Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 03

August/September 2019// Canadian Government Executive / 23 DIGITAL organization to articulate their workplace of the future, where employees work any- where, anytime, and within any depart- ment with a common way of working. We explored the use of emerging technologies like wearables, key culture drivers like di- versity and accessibility and alternative service delivery models like co-location of public and private enterprise. The project was experience-led and user-focused, be- cause changing minds and behaviours can be even more important than changing tooling and furniture. Further insights from our Digital IQ report underscore this skills-experience correlation. It reveals that Canadian executives struggle to connect the dots between customer experience (CX) and ROI, and even more so with employee experience (EX). Taking CX as a reason- able proxy for citizen experience, I can see how citizens are sometimes frus- trated in trying to access and use govern- ment services when front line staff, who want to help are not adequately trained, equipped or empowered to use digital tools. Yet once they are properly trained, equipped and empowered, these public sector employees are more effective in problem solving on behalf of the citizens they are helping. AI in the government If data is the new oil, governments across Canada are sitting on massive amounts of this digital resource. Focused appli- cations of artificial intelligence (AI) can help reveal insights from deep data pools in ways that are better, faster and cheap- er than ever before. Machine learning- based AI algorithms similar to recom- mender systems on Amazon, for instance, can enhance citizen experiences when it comes to interacting with their govern- ments online. Likewise, the public sector can deploy applications such as chatbots and virtual agents to expeditiously answer a variety of frequently asked questions. AI can also enhance fraud detection, accelerate processing and triage backlogs, improve process automation efficiency as well as streamline text mining and insight gen- eration. We’re seeing significant government in- terest in AI-related projects, both in pro- totypes and (predominantly back office) capabilities deployed into production. One example is in the regulatory space, where the use of natural language pro- cessing (NLP) techniques are helping to deliver insights and correlations among regulations, making it consumable and used as input for various process im- provements. Another example is in cog- nitive automation, where AI technologies are helping to extend robotic process au- tomation capabilities and make automa- tion a continuously evolving method. These are clear signs of increased pub- lic sector innovation. We’re all stakeholders in government innovation For innovation to flourish, we as citizens need to be active participants on this digital journey, articulating our ideas and needs through public consultations, chal- lenging the “same old same old”. And as taxpayers and voters, we need to allow our governments a bit of room to fail fast and learn fast, in a contained way— the same leeway we grant private sector companies that are trying to disrupt be- fore they’re disrupted. No one wants another troubled digital project, but equally, no one wants anoth- er paper form either. Change isn’t easy, especially in a public sector environment, where it can be even harder. I have a lot of empathy for my cli- ents who are change agents and I’m com- mitted to helping them. For more information, read Digital IQ— Canadian insights, or get in touch with me if you would like to talk about what digital IQ means for the public sector. Heather Simpson, Partner, Consulting, PwC Canada ernment in a time of digital disruption. The war for talent and skills, for exam- ple, is intense. Most private sector digital products and service offerings are designed, executed and refreshed to meet and exceed the increasingly high demands of custom- ers who expect to have outstanding ex- periences every time, on every channel. Success relies on highly skilled and well compensated talent, to produce these top shelf products and services. Governments now compete in the same talent pool as cool high tech firms, social- ly-driven NGOs and innovative start ups. Yet they do so in the face of some consid- erable headwinds. The timings of politi- cal calendars often shape the timing and pace of government initiatives. Likewise, the flexibility of public sector senior man- agers to initiate change can be affected by the realities of working within union- ized workforces. And don’t get me started on regimented procurement and funding processes! So if the pace of change in public sec- tor is stymied by burdensome machinery of government and a risk averse culture, what does that mean for innovation? Improving the citizen experience through employee experience In my view, public sector innovation can be found at the intersection of the citizen experience and employee experience. Giving the latter the right digital tools im- proves the former. This takes time, resources, and highly visible initiatives that drive change. PwC recently worked with a large public sector Our recent Digital IQ report identified a clear “say-do” gap between what executives in Canada say about skills gaps and what they are actually doing to close those gaps.