The Untold Truth of Digitalizing the Government Sector

When it comes to digitalizing government institutions, the promise always sounds the same: efficiency, transparency, and convenience. Yet, as someone with years of experience working on digital transformation projects at Loons Lab, I’ve seen firsthand how these promises can fall flat—not because of the technology, but because of the mindset and the processes themselves.

Here’s the reality: digitalization without rethinking workflows is a wasted effort. Worse, it can exacerbate the inefficiencies and frustrations already baked into the system. The next point is the mindset change of the people, as if thats a threat or an opportunity unforeseen.

The Root of the Problem: Broken Processes

In many cases, government processes are unnecessarily complex, riddled with redundant steps, and often serve no real purpose. Digitalization that simply mimics these workflows does nothing to solve the problem.

For example, I’ve witnessed scenarios where approval systems require 6–7 layers of sign-offs for the most trivial matters. Once everything is approved, there are still cases where an operation must be reversed because a mistake was discovered too late. If approvals are just symbolic acts to satisfy hierarchy, what’s their true purpose? Digital tools should eliminate such inefficiencies, not perpetuate them.

The solution? Start by rethinking Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Before introducing fancy new systems, we need to ask:

• Is this process necessary?
• Does it add value?
• Can it be simplified—or eliminated altogether?

Without this first step, digitalization becomes just a modernized form of chaos. Digitalization without a process optimization is just converting paper into a screen. Which has been taking place with so many digitalization project. Thus eliminating the tedious processors get converted into doing them on screen appose to doing them on papers.

Digitalization should be thought through so many hats with comparisons and contrasts where it should not follow the traditional process of software development life cycle of requirement gathering, development and implementation.

Understanding the People Behind the Processes

In Sri Lanka, whenever the government sector is mentioned, there’s an immediate association with inefficiency, slow processes, and negative stereotypes. But here’s a perspective we often overlook: government employees are victims of these broken systems too.

So it is really importenet to see the daily struggles faced by the government sector employees. How can the once high performers of the universities, hardest examinations, in short the cream of the cream of the country get into these traps so easily and get limited to performing only the job description or less.

During our projects, we’ve observed:

• Staff members who are overburdened with manual and repetitive tasks, such as entering the same data into multiple formats.
• How does the high performers or the people who go beyond their expected job scope get penalised and end up with many audit queries
• Employees who are afraid that digitalization will render their roles obsolete, leaving them without a purpose or a paycheck.
• Consequences of a signature and inherited nature of lack of responsibility for what they perform although they believe its the right thing to do.

This fear of job loss is real, and it’s one of the biggest barriers to successful digitalization. There were even instances where we had to introduce additional steps in digital workflows just to reassure employees that their roles were secure.

To make digitalization work, we must see the world from their perspective. These are people doing their best in inefficient systems. They’re not the problem—the system is.

What Does True Digital Transformation Look Like?

1. Start with Change Management Digitalization isn’t a switch you flip overnight. It’s a gradual process that requires careful planning, consistent communication, and a structured change management strategy. Employees need time to adapt and learn, and organizations need to support them through the transition.
2. Fix the SOPs First A shiny new digital platform won’t magically fix workflows that don’t make sense. Simplify the processes before you automate them. This might involve eliminating unnecessary approvals, cutting down redundant tasks, or rethinking the very need for certain operations.
3. Focus on the People Technology is only as good as the people who use it. Invest in training and reskilling employees to take on more meaningful roles. Rather than removing jobs, redistribute them to areas that genuinely need human intervention.
4. Make It Gradual Introducing drastic changes overnight only breeds resistance and fear. A phased approach that allows people to adapt and accept the new system is far more effective.

Beyond Technology: Building a Smarter Government

At Loons Lab, we’ve learned that technology is only one part of the digitalization journey. The true transformation lies in rethinking processes, empowering people, and fostering a culture of collaboration.

Digitalizing government institutions isn’t just about moving workflows online. It’s about creating systems that:

• Save time and effort for everyone involved.
• Remove unnecessary steps and redundancies.
• Empower staff to focus on work that truly matters.

If we approach digitalization with empathy, logic, and proper planning, we can create government systems that are not only efficient but also humane and sustainable.

Let’s stop digitalizing broken processes and start fixing them. Only then can technology truly be the tool for transformation we envision it to be.

?? What are your thoughts on digitalizing government systems? Have you experienced similar challenges or solutions in your work? Let’s discuss!

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