Digital Transformation in the Public Sector

The pandemic has sparked and accelerated digital innovation across governments worldwide. The question now is how to scale these efforts and ensure governments remain trusted, agile, and resilient providers of citizen services adding value to the public. We live in a world where new technologies are adopted within days, weeks, and months, not years, as they were in the past. 2022 continues to bring digital disruption across municipalities internally, with staff, and externally with growing citizen engagement. Major technology trends of 2022 in municipalities requires delivery of right-scoped value, serve “the everything citizen” in person and digitally, flexible technology built on data foundation, crafted around an adaptable workforce and delivery of anyscale operations.

As an early response to the pandemic, governments saw an exponential increase in digitalization. This trend continues to accelerate through 2022. We see digital disruption at work every day through online services, VGIS, parking apps, smart garbage cans, and many others.

Digital disruption also brings a set of challenges that are top of mind for all municipalities. Challenges such as budgetary constraints, community growth and demographic changes, increasing citizen engagement, social media pressures, and hiring new generations of skilled employees make it difficult to prioritize and make meaningful progress.

Attraction of junior staff and retention of senior staff are fast becoming some of the top challenges as hybrid work models and modernization are challenging the norm and driving digital transformation. Hybrid work, skilled employees, healthy workforce and diversity and inclusion are top Human Resources priorities for 2022. They align well with the new trends that are emerging for HR practitioners. Power human skills and digital are forcing municipalities to address and adapt organizational structures, investing in mentoring and learning programs for their employees.

Wellness and hybrid work are allowing organizations to evaluate and adjust the organization culture, building an environment that will bring diversity and inclusion to the workplace, capitalizing on different experiences and perspectives, infusing different thinking and innovation. Injecting flexibility and humanity into Employee Value Proposition helps attract a diverse and more digitally savvy workforce.

This, however, is only answering one side of digital transformation. Insufficient funds are a major hurdle for

the enablement of new technologies and growing citizen needs.

To make progress in transforming public services, municipalities need to align their leadership goals with public expectations and in turn raise the much needed funds.

Establishing strong KPIs that are providing combined success measures of people, process, and technology are important to prove the value of digital government and transformation.

With so many technologies available today, it’s only natural the question on everyone’s mind is “Where do we begin?”. Start with developing a Digital Strategy aligned with Council’s vision and objectives. Throughout the process, you will be able to assess the digital maturity of your organization, gaining insights and identifying the required skills, defining a roadmap for your digital transformation journey, focused on quick wins to build momentum and allowing you to iterate, while still aligning with longer term strategic initiatives.

MATT AMBROSE is a Partner in BDO’s Toronto office, with over 23 years of professional experience providing management and technology consulting services to private companies and mid-enterprise. Matt is a leader in transformation, value creation, and emerging technologies with +23 years’ cross industry experience delivering process improvement, business model development, due diligence, function strategy and design, outsourcing, governance and risk management. He has a MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, CMC and PMP designations, and a variety of technical certifications.