A Conversation with Tara Holland, Industry Consultant for Government, SAS Global Government Practice
Recently, CGE Deputy Editor sat down with Tara Holland, Industry Consultant for Government, SAS Global Government Practice to talk about digital transformation and AI and how technology is fundamentally changing public sector.
Tara, what does SAS Canada do and what kind of work do you do there?
SAS provides technology solutions that extract value from data.
We provide organizations with the capabilities that they need to extract this value. Extracting value from data means accessing and managing it to ensure it is of high quality, then assessing meaning and insights using mathematical and machine learning techniques. The value comes from putting those insights into action and for that, we provide capabilities to build and deploy models in systems that make decisions.
SAS provides these capabilities across all industries, including banking, insurance, retail, manufacturing, and hospitality. My role is to focus on solutions for government, to be a voice for government when working with my colleagues at SAS, to be a resource to help governments advance their digital transformation using our solutions, and to share experience and expertise from around the world.
Government is an industry of industries, including public health, social services, education, finance & taxation, transportation, and the environment. The priorities for government boil down to some combination of delivering the most effective services while maximizing the limited taxpayer dollars and keeping communities safe.
My role is to share best practice ideas across jurisdictions. These include ways to use data, analytics, and artificial intelligence to achieve better outcomes for all citizens.
Digital transformation is a huge topic, but for today I’d like us to explore a bit about how this transformation is happening in the public sector. Can you speak to some of the most fundamental changes in the public sector, specifically as a result of AI?
Most governments have been pursuing a digital transformation agenda for several years, but most public sector organizations are at the start of the journey with Artificial Intelligence. It is important to point out that Artificial Intelligence is an umbrella term. At its core, Artificial Intelligence uses data and algorithms to make decisions and perform tasks previously done by a person.
The most direct application of AI in government will be to automate and streamline repetitive, mundane, and simple tasks. Examples of this include reviewing an application to ensure it is complete, answering simple questions through an automated call center, and monitoring financial transactions to identify potential fraud. The fundamental shifts for government organizations will be to draw the lines between where an AI can and should make the decisions and how to integrate that automation into their programs and workforce.
Governments have a role to play in the changing nature of work and retraining of workers whose jobs can be automated. Specific to the public service workforce, it is not just a matter of hiring and training data scientists but a need for data literacy and an understanding of AI throughout the public service.
Legislation, regulation, and policy always lag advancements in technology. Artificial Intelligence will have a fundamental impact on public sector organizations by forcing them to revaluate and update how they deliver services and govern using this new technology.
How can government use AI to make better policy decisions? Is this a hard transition to implement?
The short answer is yes, with qualifications.
Governments have been struggling with how best to use data to inform policy decisions for decades. Originally the challenge was in gathering the data while relying on paper-based systems. When systems were computerized more data were being captured and we have huge stores of historical data. The current challenges are around having too much data and the siloes within which data are kept.
Artificial intelligence has the capacity to look at much more data and make automated decisions more quickly. However, the transition is difficult.
How can government use digital transformation to make progress on EDI objectives?
Digital transformation is an opportunity for a fundamental rethink and a reimagining of how governments interact with their citizens.
I recently had the pleasure of hosting a webinar specifically on this topic. We brought together leaders from government and industry who are working to make their organizations and solutions they implement more diverse and inclusive. It opened my eyes to systemic inequalities in a new way.
When it comes to statistics, we need to change the null hypothesis. We need to assume the data we are using and the way we frame the questions we are trying to solve do include inequalities and bias and we need to deliberately work to deign those out of any digital solutions we implement.
I have been working in the space for over 25 years, I was part of government projects during the first wave of moving from paper-based systems to computerized systems. In many cases, the processes were not changed to take advantage of the new technology and at that time the technology implementation efforts were very separate from the functional business and policy decisions. There is a risk that digital transformation can speed up and automate systems that perpetuate inequalities and do more harm.
Many communities and in particularly vulnerable communities have less access to computers, smartphones, and reliable internet connections. Affordable and accessible digital infrastructure will be needed as part of digital transformation to adequately address equality and inclusion.
With respect to developments in digital transformation, what do you predict for the near future?
The COVID-19 impact on the digital delivery of service and the rise of the digital public workforce cannot be overstated. Many government and healthcare organizations have admitted that, in having to address the needs presented by the pandemic, digital transformation projects that were planned for years were implemented in weeks. I believe public sector organizations have now seen that many barriers holding back the progress were self-imposed. Citizens have also seen these shifts and there will be increased public pressure to continue down this path.
The cost of the pandemic and historic deficit spending will force public sector organizations to look for efficiencies. As we recover the investments in the digital infrastructure required to work from home, learn from home will continue to be expanded to deliver public sector services to citizens.
It is my hope that in parallel, the growing awareness of inequality, lack of diversity, and barriers to inclusion continue and are fuel for further investments to build digital solutions for a better future.
