How to Kick Start Digitization of the Public Sector
Governmental entities often face harsh scrutiny and sky-high expectations when it comes to efficiency and transparency. After all, as the investors in, and end-users of, government services, citizens understandably tend to expect that things should be done well, or at least better. Yet, we all have experiences where that is not the case. It’s no rare event to have a first-hand experience of just how slow and overly complicated bureaucratic processes can be.
In the private sector, digital technology has rapidly transformed nearly every aspect of how business gets done, allowing companies to increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction - and it can do the same for the public sector. Strategic adoption of digital solutions can help governments of all levels deliver quality service while also driving down costs.
Government employees certainly anticipate this change. One Deloitte survey of government officials from over 70 countries found that three quarters of respondents said that digital technologies are disrupting the public sector, and 96% said the impact on their domain has been significant. However, only 41% reported that they are satisfied with their organization’s current reaction to digital trends.
A similar study conducted by Gartner found that while 67% of government organizations around the world report they are pursuing transformation, only 5% are achieving it.
Clearly there is massive demand and opportunity for government organizations to enact useful digital transformation initiatives. So how can they get started?
Document Digitization
Digital transformation is no small undertaking, and the very scope of it often keeps decision makers from getting started. However, as with any large project, it helps to break it down into more manageable pieces and take them on strategically. Digitizing historical paper documents, and setting up processes for digitization of new incoming documents, is a relatively straightforward initiative that opens many downstream digitization opportunities, making it an ideal starting point for government offices.
Managing records physically requires more time and effort than one might think. In fact, according to Record Nations , a typical employee that deals with paper records spends between 30% and 40% of their time looking for information in filing cabinets. When an organization goes digital, rather than manually digging through drawers of old paper records, employees are able to quickly and easily retrieve the desired documents in seconds.
Digital records also take up considerably less physical space. A sheet of paper on its own may not seem to take up much room, but when you’re dealing with the volume of documentation that many government offices see, it can add up quickly. When you factor in the space needed to open drawers to retrieve the contents, a standard 4-drawer filing cabinet takes up about 17 square feet. Yet, even when filled to the maximum, that cabinet could only house about 200MB of data, or 0.2GB. For comparison, a typical smartphone often comes with 64GB of storage space.?
A digital records management system frees up valuable real estate to be used more effectively - or even cut down on floor space needed, which could greatly reduce overhead. Plus, with decentralized cloud computing options available, there’s no need for large banks of computer mainframes and servers taking up entire rooms at each government office location.
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Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Utilizing fleets of digital “bots,” RPA technology is designed to perform repetitive, rules-based tasks more quickly and more accurately than human workers are capable of.
While these bots may be limited to relatively simple tasks like data entry, data reconciliation, spreadsheet manipulation, systems integration, automated data reporting, analytics, and customer outreach and communications, automating these tasks is a great way to reduce the strain and workload on employees, allowing them to focus on more complex and strategically important tasks that can only be accomplished by humans.?
For most governmental offices, this means bringing the focus back to public service - providing exceptional user support, fielding questions and concerns, and identifying new opportunities for improvement.?
Despite successful implementation and widespread use in the private sector, adoption of RPA in the public sector is still relatively new. Its first real implementation in the public sector was in 2017 when the National Shared Service Center (NSSC) at NASA launched a program designed to shift key tasks from attended to unattended automations to maximize efficiency.
But RPA is useful in a wide variety of use cases across the public sector - not just the high-tech world of NASA. A recent survey of Federal and State agencies and government contractors indicated that the most common applications or use cases for agencies currently using RPA are:
Technology Partnerships
One of the most effective ways to kickstart a digital transformation is partnering with an experienced digitization company. Exela Technologies offers a wide range of tech-enabled business process optimization solutions that can be quickly and easily implemented to improve efficiency and cut costs for government agencies and departments at all levels. With a proven track record digitizing both processes and documents for federal, state, and local governments, Exela is well positioned to guide the public sector through its transition into the digital era.?
Get a more in-depth look at Exela’s unique suite of digitization solutions, from high-speed, high-volume scanners , to digitization and digital mailroom services , to RPA implementation .