Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 05

November/December 2020 // Canadian Government Executive / 23 Digital Transformation ing simple questions through an automated call center, and monitoring financial trans- actions to identify potential fraud. The fundamental shifts for government organi- zations will be to draw the lines between where an AI can and should make the deci- sions 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 al- ways lag advancements in technology. Ar- tificial Intelligence will have a fundamen- tal impact on public sector organizations by forcing them to revaluate and update how they deliver services and govern us- ing this new technology. Q: 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 deci- sions for decades. Originally the challenge was in gathering the data while relying on paper-based systems. When systems were computerized more data were be- ing captured and we have huge stores of historical data. The current challenges are around having too much data and the si- loes within which data are kept. Artificial intelligence has the capacity to look at much more data and make au- tomated decisions more quickly. However, the transition is difficult. Q: How can government use digital transformation to make progress on EDI objectives? Digital transformation is an opportunity for a fundamental rethink and a reimag- ining 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 govern- ment and industry who are working to make their organizations and solutions they implement more diverse and inclu- sive. It opened my eyes to systemic in- equalities in a new way. When it comes to statistics, we need to change the null hypothesis. We need to as- sume 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 computer- ized systems. In many cases, the processes were not changed to take advantage of the new technology and at that time the tech- nology implementation efforts were very separate from the functional business and policy decisions. There is a risk that digi- tal transformation can speed up and auto- mate systems that perpetuate inequalities and do more harm. Many communities and in particularly vulnerable communities have less access to computers, smartphones, and reliable in- ternet connections. Affordable and accessi- ble digital infrastructure will be needed as part of digital transformation to adequately address equality and inclusion. Q: With respect to developments in digital transformation, what do you predict for the near future? The COVID-19 impact on the digital de- livery of service and the rise of the digital public workforce cannot be overstated. Many government and healthcare orga- nizations have admitted that, in having to address the needs presented by the pan- demic, digital transformation projects that were planned for years were implemented in weeks. I believe public sector organiza- tions have now seen that many barriers holding back the progress were self-im- posed. Citizens have also seen these shifts and there will be increased public pres- sure 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 digi- tal 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 grow- ing awareness of inequality, lack of diver- sity, and barriers to inclusion continue and are fuel for further investments to build digital solutions for a better future. D r . L ori T urnbull is the Director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University and the deputy edi- tor of Canadian Government Executive.