At the Innovate Australia 2023 last week, Head of the Digital Profession and CEO of the Digital Transformation Agency Chris Fechner delivered a government keynote address on how data and digital can change the public sector. 

Fechner explained that data and digital are linked to the delivery of government services and that the government has always been moving to adopt a more automated and innovative public sector workforce as the world continued to move towards the digital era. 

“Information is now immediately available at the counter, resulting in richer interactions between government and people and businesses,” he said in his keynote address. 

“Then, enter the web – and government really changed forever. These rich interactions now occur in both directions, between government, people and businesses – from anywhere and at any time.” 

Because of this change, Fechner says that the preferences of people and businesses have become more important than the structure of government departments. This in turn changes the government’s strategies around digital government and government service delivery. 

Check out: Stop applying analogue solutions to digital challenges 

Data and digital driving the pace of government transformation 

As the rate of digital change all over the world continues to accelerate, it has become necessary for governments to deliver their services to the public in a different way. 

“In technology advancements, change cycles that previously took 5 to 10 years are now taking 1 year or, in some cases, a matter of months,” Fechner said. 

“Think about how quickly technology adapted to deliver what people and businesses needed during the pandemic. We need to make sure government service delivery continues to keep pace to meet these rapid cycles.” 

With the sheer amount of data being produced every day, technological changes should be made to deal with mass data or big data environments. 

“I believe a key challenge for government is to be responsive to this acceleration and change now and into the future. We should not be looking to the past, to the historical implementation of government,” Fechner said. 

The DTA CEO advocated that the government should invest in solutions that will effectively provide services to the people instead of investing in the maintenance of obsolete systems. 

Check out: MyGov app to be revamped for better digital government services 

Data and digital success need right capabilities 

Fechner states that establishing data and digital capabilities within government to support better service delivery to people and businesses is a challenge for all governments across the world. 

“We know the breadth of different skills and experience that we need in data and digital now is vastly different than the past ‘in-demand’ roles of system administrators, coders and database administrators,” he said. 

“In government we still need some of these but we also need people who are thinking about policy within the digital and data landscape […] The technologies available to us today have infinite abilities for good if they are administered and leveraged by people who are conscious and aware of the implications of how data and digital are to be used.” 

He further stated that the government needed to have people who plan on utilizing technology to promote digital democracy, improve customer experience, dismantle government silos, share information for the common good of people and businesses and enhance policy-making by keeping people at the forefront of the design. 

“These are the things that will make the biggest difference to the people and businesses of Australia. This is how we will transition to a future-ready economy,” Fechner states. 

“What’s important for us all is that we continue to drive that ongoing investment and participation in how the next generation public sector is going to be fit for the digital age.” 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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