NSW releases digital strategy

The New South Wales Government has recently released its digital strategy for a customer-centric digital transformation

With a sharp focus on becoming a digital government, Minister of Finance, Service and Property, Victor Dominello wants to build on the former ICT strategies.

"This strategy provides the backbone for the delivery of next level, improved, user-centric services. It will ensure that the NSW Government is connected, customer-focussed and outcomes driven," he says.

With the goal of delivering 70 per cent of government transactions via digital channels by 2019, there will be regular bi-annual reporting on the performance against the strategy.

The strategy states, "We are only part of the way along our transformation journey towards a truly digital government. The digital transformation will require a mindset shift and cultural change in the public sector to provide customer-centric services in the digital economy."

The strategy outlines three key digital priorities - customer experience, data and digital on the inside - that will enable the continuous transformation of the Government to digital.

Customer experience

Since launching Service NSW in 2013, it now counts over 1.5 million registered users and over 850,000 app downloads. The Government wants to build on its existing customer-centric service design and simplify access to information and services.

Standards around customer experience will include trialling artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance accessibility, co-designing policies and regulations with customers and a multi-tiered identity management framework.

Data

In order to become a digital economy, the Government will be focusing on making data available as well as addressing relevant privacy requirements.

"There is no asset more critical than usable, accessible data that enables insights and informs decisions. The NSW Government will unlock the full potential of the data it holds while respecting privacy requirements, and use it to drive data-informed change in legislation, policies and processes," the strategy states.

"In doing so, important protections relating to privacy and security of customer data will be strengthened. Robust data governance arrangements will continue to be developed."

One such arrangement is the recent report from the Productivity Commission, proposing a complete overhaul of the current data Framework.

The NSW digital strategy aims to enhance and clarify data quality standards, establish the NSW Data Ecosystem for lawful data sharing and benchmark quality across the sector.

Digital on the inside

Simplification of internal processes is critical to the successful delivery of government services. NSW will also focus on the internal digital transformation of the sector, including automating tasks and streamlining processes.

"While digital transformation is ultimately focussed on delivering more customer-centric services, this requires transformation of the operations of government itself. We will embed a digital by design approach and simplify and streamline the way work is executed across the government."