirements.

MORE COHESIVE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND TOOLING

Government agencies need a more cohesive strategy for human-centric design, and once conceived, measures must be taken to ensure they are routinely followed. With a strategy and goals established, it will be much easier to sift through available tooling and select the ones best suited to each organisation’s use case.

EMPOWERMENT THROUGH COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT

Host community engagement events, online surveys or focus groups to directly gather citizen input on their expectations and challenges with government services. Providing multiple platforms for public feedback can uncover unique challenges and inform more inclusive design strategies.

INCENTIVISE CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION

Encourage collaboration between government departments, private companies, not-for-profits and academic institutions. Cross-sector partnerships can lead to innovative solutions that draw on diverse expertise. Offering grants or recognition programs for teams that demonstrate exemplary human-centric projects could encourage such collaborations.

CREATING EFFECTIVE SERVICES

It is clear that prioritising a humancentred approach is crucial to realising the 2030 Data and Digital Strategy. Success depends on understanding and meeting the needs of the people being served, not just leveraging innovative technology simply because it is available. By adopting a human-centred approach, governments can create accessible, efficient and effective digital services.

1. Australian Government 2023, Data and Digital Government Strategy, <<https:// www.dataanddigital.gov.au/sites/default/ files/2023-12/Data%20and%20Digital%20 Government%20Strategy%20v1.0.pdf>>

2. Progress 2024, Human-Centered Software Design: A State of the Marketplace Report, <<https://www. progress.com/resources/papers/humancentered-software-design--a-state-of-themarketplace-report>>

3. Progress 2024, Human-Centered Software Design: A State of the Marketplace Report, <<https://www. progress.com/resources/papers/humancentered-software-design--a-state-of-themarketplace-report>>

*John Yang is Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan at Progress. A veteran in the field of enterprise IT solutions, over the past decade he has helped several global enterprise software companies enter and grow their businesses in the Pacific Rim. He received his education from Fudan University and National University of Singapore.

RISK VS PRODUCTIVITY HOW AI IS IMPACTING CYBERSECURITY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

James Greenwood*

IF AUSTRALIA IS AIMING TO BE A MODERN AND LEADING DIGITAL ECONOMY BY 2030 WE NEED TO EMBRACE AI.

Arecent Kingston AI Group report found AI could boost the Australian economy by $200 billion a year.1

Despite this, key industries including government are unlikely to realise these benefits because they are not yet embracing AI. Much of this hesitation comes from finding a balance between the perceived risk and productivity. When we think about how AI can increase efficiencies and boost productivity in government, one of the areas where it is becoming most beneficial is in defending against cyber threats. Organisations need to realise that attackers are already leveraging AI to find new, more effective ways

to breach their systems. So sitting on our hands and falling victim to analysis paralysis is only going to lose time and stifle the productivity gains AI can bring. In saying that, there are some steps that need to be taken before an organisation can safely deploy AI.

THE ROLE OF AI IN SECURING THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND ECONOMY

While it’s always wise to approach new technologies with a certain level of caution — especially ones as powerful as AI — the real risks of AI are likely to be much more mundane than the worst-case scenarios we hear about in the media. What is a reality, though, is that bad actors are deploying AI to create more sophisticated attacks — and

in a government context, breaches are exponentially more serious. The good news is that AI cuts both ways. Organisations can leverage the same technology as attackers to build resilience against AI threats. It’s like fighting fire with fire. Deloitte found2 more than two-thirds (69%) of enterprises believe AI is necessary for cybersecurity due to threats rising to levels beyond the capacity of cybersecurity analysts.

The benefits of AI when it comes to securing the public sector are clear. It has the ability to process vast amounts of data in real time. This means shifting away from a traditionally manual and inaccurate process of identifying and remediating vulnerabilities. For example, public sector

organisations are required to comply with the Essential Eight requirements. However, it’s near impossible to prove compliance, which is often done with manual audits, without visibility over all endpoints — something that AI can do in real time with the click of a button when holistic environmental data is provided. Overall, having AI in our arsenal decreases the chances of an attack, or at least reduces the impact an attack can have. As we all know, attacks are costly and, for the public sector, can have a significant impact on the economy. Think about key government services going down like Centrelink or the public transport network. By delaying AI uptake, the public sector risks leaving its windows open to attacks.

HOW TO SAFELY PREPARE FOR AI ADOPTION

While deploying AI to improve public sector cyber resilience is critical, there are some steps that need to be taken before a government agency can be considered ‘AI-ready’. AI is only as good as the data it’s given, and if an agency doesn’t have strong data governance in place, then any AI efforts won’t be set up to succeed. Firstly, agencies need to be putting a data governance program in place. This involves setting strong boundaries to prevent breaching any compliance or privacy regulations when using AI technologies. This might mean ensuring data is encrypted or not accessible to certain staff. As part of this program it’s also important

to establish clear responsibilities for the AI project. For example, who is responsible for managing the AI deployment? How will the data be collected, stored and managed?

Secondly, in order to properly train an AI model, organisations need to establish strong data hygiene. It needs to be validated and sanitised to make sure no sensitive, regulated or IP data is misused. This is incredibly important in reducing the impact of a breach and the potential involved. Lastly, incident response plans need to be updated to ensure they address any new AI tools should they misbehave or come under attack.

While AI adoption has come with a lot of hesitation, so have other revolutionary technologies, from electricity to cloud computing. If Australia is aiming to be a modern and leading digital economy by 2030, we need to embrace AI. Although a good level of caution is often a good thing, too much paralysis, particularly in the public sector, will leave us behind the eight ball in years to come.

1. Davidson J 2024, ‘AI to create 150,000 jobs, claim the academics who study it’, Australian Financial Review, 16 April 2024, <<https://www.afr.com/technology/ how-ai-will-bring-200b-to-the-australianeconomy-20240415-p5fjuk>>

2. Deloitte 2023, 'AI in cybersecurity: A double-edged sword’, Deloitte Middle East Point of View, Fall 2023, <<https:// www2.deloitte.com/xe/en/pages/aboutdeloitte/articles/securing-the-future/ai-incybersecurity.html>>

*James Greenwood is a Regional Vice President of Technical Account Management at Tanium with more than 20 years of experience in IT. James has a passion for helping customers solve complex problems through the use of technology and automation.

iStock.com/Just_Super

AUTOMATED DECISIONMAKING SYSTEMS: ENSURING TRANSPARENCY

David Fischl*

ENSURING TRANSPARENCY IS ESSENTIAL IN GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING WHEN USING AI AND AUTOMATED SYSTEMS.

The NSW public sector is currently experiencing a transformative shift in how government decisionmaking is done. A report released by the NSW Ombudsman in early March, ‘A Map of Automated Decision-Making in the NSW Public Sector’, highlighted this shift.

The report marked the first comprehensive effort in NSW to identify and publish the extent of the public sector’s current and intended use of automated decision-making (ADM) systems. The report’s findings revealed that the use of these systems in state government and local councils was widespread and continuously increasing, with the majority of projects being in the development stages. Automation

The integration of ADM systems is a significant advancement in the operations of the NSW public sector. These technologies rely on data, decision trees, algorithms and sometimes artificial intelligence to automate either all or part of decisionmaking processes. The adoption of these technologies has the potential to streamline decision-making processes, enhance service quality for NSW citizens and fundamentally transform public sector functions.

However, while these systems have great potential, they also bring unique challenges and risks. The Robodebt scheme is a prime example of what can go wrong with using automated decision-making systems. This system relied on automated data matching between Centrelink records and ATO

data without human intervention. It resulted in errors and discrepancies based off an incorrect algorithm. More than half a million Australians were affected by the policy and received incorrect and inaccurate letters saying they owed thousands of dollars of debt.

While this is a lesson public sector organisations need to learn from, it shouldn’t prohibit them from continuing their adoption of these technologies. Instead, there needs to be careful consideration of best practice development and implementation processes.

Below are some key learnings to consider when using AI and ADM systems for decision-making.

iStock.com/bagotaj

CONTINUOUS DISCOVERY AND TESTING

Success in digital projects is grounded in rigorous and ongoing discovery, testing and legal sign-off at the project’s inception, build and implementation phases. Throughout every stage of an ADM project, assumptions should be identified by the project team and key stakeholders; for example, assumptions that the technology will lead to efficiencies, that the ADM complies with the law and NSW government policies, and that it solves the end users’ pain points. Often these assumptions are not tested at all for validation, or if they are, then this happens only once during the life of the project. As a result, many projects or new technologies end up creating new problems rather than solving existing ones. Challenging and

continually testing these assumptions throughout the design and build phase is therefore fundamental.

STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN AUTOMATION AND HUMAN INVOLVEMENT

The adoption of ADM systems in the public sector requires a delicate balance between automation and human involvement. Where an agency is required to consider something to make a decision, the process to the decision can never be fully automated. Agencies must ensure that when humans are involved, they’re not merely approving whatever the automated decisionmaking system generates. Human involvement in ADM systems requires careful consideration, discovery, planning and testing.

TRANSPARENCY

SHOULD BE

A CORNERSTONE IN ADM SYSTEM DEPLOYMENT

The increasing use of ADM systems brings with it a significant challenge: transparency. The NSW Ombudsman report highlighted that although these systems are growing in use, public visibility into how these systems operate and make decisions is limited. This is an issue for the public sector as a lack of transparency could adversely affect public understanding and accountability. When developing ADM systems, a key feature must always be that the end user should be given a meaningful and understandable explanation about how the decision was made. The goal is to remove the ‘black box’ and give users the ability to review and question the decisions made by the ADM system.

SEEKING EXPERT GUIDANCE

Developing and implementing new systems in the public sector is complex. This is why seeking expert advice and feedback is crucial for achieving a successful project. The report by the NSW Ombudsman highlighted this, noting that agencies seek limited advice from experts especially in regard to the legality of projects. This is why cultivating cross-functional teams of lawyers, engineers and designers is crucial. For a successful ADM project, there needs to be greater collaboration between all parties to ensure that the project achieves its goals and is legally compliant as well as technically sound.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Moving forward, when developing ADM systems government agencies must conduct ongoing discovery and testing, ensure transparency, include human judgement and seek expert advice. By doing so, agencies will be able to successfully navigate and deliver effective, efficient and fair public services in the digital age.

*David Fischl is the Legal Digital Transformation Partner at Hicksons Lawyers.

SMART TECHNOLOGIES: HELPING COUNCILS IMPROVE COMMUNITY SERVICES AND SUSTAINABILITY

When smart building technology is discussed, it’s usually in relation to how it can be put to use in commercial or residential settings. What’s less understood, however, are the ways in which smart building technologies can have a positive impact on local governments and the communities they serve. They can improve efficiencies, lower costs and boost productivity.

A smart building infrastructure can help reduce energy consumption and emissions through advanced technologies such as energy-efficient lighting, smart HVAC systems and renewable energy sources. This in turn can also lead to cost savings for both the local government and ratepayers, allowing for further investment in the community.

Another challenge faced by councils is the need for increased security and safety in public spaces. Smart buildings can help address this through advanced security systems, including access control, video surveillance and emergency notification systems.

HOW SMART TECHNOLOGIES CAN BENEFIT LOCAL COMMUNITIES

As well as assisting councils in becoming more effective, smart technologies can deliver additional benefits to the communities they serve. One example is the way in which technologies can provide improved data analytics and reporting. This allows government officials to make

more informed decisions about resource allocation and community development. Smart buildings can also improve the delivery of public services, such as transportation, waste management and water conservation.

SMART TECHNOLOGY IN REMOTE COMMUNITIES

Outside cities and towns, smart building technology can also have a positive impact for remote communities. These communities often face limited resources and complex governance structures. Smart building technology can help address these challenges by improving energy efficiency, reducing costs and providing enhanced safety and security. For example, smart building systems can enable real-time monitoring and control of energy usage, HVAC systems and lighting, resulting in significant community cost savings. At the same time, advanced security and surveillance systems can help to improve safety and security in remote communities.

THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS OF SMART LIBRARIES

Councils can also deliver significant benefits to communities through the introduction of smart building technology into local libraries. Smart sensors can help library staff monitor occupancy and usage patterns, allowing for adequate space utilisation and resource allocation.

Smart building technology can also help citizens find what they’re looking for faster, supporting mobile uses like translation services or contactless card scanning for a faster checkout. These tools can help libraries operate more efficiently while delivering better experiences for library patrons.

THE NETWORK IS AT THE HEART OF SMART COUNCILS

AND COMMUNITIES

The key to smart building technology success is the network that connects the components. Smart buildings require a robust and reliable network infrastructure that is scalable and able to handle the increasing data needs of occupants.

Traditional networks can be difficult to manage and scale, particularly for local governments that need to ensure network traffic for things like emergency services is both highly secure and separated from other uses like accessible guest Wi-Fi in community centres. Network fabric can help address these challenges, because it is easily scalable, highly flexible and enables IT teams to both segment the network and manage it from a centralised dashboard.

New generations of Wi-Fi like Wi-Fi 6E and soon Wi-Fi 7 are making wireless networks more powerful, giving smart communities the infrastructure they need to support all these new technologies and ensure they can operate flawlessly, without latency or lag.

Carmelo Calafiore, ANZ Regional Director, Extreme Networks

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