Page 16 - FCW, March 30, 2016

Sponsored Report
DIGITAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES
The State of Digital Services
Digital services are here to stay. They will only become more ubiquitous and full-featured over time, according
to a new survey of federal and state agencies by the 1105 Public Sector Media Group. The survey, conducted
by Beacon Technology Partners, found seven in 10 agencies currently offer customer-facing digital services.
These services provide informa-
tion, help citizens apply for permits
and programs, and answer questions. Most agencies see digital services as a strategic necessity, agreeing that without robust customer-facing digital services, they will have more trouble meeting their agency’s mission.
That is indeed true, says Kevin Noon- an, lead government analyst for Ovum, a global technology research firm. “They really have no choice,” he says. “If they fail to move toward digital government, they will be out of sync with citizens’ needs and fall further behind the curve.”
Citizens are clearly in favor of govern- ment’s push to increase digital services. A 2015 survey from Accenture found
The evolving role of cloud in digital strategies
The mobile device as the platform of choice
Staffing, budget and other hurdles to digital government A bright future for digital services?
FULL REPORT ONLINE, Go to FCW.com/2016DigitalGovStrategy
More articles in the Digital Government Strategies report
while many citizens already use govern- ment digital services when offered, 86 percent wanted to increase those interac- tions. That means government agencies have their work cut out for them. The Accenture survey revealed that only 27 percent of citizens were satisfied with current government digital offerings; and 28 percent were dissatisfied.
Besides improving citizen service, increasing digital services provides many other benefits. One of the most important is improving the quality and speed of get- ting services to citizens or government workers. Both are gaining importance
as citizens demand greater speed, more transparency, and better quality in their government interactions.
The 1105 Public Sector Media Group survey found 64 percent understand digital services will improve internal process efficiency. That is a key at- tribute, both for reasons of cost and citizen satisfaction. Constellation Re- search found while digital transforma- tion efforts can take up to 24 months to get rolling, once they are fully opera- tional, organizations can see 30 to 40 percent efficiency improvements.
Meeting compliance requirements, reducing costs and enabling more innovative government services were other important benefits cited by survey participants. Innovation is particularly important. “Digital government involves a lot more than just taking manual paper- based services and making them digital, which just turns inefficient old processes into bad new processes,” says Noonan. “It’s more about a digital transforma- tion—the opportunity to truly change services and citizen interaction for the better during the digitization process.”
The 1105 Public Sector Media Group survey also found most agencies are eager to learn from their citizen “cus- tomers” and agency peers about how
to effectively deploy next-generation services. Noonan takes that notion one step further, recommending agencies look inward for innovation in an area that has often been shunned—shadow IT.
“Rather than trying to suppress groups that have gone off and devel- oped applications and processes on their own, look at it as innovation that can be adopted by the agency on a larger scale,” he says. •
Digital services
go mission-critical
Many respondents agree that it will be difficult for their agencies to achieve their missions without implementing more robust digital services.
Agree strongly
Agree somewhat
22%
27%
38%
Neither agree nor disagree
9%
Disagree somewhat
4%
Disagree strongly
Source: 1105 Public Sector Media Group