Eolas magazine digital government report April 2022

Digital government report

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Minister of State Ossian Smyth TD: Connecting Government 2030 launched I was delighted to launch digital government report

Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service in March 2022, setting out our ambition for digitalisation of public services over the coming years, writes Minister of State with responsibility for eGovernment Ossian Smyth TD. We want to make it just as easy to get your government services online as it is to shop online. You can already apply for many services online, for example: a tax refund or a welfare payment online. It is great that you can get a new passport or a driver's license without having to wait in a queue at an office counter.

We have delivered well against our expectations and have put in place the foundations of a strong digital government ecosystem. I acknowledge the work of our civil and public service for the progress to date. However, while there are many areas of excellence, we want to see ease of access to government services increase and greater integration across all public services. Connecting Government 2030 will help us achieve this ambition.

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Connecting Government 2030 embodies a digital by default approach in delivering public services. Working with stakeholders and the public, we will build towards 90 per cent online uptake of key public services in line with the targets set by the EU’s Digital Decade. At the same time, of course, we will improve the offline experience for those who are unable to access services digitally.

Connecting Government 2030 addresses the digitalisation of public services dimension of the new national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework. It also aligns with the targets set out in Civil Service Renewal 2030.

The digital transformation of government means redesigning and rebuilding government processes and services and using digitalisation and data to provide an integrated experience and service for our people, for businesses, for policymakers and for service providers.

In order to achieve more user-focused outcomes, digitalisation, supported by ICT, will be an integral part of policymaking and public service design processes from the outset, My colleague in government, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, acknowledged this in Budget 2022. He remarked that the allocations announced “must be matched by a commitment to deliver value for money across all areas of government. This will mean further embedding digitisation and new ways of working across our public services”.

The well-established benefits of the digital transformation of public services for both individuals and businesses include efficiency, transparency, trust, and accessibility. Moreover, we know that a strong government digital performance supports and draws strength from a strong digital economy in Ireland.

Connecting Government 2030 identifies six priority action areas.

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A human-driven digital experience: Understanding our users and their needs is key to delivering better services.

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Harnessing data effectively: Improving public services by implementing structures to deliver more and better re-use of data, respecting privacy, and data protection.

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Government as a platform: Driving service simplification through an ecosystem of standards, resources and tools, including application of the ‘onceonly’ principle.

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Evolving through innovation:

Challenging ourselves to look afresh at solving difficult problems to build innovative solutions putting our users at the centre.

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embodies a digital by default

Strengthening digital skills: Strengthening and developing new capabilities and skills, which are able to sustain a digital public service culture.

approach in delivering public

Focusing on governance and leadership: Putting in place governance structures to drive digital transformation across government.

services.”

Minister of State with responsibility for eGovernment Ossian Smyth TD

The following core design principles will drive those six priority action areas: •

•

•

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Digital by default and cloud-first: Building towards the targets for 2030 that 90 per cent of applicable services are consumed online and being more proactive and progressive in embracing cloud.

All-of-government approach: Ensuring an integrated and richer experience for individuals and businesses and that digital considerations are embedded in policy processes.

New ways of working: Enabling working environments that empower our people to give of their best, promoting the sharing of ideas, designs, and innovations.

Privacy-driven and secure by design: Design and build systems that are aligned with best practice in security and cyber defence.

The Connecting Government 2030 Strategy will help provide for our people with: •

better access to trusted, high quality digital government services;

•

services delivered in an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable manner with enhanced service to those needing assistance;

•

secure and transparent reuse of personal data; and

•

opportunities to actively contribute to the co-creation of government services.

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“Connecting Government 2030

For businesses, the Strategy will help to deliver: •

better access to integrated digital government services;

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reduced administrative overheads;

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GovTech opportunities; and

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greater openness and enhanced engagement with government.

For the public servants developing and delivering public services, the strategy will: •

support the effective use of data to plan and deliver all government services;

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strengthen capabilities and skills;

•

support an ecosystem of common digital building blocks/tools; and

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provide a strong governance framework.

Connecting Government 2030 recognises and reflects the ambition of the European Green Deal by promoting the use of environmentally friendly technologies and boosting the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean circular economy.

Consequently, we will continuously improve our use of sustainable ICT, including improved circular product cycles. We will work to ensure ICT equipment and services implemented by

government become fully circular, i.e. not just energy efficient in design, but also designed to last longer, to be properly maintained, to contain recycled material, and to be easily dismantled and recycled.

A key element of this ambition is the development of the first government data centre, which will be innovative in its green design, delivery, and sustainability credentials. The new data centre and specifically the cloudorientated infrastructure design within it will provide the pathway to close down inefficient computer rooms and small data centres, thus creating a more energy-efficient hosting capability across the public service. The government data centre will also be central to our wider data collection and storage plans, including edge computing.

The coming years will be about building upon our strong foundations and creating a world-leading digital government service. I look forward to the implementation of Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service. It will take an all-of-government effort to deliver its ambitious outcomes. But I am confident that Connecting Government 2030 will greatly improve the services we deliver to our people and to business and contribute to the Government’s overall objectives for sustainability.

Access Connecting Government 2030 on gov.ie 85

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Building strong partnership ecosystems to drive digital transformation within government services realising the vision and ambition of this framework and driving a step-change in how people, businesses, and policy makers interact.

Vodafone have been privileged to partner with government over recent years on the delivery of digital infrastructure and services with integrated next generation fixed and mobile solutions, cloud based platforms, IOT and edge computing and we look forward to continue the journey to support the digital transformation of Ireland’s government services. This digital transformation was accelerated exponentially over the last couple of years where public sector bodies were required to adopt new solutions and ways of working almost overnight to continue to deliver key services to citizens.

In the last two years, public sector bodies required a significant amount of effort and energy to adopt to new solutions and ways of working in realtime that has created a stimulus for greater technology adoption.

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Born out of necessity, we have seen a greater acceleration of digital transformation and innovation within public services during the Covid-19 pandemic than we have in the last decade, writes Shelah McMahon, Head of Public Sector Sales, Vodafone Ireland.

As we look forward, there is a need to better understand and evolve the ways in which technology can support the delivery and management of public services from health and education to the connected smart city in order to build a more resilient, equal, and prosperous society and economy.

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The recent launch of the Irish Government’s digital and ICT strategy Connecting Government 2030 is a clear signal of intent to harness the momentum achieved in the last two years to further digitise government services and there is a strong role for the telecommunications sector to play in

This was visible across all of government and particularly across education and healthcare. Centres of learning were faced with the prospect of educating thousands of students remotely, and a reliable connection was key to providing a seamless transition into online learning and put digitisation at the top of the agenda and indeed budget.

The HSE, confronted with an unparalleled surge of patient admissions, was tasked with facilitating efficient at-home working for a high percentage of its staff. Vodafone and Aruba partnered with HSE to deliver local area network and connectivity solutions.

Vodafone expedited a smooth transition to remote working with as little disruption as possible. Taking St James’s Hospital as an example, Remote Access Points (RAPs) were

deployed in the homes of key medical staff members, allowing them full, secure remote access to the Patient Archiving & Communication Service (PACS).

Looking forward, Vodafone is continuing to enable digital transition by focusing on platforms and strategic partnerships as the way forward for the business. A major part of the ongoing effort to better integrate our service portfolio (fixed and mobile connectivity, LAN, WLAN, WiFi, 5G, IoT and cloud) involves platforms with open interfaces and cloud-native support for emerging technologies such as managed 5G and IoT connectivity, IoT application enablement, and edge computing. This allows us to build new products and services and co-create end-to-end platforms with our customers and partners, moving very much from a connectivity provider to a technology provider.

This partnership ecosystem is crucial to support the digital transformation of public services.

For example, with a partnership spanning 22 years, Aruba and Vodafone are well placed to deliver complex LAN and WiFi solutions for public sector bodies across education, healthcare, local and government.

“In the last two years, public sector bodies required a significant amount of effort and energy to adopt to new solutions and ways of working in realtime that has created a stimulus for greater technology adoption.”

Northern Ireland Civil Service and working with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) to deliver the nationwide Government Cloud Network, built on Aruba switches and routers, wireless and network management software.

With a clear imperative for continued digitisation of government services in Ireland, now is the time to be bold and innovative in order to future-proof how we interact with citizens, businesses and communities.

Our aim is to support the digital transformation of government and to use digitalisation and data to provide an

integrated experience for our citizens, businesses and policy makers to embed longer-term societal resilience.

Vodafone is a purpose-led business just like the public sector. Our purpose has underpinned our commitments during Covid and Conti including prioritising mission critical communications; providing network capacity and services for critical government functions, especially hospitals and emergency calls; and improving the delivery of information to the public.

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Aside from the work with AIT, Vodafone have successfully delivered numerous other large and complex solutions in both the public and private sectors across the island of Ireland. Specific projects in public sector organisations include TU Dublin’s campus, encompassing secure student access and control; Limerick IT, Northern Regional College, and HSE National, including a major WiFi upgrade for St James’s Hospital.

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The Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT, now known as Technological University of the Shannon, Midlands Midwest) also assisted Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout by transforming the modernised athletics arena into a vaccination centre, delivering some 3,500 vaccines each day, seven days a week. The dedicated Vodafone/Aruba robust high-speed network provided the ideal IT infrastructure for vaccine rollout, enabling AIT to pivot its core function to a lifesaving inoculation centre with a catchment area spanning the Westmeath-Roscommon border.

W: www.vodafone.com

Additional projects include the entire 87

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Government CIO Barry Lowry: A digital leader Following the publication of Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework, the new national digital strategy, and Connecting Government 2030, the new Public Service digital and ICT strategy, Barry Lowry reflects on his time heading up the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) to date and discusses his continued ambition for Ireland’s digital journey.

Remarking on the distance already travelled on Ireland’s digital journey, Lowry emphasises the acceleration which took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, when the public service embarked upon the journey in 2015, Ireland’s government services portal, gov.ie, did not even exist; by 2020 it had 100 million visits. Likewise, in 2016 there were just over 8,000 verified MyGovID accounts; today, over 1.5 million Irish adults have verified accounts.

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“Now we have built the foundations for change, we must implement the big changes. Through the new strategy, we have a plan for how we are going to do that,” he observes.

“Big changes” Looking to the consolidation of progress that has been made, Lowry lists two “big changes” the OGCIO will prioritise.

Firstly, the delivery of an intuitive, userdriven digital government service whereby 90 per cent of applicable services are consumed online by 2030 and secondly, the launch of a new Life Events Portal.

“We define applicable services as those services which the public values most” the Government CIO explains, adding: “Over the coming weeks, we will consult the public on the services that are most important to them and their experience of these services.

“As we head into what is projected to be a financially constrained environment, we are responding to the public’s priorities, rather than pursuing a programme which attempts to change everything.”

Building on the success of gov.ie, then, the Life Events Portal is set to include births and deaths as the two primary life events, alongside returning to Ireland from abroad, and opening a business.

With births and deaths, there are multiple touchpoints with government, local government, the health authorities, and others.

As such, the Life Events Portal is intended to act as a single point of contact to enable individuals to provide

information once. After this, each arm of the Public Service will be informed when someone has been born or when someone has died, proactively using this data to align with the services that citizens are entitled to in such circumstances.

Harnessing digital While a draft National Digital Strategy was prepared in November 2019, ahead of the anticipated change in government, its publication was postponed. Amid prolonged government formation negotiations and the Covid-19 pandemic, a decision was made to reappraise the consultation data informing the strategy.

In February 2022, Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework was launched with the objective of establishing Ireland as “a digital leader at the heart of European and global digital developments” across four dimensions: digital transformation of business; digital infrastructure; skills; and digitalisation of public services.

“We agreed that we would totally align it with the EU Digital Compass which has four points: digital government; digital infrastructure; digital skills; and digital business.

“Once we had agreed to adopt that approach, it was relatively easy to take the EU targets and to adapt them for an Irish context. In most cases, we were more ambitious than the EU because the underlying desire has to be for Ireland to be a top-three digital nation.”

We also added an additional section focusing on digital policy and regulation, reflecting the importance of retaining our EU leadership in this space.

A top-three digital nation Outlining the tangible benefits of being a top-three digital nation within the EU, Lowry explains that digital government will be as easily accessible as any other form of service.

“We have demonstrated that we can do

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“The focus for the initial life events will be birth and bereavement because everyone understands why that is a pressure point, and the fact that, currently, for many, having to stand in an office to complete this process is a frustrating experience. Anything we can do to help people in that regard will be well received,” Lowry asserts.

“The underlying desire has to be for Ireland to be a top-three digital nation.”

Government CIO Barry Lowry this. Through the Covid Tracker App and the Digital Covid Certificate, we have demonstrated that we can build digital services every bit as well as the private sector. That is very encouraging. Now, we need to be as strong in proactive mode as we are in reactive mode.

“If we are reducing face-to-face services, we are also creating additional capacity in the Public Service and Civil Service. As such, we can aptitude test people who want to inhabit that space, before retraining them to undertake careers in data analytics, IT, and so on.

“This is one of many little steps, or enablers, that will show people that things are happening for the better. We are seeing this in government. The feedback that we are seeing on MyGovID is phenomenal.”

“We need an academy approach; we need to grow our own talent and there is talent there. There are many people who did not pursue a STEM career, but they have a real talent for business analysis or various IT roles,” Lowry explains.

Skills

Digital divide

Emphasising the “absolutely critical” role played by government in the acquisition of digital skills, Lowry highlights the commitment contained within EU’s Digital Decade 2030 that 80 per cent of adults will have at least basic digital skills by 2030. This target has been adopted in Harnessing Digital.

While the digital divide has been accentuated by the pandemic, the Government CIO insists that digital will deliver pervasive benefits across society.

“If 90 per cent of people are consuming their government services online, at a time and place of their choosing, we will unlock additional resources to provide a better service to the 10 per cent who continue to consume their services inperson.”

“That is something that we must pursue in schools,” he says, adding: “The new Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 addresses this. It is also about trying to avail of every opportunity which provides people with access to basic skills.

Libraries are an obvious area. When we undertook the public consultation for the national digital strategy, what we observed was an eagerness among organisations such as local community groups and GAA clubs to get involved.”

In the context of ongoing talent management challenges and following the successful conclusion of the Government’s first iteration of the ICT Apprenticeship Scheme in conjunction with Fastrack to IT (FIT), a second scheme is set to launch in autumn 2022.

Improvements identified by both OGCIO and FIT, as well as the students themselves, will be included in the second iteration, while proof of concept work is also underway for a new retraining pilot scheme for government employees.

Simultaneously, a subcommittee established by the Sectoral Digital Leaders’ Groups is tasked with scrutinising inclusion and ensuring that public interest in assisted digital can be addressed. “That leaves a very small number who require support through face-to-face interaction. If we can free up resources to give them a better experience, then that is a benefit of digital,” he asserts.

Connecting Government 2030 Published in 2015, the Public Service ICT Strategy aimed to establish the foundations for a effectual digital government ecosystem. It was defined by five key strategic objectives: build to share; digital first; data as an enabler;

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improve governance; and increase capability.

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“Those were the foundations for what we did next,” Lowry explains, pointing to the progress made on gov.ie and MyGovID, the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 and the Data Strategy, new governance structures and the standardisation of infrastructure and back-office tools across the Public Service.

Prepared by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and published in March 2022, Connecting Government 2030 is the successor to the 2015 strategy. The stated objective of the new digital and ICT strategy for Ireland’s public service is to “enhance Ireland’s reputation as a digital leader”.

Connecting Government 2030 aligns with the digitalisation of public services dimension of the national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital, as we well as the digital targets contained in Civil Service Renewal 2030.

“The Public Service ICT Strategy is a success story, and the next few years will be about becoming a leader in Europe. That is why we have called Connecting Government 2030 a digital and ICT strategy rather than simply an ICT strategy; it is very much about the customer experience and things that matter most to the person in the street,” Lowry outlines.

Governance While commending Ossian Smyth TD as Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment, Lowry maintains: “The biggest challenge that we have had – and one appointment has not fixed it – is that several government departments are involved in the digital agenda, and we do not have a Department of Digital Government as such.”

Acknowledging that the current scenario has associated strengths and weaknesses, he suggests that “where there are many moving parts, even with a strong centre, change will not be easy”.

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However, implementation of the new national digital strategy and EU obligations will be directed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment, which is chaired by the Tánaiste. It will also be supported by the Digital Issues Senior

“For the public to say it trusts what we are doing with its data is really important for us.”

Officials’ Group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, and the Digital Single Market Group, chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Therefore, once we begin to open up MyGovID into healthcare and local government, we will get there. There is no doubt about it.”

From a governance perspective, this represents a major step change. “To now have the Tánaiste as the lead minister for digital is a really powerful statement. I think the Government has handled that bit particularly well. This very much aligns with where Europe is and helps position Ireland to be a leader,” Lowry says.

Reflections

2022 priorities For OCGIO, there are three immediate priorities for the year ahead. Firstly, 2022 will be defined by the alignment of all data sharing with the Data Sharing and Governance Act. “The Minister has set a target for December 2022, after which all data sharing will be under the auspices of the new Act. This is very powerful because it allows the Minister to direct data sharing as well as permit. That is a big challenge for this year,” Lowry remarks.

“A second ambition for 2022 is getting the first prototype Life Events Portal online and helping people to understand its rationale; and drive improvements to the most popular digital services. We will complete the consultation, establish a list of top 20 or top 30 events, and implement a timeframe to work through those.”

Thirdly, by 2023, Ireland must produce a national plan for the EU’s digital targets for 2030. Lowry is confident that this will happen. “Consider MyGovID, for example,” he begins, “Currently, about 38 per cent of the population have a verified account. One of the things we have to do is notify a version of MyGovID that meets the European standard, but the big focus will be reaching 80 per cent of eligible citizens using MyGovID by 2030.

“While getting from 38 per cent to 80 per cent is a challenge, Ireland is one of the fastest growing countries in the world.

Having led OGCIO since 2016, one of Lowry’s early ambitions was to build strong relationships between his office, the government departments, the sectors, academia, and industry. “If you talk to any of those groups, that objective has been achieved. We have built proactive relationships with each of those stakeholders and indeed the public. The brand is well known now and is often used in the Oireachtas and elsewhere,” he reflects.

For now, though, he believes that the preeminent obstacles to digital government are still investment orientated. Allied to this is the scale of legacy infrastructure. “If you take something like the concept of a register of names and addresses, it is not going to be easy to get people to stop relying on the ones that are inbuilt in their databases. We have a good workaround in the Single Customer View, but to effectively develop this is a massive and costly challenge. We may well have to be pragmatic about how we do some of those things because the key thing for us is customer experience,” he argues.

However, a recent OECD report, which determined that alongside Denmark, Ireland has one of the most trusted public services in the world, has buoyed Lowry and OGCIO. “That is very positive. While there has been negative media off and on over the last three years, it has not dulled the public perception that what we are attempting to achieve is in its best interests. We are trying to do so transparently and in line with GDPR. That has provided everyone with a lift. It is real, honest feedback and for the public to say it trusts what we are doing with its data is really important for us,” he concludes.

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Harnessing the digital decade In February 2022, the Government launched Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework, a strategy which seeks to enable digital transition across the economy and society and deliver access to a gigabit network to all premises by 2028 and 5G by 2030.

Ambitious goals are set within the framework, not least the targets regarding the digitalisation of Irish businesses, with the Government aiming for 90 per cent of SMEs to be at basic digital intensity and 75 per cent enterprise take-up in cloud, AI, and big data by 2030. Such initiatives come at a time when Irish businesses are in need of rapid uptake of digitalisation, with ActionPoint’s H2 2021 Digital Transformation Index Report stating that only 10 per cent of 248 Irish SMEs across 18 sectors surveyed are currently classed as digitally strategic or optimised.

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The report also found that 37 per cent of

the businesses surveyed were classified as digitally reactive, having “somewhat” clear IT priorities and being reactive to IT needs rather than proactive. Only 51 per cent of respondents were found to be using collaboration and communication platforms such as those that facilitate remote working and 41 per cent of respondents “had used analytics to better understand the customer”.

In this context, the Government’s strategy arrives just in time, with a pledge to “help to maximise the wellbeing of Irish people and their businesses, the length and breath of the country” and to “help us full realise many of the benefits of digital including: more

The framework is set out across four key themes: digital transformation of business; digital infrastructure; skills; and the digitalisation of public services.

These four themes are in line with the four cardinal points of the EU’s Digital Compass. Implementation of the framework will be driven by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Investment, which is chaired by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD. Direct actions on the part of the Government to address the digitalisation of businesses will include the rolling out of an “ambitious awareness-raising campaign to encourage businesses to digitalise” and a new digital portal open to all enterprises with information on supports available. The Government also plans to rollout its new Digital Transition Fund, totalling €85 million, which will run until 2026 as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The funding will “be used to help companies at all stages of the digital journey” in an effort to “significantly ramp up the level of micro and start-up businesses becoming digital exporters by 2025”.

The Government also plans to establish both Ireland’s European Digital Innovation Hubs and a National AI Cluster in 2022 as part of their plans.

Under the theme of digital infrastructure, the Government pledges to deliver “a significant package of measures to strengthen the capacity and footing of the NCSC”, including the expansion of its staff from 25 to 45 in 18 months and 70 within five years. A five-year technology strategy will be developed for the centre that “scopes its internal requirements, and its relationship with academia and industry” and legislation will be developed to establish it on a statutory basis with formal powers and a legal mandate.

For skills, the delivery of high-level digital skills “through more and diverse pathways in higher education and further education and training” are pledged,

“The Digital Ireland Framework will help to maximise the wellbeing of Irish people and their businesses, the length and breadth of the country.” along with a move to a unified tertiary education system “enabling a broadening of opportunities, seamless pathways and strengthening employability and enterprise engagement”. Support for digital literacy skills is to be delivered through the implementation of a 10-year Adult Literacy for Life Strategy.

Finally, the digitalisation of public services will be powered by the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal 2030 Strategy, the delivery of the first iterations of the new Life Events Portal, the revision and deliverance of a renewed eHealth Strategy by 2030, and the fulfilment of the Government’s commitment under the National

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flexible and remote working and new job opportunities; new markets and customers for businesses; more efficient and accessible public services for all; and empowerment and choice in how we learn or participate in social activities”.

Recovery and Resilience Plan to the tune of €291 million.

Speaking upon the launch of the framework, Minister of State with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Robert Troy TD said: “With the launch of the digital strategy, we are setting ambitious targets for the next phase of digitalisation in Ireland so that we can continue to reap the benefits offered by digital technologies. Preparing for tomorrow’s economy and society means seizing the opportunities presented by digital technologies and will enable us to chart a course of recovery that is open, collaborative and responsive to new developments on the horizon.”

Seven targets are outlined by the Government: 1

using plans and mechanisms such as the National Broadband Plan, remote working hubs, and broadband connection points to have all Irish households and businesses covered by a gigabit network no later than 2028 and “all populated areas” covered by 5G by 2030;

2

increasing the share of adults with at least basic digital skills to 80 per cent by 2030;

3

ensuring “widespread access and use of inclusive digital public services”, with 90 per cent of public services to be consumed online by 2030;

4

providing grants and assistance to SMEs to capitalise on digital opportunities, targeting 90 per cent basic digital intensity for SMEs and 75 per cent enterprise take-up of in cloud, AI, big data by 2030;

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investment in cybersecurity, including increases resources for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC);

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developing a “modern and well-resourced regulatory framework”; and

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playing a “leading role in Europe right across the digital agenda”.

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Collaboration and agility: taking what we learnt in the pandemic to benefit modernisation digital government report

In response to governments and businesses moving services online during the pandemic, the public upskilled, improvin g its digital capability almost overnight. With a greater technologically capable public, Owen Harrison, Chief Information Officer in the Courts Service, discusses where this leaves digital government and where can we go from here?

Prior to the pandemic outbreak, digital transformation was already firmly in the sights of the Courts Service. A digital first approach had been set as one of the main principles of the new Modernisation Programme established to realise the Courts Service Strategic Vision 2030: “to deliver excellent services to court users; working in partnership with the judiciary and others, to enable a world class courts system”. The Courts Service over the past two years has innovatively put in place digital and online solutions to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic.

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“The digital first goal under our Modernisation Programme was aspirational when we set out on this journey of change just over two years ago now,” explains Harrison. The pandemic accelerated plans which were barely beyond concept stage and within weeks remote or virtual courts were

operating online. In the first year, 2020 the Courts Service facilitated 2,400 remote court hearings working in collaboration with the judiciary to keep Courts open and safe during the pandemic. In 2021, that more than doubled.

Other digital responses in the past two years have seen an online appointments system piloted across a number of Courts Service offices, facilitating members of the public and practitioners to go online and book an appointment in court offices. Covid-19 health and safety compliance checks by officers across the country were brought online through an innovative approach using ‘iAuditor’ technology. This technology allows breaches of health and safety protocols to be identified and remedied in realtime on mobile devices, replacing the original manual process. A partnership approach with Revenue saw part of the

“A more agile approach is the way we need to go on our digital projects; designing, developing, and re-developing in an iterative way, applying the user feedback.

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probate process also go online in the past two years.

Harrison, who joined the Courts Service as Chief Information Officer in late 2020, and his ICT team rolled out an ambitious plan in 2021 which involved the tech enablement of courts across the country.

“We almost doubled the number of technology-enabled courts across the country in 2021, with over 100 courtrooms now supporting virtual courts, video-link appearances by vulnerable witnesses, specialist witnesses from other jurisdictions as well as prisoners,” explains Harrison. The Courts Service facilitated almost 34,000 video-links to prisons in 2020 and 2021, which helped reduce the incidences of Covid. Harrison continues: “By enabling our courts with digital and online capabilities we are giving the judiciary and the parties options for hearing cases. There are everyday examples across jurisdictions of cases which have been facilitated because of the remote court option, which in the past might otherwise have been adjourned. The efficient hearing of cases is at the heart of a modern courts system.”

Harrison and the Courts Service ICT team are focused on laying the

Harrison explains the approach in the Courts Service: “We recognise we don’t know everything there is to know about our services and how they are experienced by users. We also recognise that the digital capability of some of our users and their expectations have increased in the past two years.

Our family law and civil reform programmes have therefore taken a user-centric approach to modernising our services. Starting by engaging with court users, representative groups, and the judiciary on their current experience of our services, to understand their painpoints and what could be put in place to make things easier, more efficient, and user-friendly.

Another key element of Harrison’s approach, as detailed in the recently published Courts Service Data Strategy, is improved data management: “Multiple systems across inter-related jurisdictions makes consistent data capture, not to

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Tech enabled courts: everyday benefits “An application to adjourn a case due to an increase in the number of witnesses and interested parties wishing to attend to hear evidence was overcome by the ability to offer a blended hearing using video technology in the courts which ensured that the case proceeded as scheduled” His Honour Judge Colin Daly, Circuit Court, commented on a planning dispute case that he had presided over in January 2022 which also then concluded two days ahead of schedule and he complimented the Courts Service on the roll-out of the video-enabled courts noting that “it has made the proceedings so much easier to access”.

mind analysis, very challenging to improve the quality of our information for decision making, particularly around how we best utilise our resources, we need to be developing systems with consistent data capture and analysis in mind also.”

digital modernisation is a collaborative

Harrison recognises that this approach to data is apparent across Government, as reflected in the national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework. Harrison concludes “Government has learnt a lot through the pandemic, and I think one of the key learnings in the digital space has been the benefit of collaboration. When we work together across Government we see the benefit for members of the public, a key part of our approach to

Service visit www.courts.ie

approach with the judiciary and our partners across the justice sector.”

For more information on the Courts

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“A more agile approach is the way we need to go on our digital projects; designing, developing, and redeveloping in an iterative way, applying the user feedback. The challenge for leaders in the digital government space now is striving for this agility whilst balancing the significant obligations of governance, procurement, and other legislative obligations.”

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Harrison acknowledges the appetite and determination within the Courts Service to enable digital change as soon as possible. Harrison explains: “At the same time as replacing and bringing consistency to our legacy systems, we are keen to move on digitising services in an agile way. As I have said before, digital transformation, a key part of our Modernisation Programme, is not just a reimplementation of processes but a full reimagining of business operations. The challenge for leaders who are not in the digital space day in day out, is grasping how different business can be if digital is fully utilised.”

Irish Prison Service Courtroom video appearances 2015-2021

NUMBER OF COURTROOM VIDEO APPEARANCES

foundations of a system that will facilitate an agile and flexible approach to modernisation. Harrison explains: “We need to bring greater consistency across all our systems of which there are a multitude spanning five jurisdictions and three areas of law. Bringing that consistency is no small ask, but we have already started laying the foundations by introducing multi-disciplinary teams, a modern technology platform, and an agile way of working.”

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European eGovernment Benchmark report digital government report

The European Commission’s eGovernment Benchmark Report for 2021 has found Ireland to be on-track in terms of eGovernment penetration but underperforming in terms of digitalisation when compared with other countries.

89% of Irish services are online, compared to a European average of 81% 50% of Irish government portals show whether personal data was consulted, compared to a European average of 61%

Overall scores User centricity Ireland: 94 EU27+ average: 88.3 Transparency Ireland: 78 EU27+: 64.3

45% of Irish services accept eID login, compared to a European average of 64% 71% of Irish services are online for cross-border users, compared to an EU average of 43%

Performance Key enablers Ireland: 47 EU27+: 65.2 Cross-border services Ireland: 73 EU27+: 54.8

Penetration Ireland: 67% EU27: 67% Digitalisation Ireland: 68% EU27: 71%

Relative indicators and environment Digital skills Ireland: 54% EU27: 48% Quality Ireland: 77% EU27: 70%

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Openness Ireland: 85% EU27: 75% Connectivity Ireland: 56% EU27: 51%

Digital in private sector Ireland: 48% EU27: 39%

The European Commission says: “By comparing

environmental characteristics, and, on the other hand, the

performances of countries with similar relative indicator

digitalisation level is low, if compared with similar

scores, Ireland is on-track in penetration and

countries. Ireland’s eGovernment maturity process seems

underperforming in digitalisation. The value of penetration

to be benefiting from a digitalisation of the back- and the

is similar to the one of other countries with comparable

front-office.”

Pexip delivering solutions for critical meetings simple and intuitive as possible whilst enabling government departments to consider the art of the possible when using video to build citizen-facing services into the community.

Global video conferencing provider Pexip is delivering solutions to public sector organisations which enable safe and secure critical meetings anywhere in the world.

With a primary focus on security, Pexip ensures that data remains safe and private, and participants can meet easily on video regardless of technology, device, or location. Pexip is already widely used by public sectors and governments throughout the world and supports those working in the healthcare and justice systems in Ireland.

Niall Doyle, Ireland Country Manager, Pexip explains: “Our emphasis on data security and data sovereignty is of paramount importance to Pexip. It’s what drives us. Our clients remain in control of all media data and metadata and our self-hosted Pexip Infinity platform means data doesn’t leave country borders. This assurance

extends into vital government-to-citizen services like healthcare. This emphasis on security is why government customers around the world trust Pexip to keep their communications seamless and secure.”

“For government communications, scalability is crucial too,” adds Niall. “To effectively handle large-scale internal meetings and a growing need for video engagement with the public, government organisations need a video conferencing solution that is built to be able to meet demand.”

By providing certified, native interoperability for Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, and Google Meet, Pexip has made the user experience as

Pexip integrates video meeting technology into existing workflows •

National tax and pension services;

•

Welfare and unemployment offices;

•

Public health and safety services;

•

Local government and city councils;

•

Courts and law enforcement offices;

•

Departments of traffic and motor vehicles;

•

Immigration offices;

•

Child and family services; and

•

Inter-agency communication at local and national levels.

To ensure that user data is stored securely and protected, Pexip offers multiple and unique deployment options.

“We can provide a public cloud service or a private cloud service, and we support on-prem deployments,” explains Doyle. “With an on-prem solution, the customer can host an end-to-end video service in their own network using their own data centres, sometimes completely isolated from the internet.

Recently documented cyber-attacks reinforce the importance of security, which is one of our founding principles and something we maintain the highest standards of across our customer base.”

Pexip provides technology and services to customers in healthcare, judicial and enterprise in Ireland and supports the public sector with vertical solutions for government. The flexibility to add capacity to the Pexip solution becomes available from set up, with no added licensing or configuration needed.

Organisations can deploy Pexip in a way that is best suited to their technology and infrastructure requirements, be that on-premises or hosted in Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, or as a service.

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to facilitate easy-to-access internal and external collaboration for:

digital government report

Doyle continues: “Government organisations have benefited from the successful implementation of integrated video solutions to enhance their existing services, tools and workflows as well as improving user experience. Pexip’s wide range of platform APIs enables advanced integration into transformational services like telemedicine and virtual court hearings.”

E: niall.doyle@pexip.com W: www.pexip.com

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OSi’s National Mapping Agreement: Do more with maps

The National Mapping Agreement gives public service bodies access to digital mapping and geospatial data.

Stuart Doherty from Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) explains how public sector organisations can take advantage of the wealth of resources available and do more Advertorial

with maps to improve the delivery of services for citizens.

In the five years since its inception, the National Mapping Agreement has transformed and dramatically extended the use of geospatial information within Ireland’s public sector. More than 100 organisations, from the Office of the Taoiseach and central government 98

departments to local authorities and universities, now take advantage of this centrally funded scheme to access and use up-to-date and authoritative maps, aerial imagery, and spatial data from OSi.

The initiative is open to all government departments, local authorities, enterprise boards, non-commercial semi-state bodies, health services, emergency services, schools, and universities, as well as many other public bodies. OSi’s aim is to make geospatial services as accessible as possible to the public sector to help organisations plan and deliver new services for citizens. Eligible bodies are merely required to sign up to the National Mapping Agreement which can be arranged through correspondence with the Corporate Sales team in OSi, CorporateSales@osi.ie.

As the National Mapping Agreement is funded by the Irish Government, there are no cost barriers for individual organisations. Furthermore, as the agreement covers OSi’s web services, organisations can also access the data they need online, without having to invest in the IT infrastructure to store and manage geospatial data in house.

Besides OSi’s large and small-scale mapping data, the agreement also provides access to many other valuable resources including OSi’s archived aerial imagery, small and medium scale data,

boundary data, and historic mapping.

Public service bodies can use the OSi digital maps, data, and services available through the National Mapping Agreement to:

Communicate information more effectively to citizens

Improve understanding of complex challenges

services, can use OSi data, together with demographic data, to identify where there is greatest need for their services.” efficiently. The Central Statistics Office is just one organisation that has successfully used OSi data to undertake proximity analysis and better understand where new public services, such as maternity hospitals, ATMs, and remote working hubs, are most needed.

Make better-informed decisions Whether they are providing family support, promoting public safety, or developing infrastructure, all public service bodies need relevant, timely and meaningful information to help them make informed decisions. OSi data was instrumental in the development of the national Covid-19 data hub used by the National Public Health Emergency Team, Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer, the Taoiseach’s office, and other senior decision makers. Providing daily updates on a wide range of key indicators, such as capacity in intensive care units, the hub delivered the information that was vitally important to inform critical decisions throughout the pandemic.

Collaborate on innovative new projects As the National Mapping Agreement provides the whole public sector in Ireland with access to the same consistent set of core datasets from OSi, it is easier for organisations to collaborate and share data. There are

also fewer technical barriers in joint projects, as potential data inconsistences and incompatibilities are eliminated, paving the way for innovative new collaborations. University College Dublin, for instance, has successfully collaborated with a range of partners and stakeholders in a ground-breaking project to make environmental data and standardised sensitivity mapping methods available to planners, engineers, and environmental consultants.

In these ways and others, the National Mapping Agreement is helping to deliver a new level of spatial understanding across the whole public sector in Ireland and giving organisations the data they need to transform public services. So, whether public service bodies are already using OSi data and services or just discovering them for the first time, there is so much more that they can all do with maps.

Stuart Doherty is Corporate Sales and Partner Network Development Manager at Ordnance Survey Ireland For more information about the National Mapping Agreement or to arrange a discussion with one of the OSi team, please visit: www.osi.ie/services/national-mappingagreement/

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Across all areas of public service there are challenges that need to be addressed, whether these relate to mitigating the impacts of climate change, creating equitable access to services, or driving down costs. OSi data can be analysed in conjunction with open data to improve understanding of incredibly complex issues. Dublin City Council has used OSi data and services to shine a light on trends in the Dublin housing market and make accurate, up-to-date, and authoritative data accessible to policy makers and the public. An interactive mapping interface makes it easy for policy makers to analyse challenges in different parts of the city and implement new strategies to make Dublin an affordable and sustainable place to live.

those in health, transport, and emergency

digital government report

Many public service bodies use OSi data and services through the National Mapping Agreement to help them communicate information to citizens in more visual ways. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, for example, has created an interactive web app to show citizens exactly where large capital investments are taking place across Ireland. It improves transparency about government spending and brings Project Ireland 2040 to life for people across the country. Many other public service bodies, from citizen information services to tourism groups and sporting organisations, could develop similar solutions to make people more aware of the locations of public services, places of interest, and facilities.

“Public service bodies of all sizes, including

Deliver more efficient, targeted public services Public service bodies of all sizes, including those in health, transport, and emergency services, can use OSi data, together with demographic data, to identify where there is greatest need for their services. They can then focus on these specific locations to deliver the right services to the right people more 99

digital government report

Scaling crossborder innovation

Alexander Holt, Head of Emerging Opportunities and Partnerships within the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate, speaks to eolas about CivTech, Europe’s first govtech programme, and the lessons learnt in expanding the programme internationally.

Having operated his own digital agency in London, Holt returned to Scotland to manage technological procurement for the Scottish Government as a contractor. “It is this experience of both running a business and procurements that led me to explore different ways of running procurement for government,” he remarks.

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Holt set about exploring a new way to collaborate through the CivTech Scotland programme, taking public sector problems or challenges and matching them with entrepreneurial

talent. “Rather than going with closed, prescriptive tenders, we ran procurements with open, challengebased questions,” Holt explains. “We ran that for three years and we had a number of success and lessons learnt from there.”

From this starting point, the CivTech Alliance was founded. “What we found was that CivTech Scotland – because of its leadership in the govtech space as the first govtech programme in Europe and arguably one of the world’s first digital public service accelerators – was

“The CivTech Alliance was full of likeminded government teams who were setting up their govtech programmes from the United States, Brazil, across Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.

What we found was that we were, particularly during the pandemic, at the forefront of technological responses.

Throughout 2020, we built up these solid relationships through our weekly video calls, really getting to know people, and that is one of the lessons learnt, that we need these deep relationships. From relationships come trust and from trust comes opportunities.”

Considerations for cross-border collaboration included value propositions for each participant’s own government, for companies seeking involvement with governments, and for any other stakeholders, as well as the legal, contractual, and procurement parameters within which each participant had to work.

“When our group came together, a lot of time was taken to define collaboration, and determine what you can and cannot do within jurisdictions.,” Holt says, adding: “Then of course, there is the cultural aspect; how you build cultures across governments and the innovation ecosystems with which you’re about to engage.”

The CivTech Alliance Global Scale Up Programme consisted of countries across Europe, as well as states in the US, Brazil, and Australia. Participating programmes included the 10x Programme for the General Services Administration by the US Government, the US Census Bureau’s Opportunity Project, BrazilLAB, InvestSP and Ideiagov in Brazil, ie Public Tech Lab in Spain, the Technical University of Denmark, GovTech Poland, GovTech Lab Lithuania, Go2Gov in Australia, the

“The CivTech Alliance was full of like-minded government teams who were setting up their govtech programmes from the United States, Brazil, across Europe, the Middle East, and

digital government report

able to team up with other governments around the world,” Holt says. The programme has received a succession of international accolades including winning Apolitical's Global Public Service Team of the Year Award in the Climate Heroes category. It was also selected as one of three programmes from nearly 200 global entries to appear on stage at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Berlin in June – the largest public sector innovation show globally – and appears as a case study in the OECD's latest report on cross-border collaboration.

Australia. What we found was that we were, particularly during the pandemic, at the forefront of technological responses.”

Inno Lab in Germany, and Accelerate Estonia.

“We put the proposition together whereby we wanted to get some challenges, so we chose three: teaming up with the United Nations Development Programme on environment resilience; the World Resources Institute on food wastage; and Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc for decarbonising transport,” Holt says.

“From there, we went to the market, and we ran an open call for innovations and an evaluation process.” From 67 applications across 14 countries, 18 companies from nine countries were selected, including Eco Panplas in Brazil, whose plastic recycling business saves 17 billion litres of water for every 500 tonnes of plastic recycled, XDI Systems in Australia, which possesses 85 million assets assessed against eight types of weather conditions and what their future looks like in the context of climate change, and Blue Lobster, a Danish sustainable fisheries platform.

Participation in the programme “was based on expanding their global network, gaining access to the right people, piloting technologies within the alliance, and scaling up their solutions”, Holt says, and access was delivered by the Scots.

Holt estimates over 200 introductions were made over the course of seven weeks, all done virtually. From there, 16 of the 18 companies attended COP26 in Glasgow, where a session was held in the blue zone, as well as three days with ministers and permanent secretaries, organised by the Scottish Government.

Success stories from the experience

include Brasil Mata Vita securing a $2 million contract, rising to $5 million, with a Brazilian state, and Blue Lobster receiving further help with funding rounds and a company securing a contract with the Lithuanian government.

Concluding, Holt reflects on the lessons learned during this cross-border collaboration and innovation: “When you run a rapid programme like this and you know how hard it is working in your own country with the government and ecosystems, let alone across 10, what does it take to deliver these programmes? We found that there was this entrepreneurial mindset within the teams, this persistence to move forward, this resilience to take the flack, the urgency to get results. With that was a required amount of agility, but also autonomy, a programme such as this which was really just an idea on paper back in February 2021 was laying the track the day before the train was coming down the line.

“Traditionally governments have been operating at that strategic policy level but now with the rise of govtech, we have our own delivery teams inside the governments and what that means is it now raises the possibility for intergovernment collaboration at the delivery level. I am very interested in collaborating with governments around challenge series, how can we team up our environment agency and your environment agency to set combined challenges where we go out to the market working with each other on our programmes to attract innovative exportable companies? You will see this whole notion of innovation diplomacy rising to the fore.”

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LocalGov Drupal: A winning opensource CMS for Irish councils

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It was an idea born of cooperative principles: build a website, share the code, pool the costs, and enjoy the benefits. Irish councils have truly taken on board the Government’s Build to Share initiative. Mark Conroy, Annertech’s director of development and leader of the front-end working group of LocalGov Drupal, explains why LocalGov Drupal is a win-win situation for both councils and citizens.

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LocalGov Drupal is a collective of developers who write freely available code for councils to develop websites that are fast, effective and have a great user experience.

Government’s ICT strategy and the

similar approach, which led to the

Build to Share initiative in mind, Limerick

development of LocalGov Drupal, a

freely signed off on sharing its code with

publicly owned asset founded on

Fingal. It made sense; the code had

cooperative principles. Annertech

been developed and paid for, and

became involved in the early stages to

When Fingal County Council were looking to create a new website, they knew exactly what they wanted: something like the work Annertech had already completed for Limerick City and County Council. With the Irish

Fingal’s digital budget could be

rewrite the entire frontend of the

redirected towards new features. This

codebase and partnered with Invotra

would be added to the code and then shared with Cork County Council.

Councils in the UK were developing a

Consulting to take the service to councils in the UK. Now Annertech is bringing the solution to the Irish market.

Benefits LocalGov Drupal is created for councils by councils. Councils typically share similar feature requirements for their websites such as news and events portals, council services, directory listings and search features. They also need to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. LocalGov Drupal creates a best-in-class, fully accessible version of each.

This is the way councils should operate: collaborating, building public assets, improving service delivery, and saving money.

Cost-effective Because the code is available, for free, councils don’t have to start from scratch, and it stops repetitive spending on the same features. Instead, if a council develops a feature that could be used by others, they share it.

This shared feature set means the budget can be used on the look and feel of a website, such as fonts, colours, spacing, and logos.

LocalGov Drupal can reduce website costs by up to 80 per cent.

The costs are broken down on localgovdrupal.org but some areas in which councils will save are: •

lower development costs – £1million has already been invested in its development;

•

fewer re-developments because LocalGov Drupal is constantly updated;

•

new features and upgrades are free;

•

no licence fees;

•

no change request fees;

•

building and maintaining subsites and microsites. This is the LocalGov Drupal focus for this year: satellite websites, perhaps for an event such as a film festival, St Patrick’s Day or a Christmas calendar;

•

user research: councils can use the research that is continuously done and updated by the LocalGov Drupal working group;

•

accessibility audits: the base theme is WCAG AA, providing fully accessible websites; and

•

reduced service demand because citizens are easily able to use online services.

digital government report

It is a community of shared expertise, collaborating on free-to-access code that follows best practice guidelines. The result is a solid, scalable solution that is open source, as are the new features that are added. Any council can use it, for free.

The business case

“Having been lead developer on Dublin City Council, Limerick City and County Council, Fingal County Council and Cork County Council, I’m using that knowledge to inform a generic LocalGov Drupal product.”

Faster development time Because the features a council typically needs for a website are built and ready to go, development turnaround time is faster. Creating a new council website can take up to a year. In contrast, LocalGov Drupal websites are launched in eight to 12 weeks.

Levelling the playing field

The LocalGov Drupal team is building a better product than they would have been able to build on a typical council website budget, and the team is far more extensive than any regular digital team: LocalGov Drupal has backend developers, frontend developers, product designers, interaction designers, content teams, content designers and user experience researchers involved with the project.

Conclusion The Annertech team has vast experience when it comes to building council websites, including those for Dublin City Council, Limerick City and County Council, Fingal County Council and Cork County Council.

Drupal solutions for clients, usually where there are complex requirements.

T: 01 524 0312 E: hello@annertech.com W: www.annertech.com For more on LocalGov Drupal, see: https://localgovdrupal.org

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Local governments don’t have the same budgets, yet a small council has the same digital needs as a big one.

LocalGov Drupal offers councils access to this technology and team, so it is easy and affordable for even small councils to level up.

Given Annertech was tasked with writing the base frontend system for the LocalGov Drupal platform, who better to implement it on your council website.

About Annertech Founded in 2008, Annertech has become the “go to” Drupal expert in Ireland and works with a range of clients in both the private and public sectors.

It specialises in developing enterprise 103

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The future of digital public services in the North Director of Digital Shared Services in the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Finance, Iggy O’Doherty, discusses the immediate priorities within the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) for data, capability and infrastructure to support digital transformation in government.

Setting the context of a range of challenges and opportunities thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years in relation to the digital transformation of government in the North, O’Doherty points to an ongoing focus on building capability within the NICS. “Improving the digital literacy of staff across government departments, including those of senior leaders, is central to the effective running of our business areas,” he explains, outlining work to professionalise the public sector’s approach to a host of disciplines such as procurement, contract management and security, in order to develop the digital skills required to lead and run modern government departments.

Turning to digital transformation, O’Doherty points to the recent launch of the digital transformation hub for all NICS staff, as a means to help promote better awareness of the services provided, highlight the changes enabled and offer staff a feedback channel for the transformation team. It is seen as a platform for viewing the success of digital transformation work across the public sector.

With the majority of NICS staff now working remotely, the public sector’s dependence on digital technology has never been greater and as a result, O’Doherty states: “There is a growing need to enhance the digital skills of public sector colleagues and improve our own digital capability so that we can deliver better and more efficient public services.”

The success underpins the goals of the NICS’s Digital Transformation Strategy and O’Doherty explains that the portal is used by all government departments to share learning experiences and lessons of excellence.

Recently, O’Doherty oversaw research which considered how NICS staff were using technology and commissioned a survey to ascertain how competent staff felt they were in using technology.

However, the Director of Digital Shared Services is aware of the need to continuously drive forward digital inclusion, recognising that while the pandemic caused a surge in digital interaction with public services, it also exacerbated the digital divide for those who remain offline. To this end, he says that his Digital Inclusion Unit were relentless with their efforts throughout Covid and continue to work closely with external stakeholders, such as Business in the Community, Supporting Communities and LibrariesNI to minimise the gap.

“Our research focused on digital skills to establish if we had the required learning and development to support our staff and we supplemented this with a digital skills assessment,” he says.

Follow up surveys have been conducted and the Director of Digital Shared Services points out that interventions informed by the research have led to an approximate 43 per cent improvement in digital skills.

Additionally, the findings prompted a deep-dive analysis and the creation of an array of eLearning utilities to help develop staff further. At the end of 2021, O’Doherty and his team launched the eLearning package across all NICS departments.

Stressing that work will continue on building digital capability in the NICS, O’Doherty adds: “As head of profession for ICT in the NICS, I am going to tackle capability and talent pipeline issues head on. We have many new digital recruitment opportunities and are actively defining career paths to build future capacity.”

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Digital transformation

Technology and digital adoption O’Doherty explains that increased demand for digital public services has compelled the Digital Shared Services’ design team to adopt new technologies.

services will be underpinned by digital identity assurance, something his team are working on closely with partners to plan for the next generation of secure accredited assurance services.

“This will be a streamlined successor to some existing solutions and will over time replace other digital identity services used across government,” he states.

digital government report

Enhancing digital security The need for digital security assurance has never been more essential given the changes to the threat landscape.

The National Cyber Security Centre recently warned that ransomware is the prevalent threat to government digital services.

Setting out the ongoing work, he says: “We are using public cloud services to build new solutions, often harnessing the services available from current ICT solutions. Our aim is to deploy multicloud services and a major shift in emphasis has been the strategic move to host a number of solutions in gov.uk Platform As A Service – a rapidly scalable infrastructure service designed for 24/7 public sector use.”

He adds: “We have recently deployed some innovative software tools to complement digital development.

Rigorously testing whilst automating security validation within our software development life cycle at all stages has driven excellent results. This digital maturity is now a central feature of our discipline.”

O’Doherty stresses the importance of including the challenge function and external scrutiny as the team develop solutions in an agile way and at pace.

“This initiative will ensure that our team continue to produce high quality, secure solutions, but much faster than before,” he says.

Explaining the influence of the relatively new NICS Enterprise Architecture Principles, a blueprint to be used as a decisional framework when considering process, system and technology directions across all departments, O’Doherty says: “We aim to avoid duplicating effort and incurring unnecessary costs by collaborating across government, sharing and reusing technology, data and services.

“We will adapt and reuse existing information and technology assets where possible before we procure. We are not in the business of developing solutions to rival proven products already available in the marketplace, our Enterprise Digital Design Team publish their code and use open-source software to improve transparency, flexibility and accountability.”

The Director of Digital Shared Services explains that the team also use open standards to ensure that solutions work with other technology stacks and can be easily upgraded and expanded.

Setting out that all future applications should be cloud native in design and cloud vendor agnostic he says that they continue to work closely with the UK Government Digital Service to define and implement data standards, meet user needs, and improve interoperability and data sharing.

Digital response to Covid-19 O’Doherty is adamant that the transformation agenda continues in order to meet the growing expectations of the public. Outlining plans to build on the uptake of over half a million nidirect accounts, he discusses plans to deliver a more personalised and responsive user experience, with a planned ‘tell us once’ service.

Aiming to capitalise on the public’s positive experience shift in dealing with digital public services, O’Doherty explains that personalised ‘tell us once’

O’Doherty says that the implementation of a Security and Information Event Management (SIEM) system and Security Operations Centre (SOC) managed service will improve resilience significantly and points to SIEM and SOC as “our single biggest strategic investment in enhancing digital security in government”.

Strategic direction Turning to the strategic direction of the future, O’Doherty sees digital as being front and centre of future priorities to deliver better public services. He plans to move ahead in 2022 with a new Digital Strategy in the NICS. Acknowledging a number of planned strategies currently being developed by Cabinet Office, the Director of Digital Shared Services says that his team are actively engaged with UK Government partners to ensure that the needs of the Northern Ireland public are reflected in the shaping of future services.

Concluding, O’Doherty says: “Collaboration has been key to digital transformation in public services, we could not have done it on our own. We now need to build on our achievements by developing more partnership working across the public sector, retaining the alliances that we have established but also developing better networks with our private sector colleagues.

“I am really proud of what we have delivered across the public sector during this extraordinary time, and we will continue to do our bit to make the lives of those living here even better.”

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eInvoicing in public procurement digital government report

access to better data for decision making, the automation of tax reporting obligations in some EU member states, and also an improvement in legal certainty and a reduction in barriers to cross-border trade in Europe and internationally.

Public procurement contracting authorities are legally obliged to accept electronic invoices from suppliers where those invoices comply with the European eInvoicing Standard.

Declan McCormack, Principal Officer with responsibility for the eInvoicing Ireland programme in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), outlines the importance of awareness among public bodies of their legal obligations, the national standards-based approach and above all, the role of suppliers, in helping to reap the benefits of eInvoicing for all stakeholders in public procurement.

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Since April 2020, public bodies in all EU member states have been required to meet their legal obligations arising from the European eInvoicing Directive (2014/55/EU) which applies to invoices related to public procurement contracts.

Over the last number of years, the eInvoicing Ireland programme has helped public bodies to understand how they can meet this legal requirement and to understand the broader benefits of digitalisation.

The Directive sets out that contracting authorities and contracting entities must receive and process electronic invoices that comply with the European Standard (EN-16931) for eInvoicing (‘the EN’).

The EN at a basic level is a data model

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and defines the information, structure and format of compliant eInvoices.

Compliant eInvoices can be formatted in one of two listed XML formats. Ireland has chosen the Peppol (Pan European Public Procurement Online) network as the eDelivery network through which EN compliant eInvoices should be delivered to public bodies. The Peppol network allows businesses to connect once and connect to all public administrations and business in Ireland and Europe on the network.

The advantages of European standardsbased electronic invoicing for public contracting authorities and suppliers include reduced administrative burden and efficiency gains in invoice receipt,

Submitting electronic invoices is now a real and widespread option for suppliers to the public sector, via the Peppol network. Each public body is expected to avail of a shared services solution or establish their own eInvoicing capability.

Collaboration to establish a standardised model for eInvoicing, across the whole of the public sector was vital in order to accommodate the decentralised nature of invoice processing. “While the initiative is led by the Office of Government Procurement, the eInvoicing Ireland programme is very much a collaboration with business and technology services leaders from across our public sector partners, in health, central government, local government, and education. This collaboration and moving forward together has been the programme’s real strength,” explains McCormack.

While there is an obligation on public bodies to be able to receive and process, it remains optional for suppliers to choose to submit their invoices electronically in accordance with the European eInvoicing Standard.

Informed suppliers are key to driving uptake Several initiatives are underway across the public sector, as the main finance shared services functions and a number of individual public bodies, look to suppliers to increase the volume of invoices being submitted electronically and help them jointly reap the benefits of the digitalisation of invoice processing.

McCormack believes “the national eInvoicing approach aims to be suppliercentric, facilitating a common method for suppliers to submit eInvoices to all public bodies, providing a ‘connect once and connect to all’ option for suppliers to

“While the initiative is led by the Office of Government Procurement, the eInvoicing Ireland programme is very much a collaboration with business and technology services leaders from across our public sector partners, in health, central government, local government, and education.”

digital government report

reach their public sector clients”.

McCormack also acknowledges that a limited awareness among suppliers of the standardised eInvoicing model in public procurement is a key challenge to driving uptake: “Support by all public bodies for the European eInvoicing Standard, and the use of the Peppol network for delivery of eInvoices, simplifies the choices for suppliers and helps to reduce or avoid costs when they are considering investing in doing business digitally with public sector clients at home and internationally. This is a message we need to continue to communicate with the help of our sector partners, to help businesses make an informed choice on eInvoicing.”

Figure 1

A supplier information sheet is available online at the OGP’s eInvoicing Ireland website (See Figure 1).

Office of Government Procurement eInvoicing supports for public bodies To facilitate public bodies in reaching compliance with the eInvoicing Directive, the Office of Government Procurement established a National Framework Agreement for the provision of eInvoicing and Peppol networking services to the public sector in Ireland. The eInvoicing Ireland Steering Committee, comprising senior representatives from the four OGP sector partners across central and local government, health, and education, informed the establishment of the framework. The comprehensive framework, with three separate lots, offers services and solutions which are compliant with the European Standard on eInvoicing as prescribed by the eInvoicing Directive and caters for the diverse range of needs and requirements across all public sector bodies.

Please visit https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/office-of-governmentprocurement or contact: einvoicing@ogp.gov.ie

Accessing the framework For anyone looking to access the OGP eInvoicing Framework, please

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The eInvoicing service providers on the framework are connecting public bodies to the Peppol network and offering solutions and services to enable basic compliance with the Directive as well as a more fully integrated approach to eInvoicing, facilitating ‘straight-through processing’.

For further information

log onto the OGP Buyer Zone via https://buyerzone.gov.ie/ and select/ search as follows: Category: Managed Services Keyword: ‘PEPPOL’ or ‘eInvoicing systems’ OGP Clients must register to gain access to the Buyer zone available

E: declan.mccormack@ogp.gov.ie eInvoicing ireland@ogp.gov.ie T: +353 85 803 5902

to all public service buyers accessing live contracts/frameworks.

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Covid proves a tipping point for digital business The Covid pandemic has forced SMEs to view websites as dynamic sales enablers or points of sale. Now SMEs will need help with cybersecurity for their expanded digital presence, writes digital government report

David Curtin, CEO of .IE, the company that manages .ie domains, the preferred online identity for business in Ireland.

The .IE Tipping Point report, Irish ecommerce and digital business in the post-Covid era, is the final report of a trilogy of research analysing consumer and SME behaviour and attitudes since the pandemic.

A tipping point has been passed.

Consumers have fully embraced the convenience of online shopping. In response, SMEs have been forced to adapt, digitally and increasingly attitudinally, transforming their static brochure websites into e-commerce hubs.

There is also evidence that SMEs are not prioritising protection of customers’ data despite this being a big concern for individual consumers.

Key findings Cybersecurity is nonnegotiable In an era of high-profile cyberattacks, 75 per cent of consumers are ‘very’ or ‘somewhat concerned’ about the security of their personal information when shopping online. However, six in 10 SMEs either do not take any precautions to protect sensitive customer data or do not know how to.

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While it might be tempting for an SME to postpone investing in anything that doesn’t lead to a measurable return in the here and now, a cyberattack can be devastating and lead to permanent erosion of customer trust.

The HSE ransomware attack in 2021 showed how a small error can lead to the crippling of critical infrastructure. Similar incidents among businesses are increasingly common, yet most are entirely avoidable with the use of basic cybersecurity tools, such as antivirus software and a password manager.

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Consumer behaviours have been irrevocably changed The pandemic, directly and indirectly, through digital technology and changed sociocultural priorities, has altered many consumer behaviours. Consumers will be driven by convenience, ease of use and experience. As many now value the flexibility of hybrid working, they also value hybrid shopping. They enjoy the experience and the convenience of instore shopping while simultaneously valuing the ease and speed of ecommerce. Consumers will gravitate towards retailers that give them the best of both worlds.

Covid has accelerated Ireland’s move towards cashlessness. 62 per cent of consumers said they were using cash ‘significantly’ or ‘somewhat less’ since the start of the pandemic. Surprisingly, increasing cashlessness is universal among all generations. Despite this, as many as 25 per cent of all Irish SMEs still only accept cash payments.

Sustainability and the environmental

friendliness of a business’s product and supply chain remain a priority for consumers. Almost 80 per cent said it is ‘very’ or ‘somewhat important’ that the product they order online is produced and delivered in a sustainable way.

Digital-first preferences The majority of consumers will prioritise online shopping in 2022. 16 per cent will do most of their shopping online, while 39 per cent said they will shop for necessities in-store, such as groceries, but buy most other things online. 45 per cent of all consumers plan to do most of their shopping in-store.

However, strong generational differences are emerging in consumer attitudes to online and in-store shopping. SMEs must be cognisant of these and be prepared for a shift in purchasing power to younger age groups that have digital-first shopping preferences. Businesses that do not cater to these needs or offer a compelling online experience will simply lose out to their competitors at home and abroad.

The role of the website is changing

digital government report

Many businesses were content to use their websites as simple, static information hubs. However, Covid has accelerated a mindset shift. SMEs increasingly view websites as dynamic sales enablers or points of sale. 72 per cent said their website was important in generating sales, up from 66 per cent in 2021. Half of SMEs have invested in their online presence since the start of the pandemic. In the majority of cases, this has resulted in improved sales.

While an increasing number of SMEs are now selling online with modern ecommerce software, which is very positive, digital investment must be a proactive and sustained part of business spending. Digital change is constant and rapid, and Irish businesses must be careful not to stagnate; international retailers will be happy to snap up Irish customers frustrated with a lack of innovation at home.

To download the report, visit: www.weare.ie/tipping-point

E: marketing@weare.ie W: www.weare.ie

Insights 1.

Age is a predictor, not a guarantor It’s no surprise that Millennials and Gen Z, the digital natives first to grow up in the internet age, are more likely to embrace online shopping.

3.

However, there are exceptions to generational trends. Gen Z, despite being among the most vocal proponents of climate action, are the least likely to say that sustainability is important to them when buying online. While all consumers estimated that 55 per cent of their online purchases since Covid was with Irish retailers, among Gen Z that figure was just 41 per cent. SMEs must not apply a one-size-fits-all digital strategy to their target demographics.

Consumer preferences are not static Consumer expectations change as technology evolves and new features provide more benefits.

Our research shows that consumers are increasingly interested in paying for goods and services with a digital wallet and willing to use augmented reality technology to ‘try on’ or sample certain products, such as clothes and furniture. SMEs should take note of what consumers value in a digital shopping experience and find affordable ways to meet that demand, even on an experimental basis.

While full digital service provision is relatively immature, it is likely to emerge as a growth area. SMEs who invest in this technology early are likely to gain traction among hybrid shopping-oriented consumers eager for more choice and flexibility.

4.

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2.

Digital service provision is a strong growth area Covid made physically visiting a service provider, such as a GP, difficult. Many businesses were forced to find ways to provide their service digitally, such as over Zoom. This appears to have worked. 3 in 10 Irish consumers bought a service from an Irish business during Covid. Half of SMEs that provided digital services reported an increase in sales over the course of the pandemic.

Digital mastery through persistence The SME that has continuously looked after their website, online store and other digital technologies is likely to be the one that weathered the toughest pandemic restrictions. Many businesses, which after years of steady investment are naturally attuned to changes in digital consumer demands, have actually flourished since Covid, some exceeding 50 per cent online sales growth.

Research was conducted in January 2022 by Core Research with 1,000 Irish consumers and 502 retail and customer-facing professional services SMEs. In addition to its role as the national registry for .ie domain names .IE operates the .IE Digital Town Programme and conducts authoritative research, which provides insights and data for policy makers and SME organisations.

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digital government report

Connecting Government 2030 strategy launched The Government has launched its digital and ICT strategy for Ireland’s public services, which lays out the pathway to achieving its goal of having 90 per cent of applicable government services consumed online by 2030.

The strategy, Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service, was unveiled by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath TD and Minister of State for eGovernment Ossian Smyth TD in early March 2022. It has been designed to complement two previous government strategies, addressing the public services dimension of Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework, the national digital strategy, and also supporting targets set in the Civil Service Renewal 2030 plan.

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Key to both Connecting Government 2030 and Harnessing Digital are the goals that have been set in terms of both provision of digital public services and uptake by citizens of said services.

Under the overarching goals of the EU’s Digital Decade, the Government is seeking to develop a “trusted, user-

driven, intuitive, inclusive and efficient world-leading digital government service”, with 90 per cent of applicable services to be consumed online by 2030.

It also aims to have 80 per cent of eligible citizens using the online MyGovID service by 2030.

Under the strategy, the Government aims to provide individuals with: better access to high quality digital government services; services that are “delivered in an equitable, inclusive and sustainable manner”; secure and transparent reuse of personal data; and opportunities to co-create government services.

Complementing this will be the Government’s aims for businesses, which include: better access to integrated digital government services; reduced administrative overhead; govtech opportunities; and greater engagement with government.

Six priority action areas will define where the Government will seek to reform in its efforts to digitise the public service over the current decade. First is the development of a human-driven digital experience, whereby understanding of users and their needs will be developed in order to deliver a more effective service, a goal that will be helped by the second action area, harnessing data effectively. Examples of this approach will include the adoption of the once-only principle, meaning that users will have to supply information to public service organisations once.

Under the third action area of government as a platform, the Government pledges to take on a cloudfirst approach to the delivery of services, as well as the expansion of the Build to Share Programme in order to transform delivery and enhance cybersecurity.

Verified MyGovID accounts will be used

where applicable to authenticate individuals attempting to access services under the same action area.

The strengthening of digital skills will be key to any development of Ireland’s digital public services, and this is the fifth action area of the strategy, where the Government pledges to update the competence model to include a core digital and data competence at all levels of the public service, as well as the development of a new Civil Service ICT HR Professionalisation Strategy. The strategy will “need to reflect the support requirements needed to deliver digital government services that are available on demand, 24-7”.

Sixth and last among the action areas is a focus on governance and leadership, whereby the Government will “put in place governance structures to drive

Connecting Government 2030 sets out a framework within which all public service organisations can deliver their own digital commitments as appropriate. Those who have not done so already will also be required to name a board member responsible for digital transformation within the department and/or sector, who will be the liaison with the Digital Strategy Implementation Unit. The strategy states that “investment decisions and approvals for initiatives will be contingent on alignment with this strategy and the wider national digital agenda”.

Speaking upon the launch of the strategy, McGrath said: “We have seen a great improvement in the provision of online public services over recent years.

But we must build on those strong foundations and accelerate how we

progress into the future. Connecting Government 2030 provides us with a framework to do this and to create world-leading digital government services while at the same time improving the off-line experience for those who are unable to access services digitally. The ambitions set out in Connecting Government 2030 also reflect my overall strategy of reform and innovation which my department is pursuing. My aim with this strategy is to provide better public services for individuals and businesses.

digital government report

The fourth action area, evolving through innovation, concerns the development of fresh approaches to problem solving and the building of user-centric solutions within the public service. In order to do so, the Government plans to develop partnerships with industry and academia, as well as making it easier for start ups and SMEs to work with government in order to improve digital services.

digital transformation across government”. A digital government development roadmap will ensure “consistent and coherent delivery of quality digital government services as framed in the vision” and a Digital Strategy Implementation Unit will work in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s expenditure management units to ensure progress is being delivered.

Minister of State Smyth added: “In government, we must continuously examine how our public services are delivered and how digital technologies and data can assist in that delivery. This new strategy, Connecting Government 2030, guides us towards achieving this ambition.

“Successful digital transformation will ensure digital channels are the preferred way for people to access public services. We must continue to make services as seamless, user-friendly, and accessible as possible. Digital transformation is not a project; it must be central to government policymaking and culture.”

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digital government report

The digital welfare state: The international perspective As Ireland ramps up its public sector digitalisation goals, with 90 per cent of public services to be consumed online by 2030, eolas surveys the international status of the digital welfare state and its risks and opportunities.

Digital welfare state The digital welfare state is defined by the organisation Open Global Rights as a system whereby “social protection and assistance systems are increasingly driven by digital data and technologies used to automate, predict, identify, monitor, detect, target and punish”. At its base, the idea of the digital welfare state is to move the paper-based publicfacing functions of government to a digital footing, with programmes such as unemployment benefits, tax filing, and public health moved online.

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Open Global Rights does however point out that digitalisation of welfare systems has often “been accompanied by deep reduction in the overall welfare budget, a narrowing of the beneficiary pool, the

elimination of some services, the introduction of demanding and intrusive forms of conditionality, the pursuit of behavioural modification goals, the imposition of stronger sanctions regimes, and a complete reversal of the traditional notion that the state should be accountable to the individual”. An example offered by the organisation is the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, the goal of establishing every person’s legal identity by 2030, in response to which organisations have launched programmes that include the need for identity documents in order to gain access. While this may not seem like much of an issue in the global north, there are 502 million people in subSaharan Africa and 357 million in South Asia who lack official identification.

Denmark The Danish dedication to digitalisation of public services is notable for the Government’s commitment to go “digital by default”, with almost every service now available online, such as payment of taxes, reporting of bicycle theft, or the making of appointments with the public health service. Danish citizens now have personalised digital signatures in order to sign documents online.

With data security and privacy given high priority, financial transactions and other sensitive services require two-factor identification. Public healthcare is accessed via a yellow magnet-stripe card that is presented at the point of care; these cards also serve as library cards. Health record keeping and sharing are mostly done digitally, while reminders of upcoming health service appointments are sent to the citizen’s electronic mailbox, which is accessed via twofactor signature.

The mailbox is also where Danish citizens receive information about welfare payments they receive, such as the quarterly child welfare “child check”, or unemployment support. Citizens designate a bank account and public authorities transfer funds into said account digitally.

This digitalisation of public services has also dripped down to business and finance in Denmark; with the correct documentation, a business can be launched online and active within 24 hours, and those launching a business can access an open database of potential business partners maintained by the Danish government. Any business selling good or services to the public authorities of Denmark must submit their invoices through a purpose-built digital system.

Germany Germany has also embraced the digital by default concept, with its Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development following a simple approach that digital solutions “must be the default position for projects to meet their objectives within German development cooperation”. As a result of this approach, projects which do not deploy digital components must identify and justify their reasons for not doing so.

digital government report

Despite its apparent risks, digitalisation of public sectors is one of the defining trends of the 2020s, with governments worldwide looking to streamline operations and ease access to services for future generations of digital natives.

The organisation GovNet defines the top five benefits of such digitalisation as: operation digitalisation; increased innovation and agility; easier collaboration across government departments; increased data transparency; and creating a better organisational culture.

An OECD report on the German digitalisation efforts published in December 2021 spoke of how the digital by default approach “ensures both the technical and methodological quality of the proposed solutions” and “aims to enable societies to make digitalisation sustainable”. The report found that the German digital learning platform atingi, which “provides free access to highquality digital learning, anytime and anywhere”, had reached more than one million people and has a goal of reaching 20 million by the end of 2023 and becoming the standard German digital learning tool.

Germany, along with Estonia, the Digital Impact Alliance and the International Telecommunications Union, supporting partners to enable delivery of public goods within GovStack, the international e-gov initiative. The next phase of this initiative will involve the creation of a model digital government services platform that demonstrates scaling opportunities across services and sectors. An internal survey within the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development found that most project owners now want to use digital tools and approaches in their work to increase effectiveness and reach. The survey did also identify an ongoing need to develop expertise on digital technologies within the ministry.

Lessons learnt during the ministry’s progress thus far, according the report, include: that there is no one solution, and that digital solutions “need to be tailored to the local context in which they will be embedded”, with open-source solutions playing a crucial role in this regard; that Germany recognises the need for both ongoing learning and investment in order to further build capacity; and that international partnerships are “crucial to mainstreaming the vision of a fair digital future”.

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digital government report

Salesforce: The world’s number one CRM Stobie says. “One of the key considerations within this space is security and we spend many millions on that to ensure our customers can trust us with their data because trust is one of our guiding principles. As an entity, we offer experience and service in the same proven tool, we believe that if you separate those you can suffer in relation to your capability. At a high level, what makes us unique is that we offer a single pane of glass in terms of people being able to see the data from disparate systems rather than having different systems they need to engage with. We are person-centric and offer speed to value, great agility, a future ready platform and we execute in terms of solutions at the back end, where we have a very modular approach.”

John Stobie, Regional Vice President of Public Sector Sales for Salesforce Ireland, and Paul Pick-Aluas, Regional Vice President of Strategy and Transformation for the Global Public Sector with Salesforce, speak to eolas about the company’s identity as the number one customer relationship Advertorial

management (CRM) company in the world.

“Salesforce is the number one CRM company in the world and we're looking to help bring the public sector and citizens together in a digital way for the digital age,” Stobie begins.

We are much more than just a CRM company though. Salesforce’s public sector platform, Customer 360, is an integrated platform built around enabling case management, relationship management, collaboration, integration, 116

analytics, and modern application development. The company is eager to help the public sector with their stated goals of achieving an ecosystem of digital skills and to ensure that there is widespread access to the digital public services that citizens are looking for, while enabling the Government’s target of 90 per cent of services consumed online by 2030.

“We’re in a position to help with that,”

Stobie stresses that Salesforce is guided by its core values: trust; customer success; innovation; equality; and sustainability. He explains how these values work in practice: “These values are lived daily within the organisation. If people trust us with their information, we want to be 100 per cent sure that it is totally secured. We have a website – trust.salesforce.com – where people can check how our systems are performing around the world. Customer success is integral, we want to ensure the best practice to help customers accelerate their digital journeys. Innovation is key; we are evergreen. We have a platform that delivers three innovation releases every year so you don’t have to worry about that as a customer, you will always be on the latest version that we have innovated on.

“As an employee, one of the aspects that I like is our philanthropic model. We have a 1-1-1 model whereby 1 per cent of our equity, time and products is donated. This is something that Salesforce set up from the start of the company and if you look today, it’s about €523 million in giving, 6.7 million hours of employee volunteer time and 54,600 non-profits such as schools that have

benefited from using our technology for free or at a discount. We also have a huge focus on sustainability within Salesforce, we’re a net zero company already, we are also a part of the 1t.org initiative where we are trying to plant one trillion trees and we have 45 million done to date.”

Pick-Aluas reasons that it is Salesforce’s roots as a CRM tool that is at the heart of their success: “Our person- and entitycentric core and lineage, having started as a CRM, is key because it’s pervasive across all our technologies and truly enables you a single view of the customer or stakeholder. Also, by linking data from other systems it’s not just what’s in our tools that allows customers to shape their enterprise architecture.

We are an integrated platform, as opposed to some of the other solutions on the market where you see CRM as an extension of infrastructure as a service and it doesn’t give you the customer centricity you need.”

Salesforce has the ability to stand up solutions quickly due to its integrated platform, which also allows it to maintain an engaged partner ecosystem with the ability to put solutions in place. “You can start small with us and build upon it; you can expand within the platform from there,” says Stobie. “We have the platform, resources, our internal experts, and the partner capability to ensure speed to value. We believe this is essential so that stakeholders can start

“Salesforce has the ability with investment and technical capability, to be better positioned to be more secure than an individual agency spending on on-premises security.”

John Stobie

seeing success straight away. That gives us an edge.”

Building upon this, Pick-Aluas concludes: “A new customer has to see the improvement, and how it translates to their users in gradual fashion and see the process evolving. It exposes to us, these implementations in the public sector, that one of the key gaps to address with digital transformation is on the organisational side. People say that digital transformation is about the technology but the way you execute is defined by the organisational and economic aspects of transforming. That usually is where we see challenges in executing because many of these agencies aren’t ready for transformation, so we have to help them with that aspect as well.”

“That’s why we’re more of a transformation partner rather than a technology vendor. We have to develop more agile ways of working on the business side and bridge the chasm between business and IT with a tool that is more accessible and modernised.

Bringing together this unified view is often disruptive at the organisational management level so we have to consider all of these barriers to modernisation as well as legacy technology.”

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“Salesforce has the ability with investment and technical capability, to be better positioned to be more secure than an individual agency spending on onpremises security,” Stobie says. During a recent cyberattack on a customer, the Salesforce platform remained operational while on-prem solutions were impacted, demonstrating Salesforce’s commitment to safety. Pick-Aluas adds: “We’re a security company that makes business platforms. It’s the core of our architecture, engineering, and design.

It’s one of the key reasons customers buy us, we bring security to them. It’s a risk for agencies to keep their stuff on premises or in data centres. We have invested billions and continue to every year in new ways to secure data.”

digital government report

Stobie also places great emphasis on the company’s speed to value, as seen with the rapid build of the HSE’s CoVax platform and how the company has just finished standing up crisis management systems for a European government in less than a week.

For more information visit www.salesforce.com/eu/publicsector

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