Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 02

32 / Canadian Government Executive // March/April 2018 TECHGOV FORUM Blockbuster versus Netflix Blockbuster thought they were in the business of providing people’s neighbour- hoods a place to pick up a DVD or some VHSs. Their model was all about bricks and mortar. Netflix understood that both companies were in the entertainment business, but began by actually delivering DVDs right to people’s homes. Netflix then rethought the transaction to give even more value to the user. Smart, user-centric digital bring- ing entertainment directly into people’s homes, any content available day and night. Netflix changed the game; Blockbuster wasn’t even on the field. We can’t be a Blockbuster government when we’re serving a Netflix citizenry. Governments need to focus more on outcomes for the users, and less on processes and outputs. Canadians deserve the same quality of digital services when they renew their passport that they’ve come to expect from Amazon when they buy something. Digital government is about providing better service to Canadians. This repre- sents a new mindset for government, and to get there takes some myth busting. Three digital myths Myth 1: One of those myths tells us that digital services won’t be as accessible to low-income citizens because they lack digital connectivity. The fact is that Stats Canada tells us there are 24 million smart phone users in Canada. There’s free Wi-Fi in coffee shops, fast food restaurants, libraries, malls, se- nior centres, homeless shelters – far more physical locations than Service Canada could ever possibly offer. Let’s think further about serving eco- nomically vulnerable Canadians better. Today, the principal point of contact between the Government of Canada and people, our citizens, is often through a physical address, your home address. Well, guess what? If you’re precariously employed, you might be precariously housed. And if you are couch surfing, you probably don’t have a long-term physical address. You probably do however, today have a digital address, a cell number or an email, that stays with you for years, perhaps even your whole lifetime. If you focus on users, you discover that digital service de- livery can actually be better than analog for serving some of our most vulnerable citizens. Myth 2: Another myth is that Canadi- ans really prefer brick-and-mortar service delivery through physical locations over digital. If that were really the case, Block- buster would still be in business, and Net- flix wouldn’t have 7 million customers in Canada. Closely related to that myth is the one that seniors really don’t like digital ser- vices. I concede that it is true in some cases. My 94-year old father has not yet embraced digital. Then again, he never re- ally learned how to operate a microwave oven either. Max’s parents, my in-laws, are in their mid seventies. They bank online, email, text, Facetime with grandkids and shop online, often for Rose and Claire. They are too busy living in a seamless digital world to even think of driving their car to a government office during regular office hours, finding parking, maybe tak- ing a number, and sitting down to wait to receive an analog service. And they cer- tainly don’t want to be waiting on the end of a phone, on hold, waiting for a phone service from their government. For the rest of the speech, go to: https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury- board-secretariat/news/2018/02/ speaking_notes_forthehonourable- scottbrisonpresidentofthetreasury. html or scan. D I G I T A L E N G A G E M E N T I N N O V A T I O N F O R U M TECH GOV Digital Government is about Enabling, Empowering, and Serving People The Honourable Scott Brison, Pres- ident of the Treasury Board, delivered a keynote address at TechGov in Ot- tawa on January 30, 2018. We reprint here, with the permission of the Trea- sury Board of Canada Secretariat, ex- cerpts of his speech. When I’m home, I love to get our daughters, Rose and Claire, up in the morning and cook them breakfast. They sit at the table and sometimes I’ll play something for them to watch on the iPad. Like a lot of parents, we limit screen time and manage con- tent. I often choose something like “Do Re Mi” from the Sound of Music or “So Long Farewell” or Mary Pop- pins’ “Spoonful of Sugar.” Feeling morally superior as I make pancakes, suddenly I hear, “Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol, whenever you’re in trou-ble…” I realize that the girls have swiped away Julie Andrews and have swiped in Paw Patrol , something more modern. If Apple can design something so intuitive that my 3 year olds can find exactly what they want in about 40 seconds, why can’t government de- sign websites that we grownups can navigate easily? Modern digital technology and ag- ile digital practices give government the opportunity to deliver great ser- vices. Digital government has little to do with technology. It’s got every- thing to do with enabling, empower- ing, and serving people. Digital government is not about taking a paper form, making it a PDF, and posting it online. It’s about total- ly rethinking the transaction, relent- lessly focusing on user needs.