5 steps towards a government “Citizen Information Officer” — Step 3
Step 3: Adopt a “Government as a Platform approach, avoiding new emerging technical debt
(remark: this article is part of a series, click here to go back to the introduction section)
There has been a lot of innovation introduced in the technology space. Lately, the term “Government as a Platform” has emerged to embrace technology and make the transition towards digital services in a standard way. The main idea is to shift from custom build infra and/or applications to identifying the best software or commercial product out there and configuring those. This can be a component, a data- or functionality service up to a whole package.
Many government CIOs provide a standard marketplace for the agency to procure IT services at the best possible common rate. However, there is more potential in a platform approach. For example, sharing data and functionality — in a controlled and secure way — is the trigger to allow an ecosystem to codevelop applications and introduce external innovation like from start-ups. That is a way to start redesigning citizen services towards a digital way.
To enable a Citizen Service Innovation Program, the CIO needs to make sure the necessary technology is available. This consists of different layers that build upon each other. As the objective is to redesign the citizen service from the ground up, these layers need to be well designed, standardized, and secured for purpose.
From the bottom-left to the top-right, these layers are:
- Technology Platform
Most governments have adapted a technology platform model internally to standardize and optimize the usage of common IT Services (e.g., Cloud, Application Development, IT advisory, etc.). The main drivers are standardization and cost optimization for all stakeholders, while the consumers (i.e., government agencies) are being able to get access to professional services from preselected third-party private partners to realize the agency’s IT goals. This facilitates the procurement and usage of external expertise and technology.
The argument here is that this is the basis for every other layer of IT services that is put on top, so a necessity to have this well-defined and running.
- Opening Data
Governments all over the world have launched data portals, where data can be found and downloaded for external usage. The main idea is to stimulate a new data-driven economy that lets commercial companies use these datasets (often for free, sometimes for a fee) to develop applications and make money out of these. In the background, the CIO installed technology and governance mechanisms to work with the business in ensuring quality data was produced and released via the data platform.
The same principle — making data discoverable — is now being used inside government agencies to provide proactive and tailored citizen services. This is where we situate the desire to become a data driven organization, for which the CIO must make advanced analytics technology available.
These days, data is not only searchable, but also more and more linked (i.e., linked open data). Having the right technology and procedures in place is mandatory for the business to start publishing data externally or starting to use the data for improving operations.
- Opening Functionality
We are at the level whereby governments are opening (part of) their functionality to the external world. Opening functionality can be in the form of basic components like identity verification or providing access to specific government applications. In most cases, this is done through the provision of APIs.
Not only external parties can use the APIs to call upon the functionality, but other agencies can also make common features available or use those from other agencies. An ecosystem of parties that use APIs is formed.
An example of where there is a lot of action here is Smart Cities, whereby also data is used (see previous layer) to come to insights and decisions.
The CIO must ensure that the right API technology and standardization is put in place to allow this exchange between government applications and external parties to happen in a secure and controlled way.
- Redesigning Citizen Services
This is the level where DEVOPS, Agile, Design Thinking (UX / CX) as methods demand flexible technology to make (quick) sprints or a proof of concept possible. The CIO is not only a supplier of technology here, but also a partner in helping to build the many little prototypes that are generated. Speed and agility are of the essence in using the technology to test a prototype with citizens, before (seamlessly) going into production.
New development tools like low code can also be positioned here. Although the “Opening Data” already focused on getting quality data available, this is the level where data will be used to automate decision processes or allow automatic granting of services.
I hereby argue that the CIO must have all the technology layers installed and operating smoothly. This is the basis to allow the orchestration of data, functionality and even business process for making the citizen services digital. This also opens the door to an ecosystem of external parties, including start-ups, for development of (parts of) the functionality. Truly personalized and proactive digital services thus become a mix of internal and external data, APIs, functionality, and processes to be orchestrated together.
As technology keeps advancing, this is not the end stage. In the (near?) future, these layers can be used to extend the model one step further: towards the citizen metaverse, whereby citizens interact with civil servants in the virtual world. Governments are already experimenting[1], so the pressure on the CIO to provide this technology will only increase. For CIOs, this means watching new trends and report back to the business what is possible, feasible and achievable to further improve the citizen services.
What is different, is the speed of innovation that will necessitate both IT and business to continuously keep optimizing the digital services. I hereby argue that only keeping a platform approach will be able to deliver upon this fast pace.
As all of this will not happen overnight and will take time to define, design and roll out. Therefore, it is time to put the delivery of all layers of the presented platform approach in a roadmap. That will be handled in step 4 of our approach. Click on the below link to read this article:
Step 4 — Make an (agile) IT roadmap, because any transformation needs a plan, not just actions
Links and references:
[1] See “Seoul to offer new concept administrative services via metaverse platform (South Korea)”, https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20211103002700315
