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April 2016 //
Canadian Government Executive /
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The Interview
came out, SSC’s service management strategy had already been
finalized and shared with partners. We have established service
level expectations in five priority services: email, mobile devices,
videoconferencing, application hosting and the Government of
Canada Wide Area Network services. Service level expectations
cover such areas as service hours, service availability and the time
required to restore services.
Q:
The Auditor’s Report was pretty tough on Security.
Regarding security, the Report focused on communications with
partners and whether security roles and responsibilities were ad-
equately documented.
SSC is improving its reporting to its partners, and more part-
ner-specific trends and statistics will be shared to improve under-
standing of the threats that the Government of Canada is facing.
SSC has also shared a guide on roles and responsibilities with its
partner departments. This should allow for better understanding,
quicker responses to threats, and an overall increase in informa-
tion technology security.
Q:
How is morale going to be raised?
First, our staff is our strongest asset. Everyone is doing fantastic
work to remake the delivery of IT infrastructure services that sup-
port all types of services and programs for Canadians. That type
of commitment is a precious commodity, and employees need to
know that what they deliver matters and that it is appreciated.
SSC is committed to addressing morale issues. We have a people
management strategy and we need to stabilize the organizational
structure, make sure jobs are classified and that staff have proper
job descriptions. We have a plan to do this by the end of this cal-
endar year. We will also be investing in training and employee
mobility at all levels of the department.
Our employees are a critical component to the department’s
success. Improving customer satisfaction is key to improving staff
morale. Service excellence is part of the staff’s DNA, and we must
make it easier for them to deliver services. We will strengthen ser-
vice delivery through new service strategies and the standardiza-
tion of service processes. Morale will be raised as a result.
We show how relevant we are to delivering on the govern-
ment’s mission every day. I’m very proud of how we played a role
in helping to resettle Syrian refugees in Canada. The department
provided the essential IT services to the operation, and ensured
that 24/7 support was available to all relevant departments and
Canadian missions abroad. This included voice and data telecom-
munications services, as well as purchasing and deploying IT
equipment to support increased mobile and network capacity. We
showed how important SCC was—that’s a boost to morale also.
Q:
What are some examples of SSC’s
accomplishments in the last year?
There has been a lot, in all the major areas in which we work.
The department has consolidated 60 legacy data centres into its
three enterprise-class data centres. This reduces costs, increases
data security and improves service to partner and client organiza-
tions. And, of course, the work continues…
SSC is strengthening security. We have established a 24/7/365
Security Operations Centre that monitors and responds quickly
and efficiently to cyber-security incidents. There has been a
steady reduction in both the number of critical IT incidents and
of the time it takes to resolve such incidents when they occur.
We are refining our procurement process through ongoing en-
gagement with industry. This is important for two reasons. First,
it allows us to keep abreast of new developments and trends
in a fast-paced industry. The second reason is that engagement
makes sure that industry is informed as early as possible of
SSC’s plans – well in advance of solicitations being tendered–so
that it can respond with innovative solutions. This helps balance
what industry can provide, rapidly and cost-effectively, with a
cost effective solution that meets the needs of the Government
of Canada.
Q:
What are some of the challenges the department
faces?
We do indeed face some challenges.
Transformation project work is proceeding more slowly than
anticipated. We still face delays; some procurements are taking
longer than originally planned. The capacity of industry to meet
our requirements varies, and we have important funding pres-
sures. Also, among our 43 partners, demand is greater than fore-
casted. We are undaunted. We have a strategy to deal with these
challenges and we will meet them.
Q:
How will you know you’ve succeeded?
My immediate focus is to ensure that we reach our goal of creat-
ing a modern, secure and cost-effective IT platform to support the
Government of Canada.
What’s important to remember is that SSC is here to stay… so
once we have the first level of success, we have to ensure that our
systems have the capability to respond to the changing require-
ments of our customers. To that end, we are refining our perfor-
mance measurement tools, and we’ll be publishing the results.
I want to stress that since its creation, SSC has made progress in
modernizing government-wide IT systems. SSC’s transformation
plan represents an unprecedented exercise in orchestration and
synchronization.
We are moving forward with renewed vigour, while reflecting
the lessons learned over the last four years, along with the recom-
mendations from ongoing audit and evaluation work.
Success will become evident over time. We will know we are on
the right track when employee and client satisfaction are higher,
when our performance metrics are close to industry standards
and when renewal of IT services infrastructure is done on an on-
going basis rather than on a an ad hoc basis.
Ultimately, the IT services SSC provides are an integral part of
a vision of a 21st century public service. It complements the Gov-
ernment of Canada’s commitment to improve digital services to
all Canadians.