New business models for effective digital government transformation
Over the past few decades, governments have gradually improved their operations with the help of technology, but the gains are poised to accelerate dramatically if we can change the game of how governments procure IT services. E-government brought improved efficiency by automating paper-based processes. Then came Government 2.0, in which agencies engaged citizens through social media. And now with the fourth revolution mainstreaming worldwide through the advent of the Internet of Things, services, and cyber systems, we have an incredible opportunity to change the game and accelerate the social and economic dividends citizens expect.
This new era is ushering in a whole new phase of digital government transformation that involves embracing technology on a much deeper level to accomplish a broad range of advanced goals. Digital government transformation is about creating a single point of entry for citizens to access government services anytime, anyplace, from any device. It’s about using the power of social media to proactively understand the needs and concerns of citizens and make predictions about how to sustainably evolve government and keep pace with rapid urbanization and new work and lifestyles. It’s about citizens measuring the success of government services and outcomes to deliver those services where they are most needed. And it’s about leveraging advanced analytics across agencies to gain new insights that help governments maximize their performance using open government data. In a nutshell, digital government can help make governments accessible, efficient, and transparent in ways never before possible.
Cloud computing, mobile technologies and this most recent revolution are driving this digital shift, fostering opportunities for governments to work with citizens and other agencies in a highly flexible and cost-effective manner. Yet for this shift to take place on a large scale, governments must embrace the innovation that comes from partnering with those outside the walls of government including citizens, community organizations, academic leaders, and businesses in new ways.
A great example is the City of Barcelona and the Catalan Government, which are working with the City Protocol Society and technology thought leaders from around the globe across industry and academia to create smart cities that help governments govern together with citizens while stimulating local small business. Barcelona hopes to set forth a whole new era of economic growth that leverages open government data and the Internet of Things while creating public and private partnerships that share the procurement cost with the private sector.
In New York City, the New York Police Department (NYPD) created a new revenue sharing partnership with Microsoft to extend the value of its ‘Domain Awareness System’ solution to other jurisdictions. Developed jointly by the NYPD and Microsoft, the solution helps police investigators detect potential criminal activity by aggregating and analyzing information from thousands of cameras, license plate readers, sensors, and law enforcement databases into a simplified dashboard that helps police officers first responders, and investigators gain better situational awareness with a 360-degree view of what’s going on around them. And the news is spreading. Citizen service and law enforcement agencies from all over the globe are inquiring about how they, too, can create new business models like this inside their cities.
As governments seek to genuinely transform how they deliver services for the digital era, we believe that the need to transform the way governments procure and implement new innovations are as important as the innovations themselves for long-term sustained improvement. Governments, civil society, and the private sector should all be accountable for the long-term sustainable results in the same way that corporations create shareholder dividends. Every public sector digital success should result in a measurable social and economic dividend and not exacerbate the digital divide that already exists.
Interested in learning more? Look to request a trial: Azure Government Trial, Office 365 Government Trial.
