- Like what you see? LetsTalkUrl Let's Talk
The importance of digital transformation for an organization cannot be overstated. Organizations worldwide are adopting modern, technology-driven approaches to enhance productivity, streamline operations, increase flexibility, and reduce costs. Organizations can apply technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, and cloud to speed things up, eliminate human error, and improve outcomes.
The same also applies to federal, state, provincial and municipal organizations in the public sector that are now modernizing and digitalizing their systems and processes.
Public sector organizations face several challenges as they execute on their core mission programs. These include excessive reliance on outdated legacy technology, lack of funding, and increasing citizen expectations. Addressing these challenges and executing digital transformation can be extremely complex.
While moving away from long-established processes and approaches to embrace newer ways of working can seem daunting, it is extremely important for governments to modernize systems across the board to be at par with the expectations and demands of this digital age. The efficient application of modern technology can enable governments to improve outcomes. It can also enable them to collect, organize, and analyze the large amounts of data to deliver more personalized service.
Just as adoption of technology-driven processes has helped private sector organizations make smart business decisions to optimize their financial and operational performance, governments, too, can apply data-driven insights to make sustainable investment decisions in the domains of public infrastructure and public services. Modernizing processes that impact financial decisions can lead to adoption of more sustainable and efficient public investment approaches. A robust system that analyses historical investment patterns and tracks spending can dynamically redistribute public resources as and when needed, saving time, reducing wastage and preventing unnecessary expenses. A 2020 European Commission report states that digital transformation has helped various EU governments reduce operational and labor costs in public administrations and optimize public resource allocation.
Governments can use modern systems and technologies like machine learning to identify relevant infrastructure projects, such as the need for a new bridge or railway line, based on future projections of economic activity and population. This will allow agencies to be better prepared for meeting the ever-changing needs of citizens and ensuring a good quality of life.
Although digital technologies fast-track processes and simplify our lives, they also create security concerns stemming from cybersecurity threats. The latest digital processes are highly secure and incorporate high-level encryption protocols to protect data from online threats. Additionally, using cloud-based applications and technologies leaves security to the experienced cloud service providers, so all governments need to worry about is using the cloud securely at their end.
Modern business processes and activities have moved beyond traditional hierarchical thinking and follow a more process-oriented outlook built around customer’s needs. In the case of public sector organizations, digitizing processes in line with citizens’ needs is a great way to build trust and confidence in public institutions. Modern solutions speed up processes, streamline services, promote efficient interaction, enhance transparency and can provide a level of personalization to constituents. Innovative and agile governments lead to happy citizens; by understanding citizens’ needs more effectively, public sector organizations serve them better by providing usable and efficient services.
Decades of experience modernizing systems and processes for organizations across sectors have helped Infosys Public Services identify five crucial areas required for a successful digital transformation. These are Experience, Insight, Innovate, Accelerate, and Assure. Learn more about these areas, their importance in your digital transformation journey, and how to navigate your next.