Page 18 - GCN, Jan/Feb 2016

BEST PRACTICES: THE MODERN BACK OFFICE
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The Evolution of the Best Practice
Technology helps drive modern best practices in government
The “paperless” office has been a decades-long vision. It seemed
to have finally achieved its promise a few years ago with the ability to scan and attach digital versions of paper documents and digital signatures. Now, those concepts are already a thing of the past. Today’s technologies enable digital processes from start to finish.
Business best practices, like the paperless office, are designed for efficiency and optimization. Yet best practices are constantly evolving,
and incorporate the latest enabling technologies to continuously improve optimal procedures and processes. Governments design processes around best practices and the ones that want to stay ahead of the curve build programs and train experts to manage and monitor them as technology changes.
For back-office solutions, advance- ments in cloud computing have become pivotal to establishing and achieving modern best practices. Cloud computing is the underlying technology for other digital enablers, including social, mobile, analytics and the “Internet of Things”—a network of connected physical objects with embedded internet applications, sensors and more that collect, analyze and exchange data.
This emergence and rapid acceptance of cloud computing today represents a new opportunity for agencies. In fact, the adoption of modern best practices are global and cross-industry, says Bob Sabo, Strategic Programs Lead, Oracle Public Sector. With the public sector’s need to increase efficiency and effectiveness, they are critical for modern government.
“With modern technologies you can interact with citizens, employees and other stakeholders using completely new channels,” he says. “Effective agencies take advantage of digital transforma-
tions, and embed solutions into the pro- cess—whether it’s financial reporting, budgeting, or employee recruitment.”
Government organizations have always pursued process improvement, better integration of resources, reduced paperwork and other overall efficiencies. Technology is often the foundation of those pursuits. In many ways though, modern technologies are now driving best practices. Without them, you can only advance so far. Here’s a look at how technology is positively affecting several areas of business best practices.
Human Capital/
Talent Management
The overall workforce is changing and in many cases shrinking. In government, this declination is exacerbated by the gradual aging out of a generation of workers who
have a comprehensive understanding of their existing workforce. Who is ready to retire or move on to other positions and when will that transition likely occur? They have to predict their future needs and establish a plan to ensure they have resources with the necessary skills to fill those gaps. Success requires sophisticated data collection and a way to marry that with analytics to help predict those future needs, understand potential gaps, and develop a robust succession plan. And this should
be naturally paired with a modern, engaging recruitment and applicant tracking system.
In order to attract the best talent, modern government business practices must align to the expectation of the skilled job seeker. They tend to live in
a highly social, mobile-first world and learn about employment opportunities
“Effective agencies take advantage of digital transformations, and embed solutions into the process—whether it’s financial reporting, budgeting, or employee recruitment.”
—Bob Sabo, Strategic Programs Lead, Oracle Public Sector
have accumulated decades of institutional knowledge and expertise. Agencies need to examine their existing workforce and at the same time seek out new workers to fill defined gaps. This means that govern- ment is competing with private industry to attract the same caliber of professional from a shrinking pool of resources. So the competition for that talent is intense.
Agencies are also faced with an entirely different dynamic: they need to
through multiple channels, using messaging and social networking applications to interact with their networks. Agencies must provide a simplified, user- friendly solution
that helps job seekers start and move through the process efficiently and easily. Successful recruiting efforts begin with the first interaction, and top talent expects social, mobile and easy-to-use solutions at work. Organizations that