Key Takeaways from the GovICT Conference 2023

It was a pleasure to meet with our UK  Public sector  contacts at the 2023 Government ICT Conference on Tuesday 31st January at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, in Westminster, London.  

With industry-leading speakers from across the public sectors, council executives, and government departments all together under one roof, it was inevitable that it would be a day packed with Digital Transformation insights and learning for all attendees.  

Nadira Hussain, CEO of Socitm chaired the event, which included key talks that resonated strongly with our own experiences managing public sector transformations around the world for our clients. In particular, ‘Reframing Digital Transformation as a Process of Improvement’ and ‘Omnichannel Communications and Data: How Technology Can Enhance the Relationship Between Stata and Citizen’. 

Reframing Digital Transformation  

An early morning keynote panel was led by Yvonne Gallagher, Digital Director of the UK National Audit Office which looked at the factors impacting the transformation process and what we can do to overcome common pitfalls and obstacles along the way.  

This topic was revisited later on in the day in ‘Reframing Digital Transformation’, a talk which highlighted the importance of expectation management around Digital Transformation.  

There can be no debate that government organisations need to embrace the transformative potential of technological innovations and data to meet the demands placed on them, with the budgetary and resource constraints that they have.  

Effective digital transformation means deploying systems that can be designed around the user, rather than extensively training new users to manage old systems. It means embracing processes designed for the digital world. And in this new world, data can be joined up and flow freely to where it is needed. This means staff are only needed to manage exceptional cases – which means that those exceptional cases can be given the time and attention they so desperately deserve.  

However, as Shaun Collings from Pure Storage so succinctly put it, Business Strategy, not technology alone, drives transformation, and data sits at the heart of it. This is something we’ve written about extensively in our recent whitepaper ‘Public Sector Digital Transformation Projects: Guidance for Success’.  

Throughout the event, themes around the challenges seen in public sector transformation emerged. These challenges included:  

• Legacy data architectures
  In our experience, such solutions are prolific across the public sector with platforms and systems updated piecemeal and with limited budget, creating slow and clunky solutions that don’t deliver what is needed. 
   
• Silos, mindset culture and accountability
  

  This is a challenge to many public sector transformations. Yet, it is such a simple challenge to address. All public sector organisations can start paving the way for a more successful digital future, however far off that roll out date may seem.  

  It’s the Millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha, who will be entering the workplace equipped with the skills needed to embrace and drive the change to a digital organisation. However, appealing to these generations doesn’t come easy for the traditionally cumbersome structures of the Public Sector. Flexible or hybrid working, generous incentives, and a more dynamic and enjoyable environment can all help to lure technology-savvy candidates from universities and the private sector to support the delivery of digital transformation and fully unlock the benefits that technology and data-sharing can offer.   

  SAP SuccessFactors is another way that Public Sector organisations can enhance employee relationships from recruitment right through to retirement. SuccessFactors offers out-of-the-box tools that can be used for nurturing the employee relationship such as built-in AI-driven Learning Management Systems, and Job Analyzer which uses machine learning to eliminate unconscious bias in job postings. To learn more, check out our SAP SuccessFactors White Paper

• Technology-led decisions
  

  This is a common mistake made both in the public and private sectors. By considering solutions in place and then trying to identify what can be achieved with them, organisations can become blinkered – fooled into accepting a solution that doesn’t fully meet their needs. For effective transformation, the public sector organisation’s needs should be identified and then addressed to deliver an appropriate solution.  

  With the advancements in technology, AI, and ML in recent years, the solution is out there. It’s about identifying how to achieve it without compromising, and for many public sector organisations, the solution comes in the form of an out-of-the-box solutions tailored towards their industry – one that doesn’t need the extensive coding, personalisation and testing that would traditionally drive the cost to unattainable levels within the public sector.  

• Poor data sharing
  

  A key issue within the industry, this was given weight by its own talk later in the day ‘Share the Data. Change the Story’. This session by David Fairley of Capita highlighted beautifully the power of data collaboration across government organisations and how this sharing can reduce costs and improve outcomes.  

  Data can deliver a vast amount of wealth to a public sector organisation if it can be mined effectively, and it can empower public sector organisations to not only be more efficient with their activities, but also to operate more proactively and in a way that has been proven to be most effective in delivering a positive long-term outcome.  

• Costly outdated technology
  

  When data becomes outdated, not only can it be clunky and cumbersome, but it often isn’t supported either, making it vulnerable and costly to maintain or adapt. 

  But there are plenty of things you can do to improve the success and speed the return on investment in any digital transformation … and ambition is key.  

Digital transformation – more than just a change in systems 

You see, digital transformation isn’t solely the decision to adopt new data-centric digital solutions, it’s the processes and workflows that have to evolve to optimise the benefits that transformation can bring. It’s the people and the acceptance and willingness to learn new ways. It’s the organisation and its determination to recognise the wealth of benefits that can be delivered by a modern data-centric to age-old problems on a super-charged scale.  

Digital Transformation is a long journey that requires commitment at all levels involved.  

From securing the funding to managing the mindset of the leadership, pulling together data – often from disparate sources, and encouraging users across the organisation to embrace the capabilities as they become available, successful digital transformation takes time.  

However, with the correct approach, digital transformation will provide the public sector with the capabilities it needs to continue to deliver the services expected at the rate needed for the citizens of Great Britain.