People will drive digital transformation in government

Digital technology has the power to revolutionize the way that public services are delivered and enhance the lives of all citizens.

But our global research shows that just 7% of government leaders think their organization has achieved its digital transformation objectives.

To discuss how to accelerate the transition to a digital state, we recently held three regional webcasts for EMEIA, the North Americas (Canada and the US) and?Asia-Pacific, featuring local government and public sector leaders, and hosted by regional EY People Advisory Services Leaders ( Josie Cluer for EMEIA, Erica J. Ford and Juliet Nicol for N. Americas, and Sonia Sharp for Asia-Pacific).

These conversations yielded some fascinating insights into how government workers and technology can align to serve future citizens. While experiences differ by region, common challenges include limited resources, inability to compete with private public salaries, lack of key digital skills, siloed organizational structures and insufficient digital leadership from senior levels.

One common imperative united all the participants: the need to put humans at the center of transformation efforts. Here are some of the highlights from the discussions — you can hear more by listening to the webinars in full.

EMEIA

Europe as a region contains wide disparities in wealth, and Greece is one country that has had to cope with severe fiscal constraints. As Leonidas Christopoulos , Secretary General of Digital Governance and Simplification of Procedures at the Hellenic Ministry, explained, Greece has created a Ministry of Digital Governance to bring all government services under a single platform. And, by showcasing public sector “digital champions,” the government is raising the profile of digital skills and leadership. New roles have emerged, such as “digital policy analyst,” along with large-scale upskilling programs to bridge the skills gap.

Stephen Collins , the European Commission (EC) Acting Director of Organisational Design and Development, brought a different perspective, where management has to cater for the digital needs of an older, longer-serving workforce — calling for longer-term planning to profile skill needs as careers develop. He was enthused over collaborative digital technologies that enable remote working and shared digital workspaces — including a proprietary AI translation tool that could accurately translate documents into 23 different languages.

“Raising the floor and the ceiling of digital capabilities” was the mantra from Sonia Pawson , Director of Government Skills (Interim) in the UK Cabinet Office, stressing the need for strong digital skills at every level of government, arguing that you can’t have digital transformation without digitally literate leaders.

This “top-down, bottom-up” approach was mirrored by the other participants on the webinar, to build a digital culture where everyone understands the value of technology and has the confidence to use it effectively.

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North Americas

Our North Americas webinar cast the spotlight on diversity. As Head of Strategy and Foresight, Toronto Transit Commission, Angela G. has to meet the needs of a diverse city, both in terms of customers and employees. Toronto places a high priority on attracting candidates that match the profile of the city’s citizens, with a recruitment strategy aimed at increasing the number of female workers in particular and close monitoring of diversity performance in recruitment.

Importantly, both hiring and career development decisions are kept as transparent as possible, to ensure all staff are offered equal opportunity to progress. Diversity in ability is another goal, with the shift to electric vehicles ramping up the pressure to plan for new skills for mechanics and engineers.

Erica Thunder , Director of Diversity and Culture at North Dakota, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, is a tribal citizen herself (from one of the 574 federally recognized North American Indian Nations) and understands the importance of attracting a diverse range of workers and being equitable, fair and inclusive to both employees and citizens — including those in correctional facilities. For Erica, an inclusive workplace is best positioned to meet the needs of the whole of society, holding civil servants accountable to the organizational purpose.

Asia-Pacific

Singapore aspires to be a smart nation with a highly ambitious digital transformation agenda. But you can't achieve this without the trust of employees and citizens, according to Peck Kem Low , Chief HR Officer, Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. The massive retraining and re-skilling agenda calls for a strategic workforce plan as part of a wider transformation route map, looking at the skills needed for the future, such as software engineering and data analytics.

However, Peck Kem warns against being overly focused on technological efficiency at the expense of wellbeing. She also urges government workers to learn how to work with AI and automation, suggesting that it should augment rather than replace humans, who could become “robot whisperers.”

For Lisa Rauter , Chief Operating Officer, Australian Digital Health Agency, growing your own talent is essential in a continued tight employment market — especially for digital and cyber skills. She believes that, although the public sector can't pay the highest salaries, it can offer purposeful careers that appeal to people seeking meaning in their work — which could be a major employee value proposition for government. And, like Peck Kem, Lisa sees technology as a big enabler, freeing up workers to focus on human insights.

Digital literacy as a way of life

Hearing these talented and inspiring digital leaders, I was left with renewed faith in the ability of governments around the world to progress their digital agendas.

They provide perfect examples of leaders “walking the walk,” ensuring they have the skills to work with data, the vision to see where digital transformation can take their organizations, and the planning mindset to build a future, digitally literate workforce.

To view these discussions on demand, click on the link here: https://go.ey.com/3ObhEQz ?

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