Quote of the week
“The global connectedness arising from technology creates opportunities for Australia’s participation in new economies…”
— Information and Communications Technology Strategy
Editor’s Corner
Sometimes it seems that governments are mesmerized – like deer in the headlights – by the challenges new technologies present. There are so many dimensions to the issues they raise: the speed of change, social media and its impact, expectations of citizens that arise from its use, open data, the mobile universe and so on.
The challenge is to create a government ICT strategy that understands it’s not about the hardware; it’s about using it to improve service, operations and communications.
The Australian government published a strategy for 2012-15 that makes the bridge between technological drivers and opportunities and the need to do better in these three areas.
Regarding improved service, it calls for better use of technology across the Australian Public Service to drive better service to Australians by simplifying processes and breaking down information technology silos.
On the operational front, the report calls for the strategic use of technology to ensure “greater value and more effective policy delivery.”
Regarding communications, it calls for a culture of engagement and collaboration to drive growth and innovation. It says that networks needed to be created external to and within government to promote collaborative sharing of information, including “partnerships with industry, academia and the community/not-for-profit sector, and with third party agents and brokers of government services to inform policy advice and options for service delivery.”
Much of the thinking is not new, but it has brought together many themes and committed the government to a way forward.
You can find the report at http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/ict_strategy_2012_2015/docs/APS_ICT_Strategy.pdf
