Canadian Government Executive - Volume 27 - Issue 03

14 / Canadian Government Executive // May/June 2021 PERSPECTIVE Sponsored Content Published in October, the plan includes 30 individual initiatives to make public services “more customer-focused and digital- and data-driven, while increas- ing the speed of government operations and decision-making.” Ontario Onwards identifies four key areas of focus: • Increasing digital access to govern- ment services • Reducing red tape and simplifying policies, while protecting public health and safety • Improving government purchasing processes • Making more responsive and flexible public services Ontario’s roadmap for a more digital and customer-focused government is in line with findings by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), which studied the chal- lenges to digitization faced by one of the most important parts of the public sector landscape: health and human services. In partnership with YouGov and spon- sored by the global consulting firm EY, LESSONS FROM THE PANDEMIC: THE NEXT PHASE OF PUBLIC SECTOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Rapid digitization in 2020 can be the foundation for more customer-focused, efficient, and convenient government services. F rom a platform that helped man- agers find public servants with the critical skills needed to ad- dress the pandemic 1 , to the rapid delivery of network access to government employees working from home 2 , federal, provincial, territorial, and city govern- ments quickly deployed digital solutions across Canada. This solution ensured nearly 40 million people had access to vi- tal services during a time of upheaval and urgency. Now is an important time to reflect on what we’ve learned over the last year, and how we can continue to use digital technology to reopen and build on a bur- geoning economic recovery. Building a ‘people-focused’ public sector The pandemic imparted two very impor- tant and positive lessons: • The public sector realized it could digi- tally transform much faster than it had thought possible • Citizens realized government services could be accessed much more easily and conveniently with the help of digi- tal technology The task now is to apply these lessons to the future. A model for how this can be done is found in Ontario Onwards 3 , the Government of Ontario’s COVID-19 action plan for a people-focused government. BY FRANCO AMALFI Strategic Business Executive for the Public Sector, Google Cloud Canada researchers from IGHI surveyed more than 2,200 public healthcare workers in Australia, India, Italy, UAE, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 4 Among the report’s key findings: • The use of digital and data solutions doubled during the pandemic • Urgency allowed organizations to overcome barriers that had previously stifled digital innovation • Digital and data tools have improved the quality of care and helped staff be more productive • More than half of respondents expect greater investment in digitization in the near future The pandemic revealed how data and technology can make a profound differ- ence to both providers and customers. The lessons from healthcare highlighted in the EY report can be applied to the public sector as well. Governments quickly broke down technological barri- ers to deliver services to citizens. These investments and innovation should con- tinue long after the pandemic is no lon- ger an urgent crisis.