Public Sector Newsletter
May 2017
Digital government: How far should you go and what outcomes should you expect?
As with the commercial sector, the public sector is being transformed by data and the opportunity that adopting a robust analytics strategy presents to help release deep and meaningful insights. This shift towards a greater reliance on data means that there are almost no limitations to the level of transformation and innovation that can be achieved – the only restraints being imagination, budget and compliance.
The path to faster and deeper transformation is paved with advanced analytics – purpose built for the big data era. What that means is that this breed of analytics can deliver creative, insightful models by bringing together multiple different types of data. They are also open source compatible meaning that they work with any current analytical tools. Therefore, it is possible to integrate all the elements needed to build and deploy analytics, whether they are written in SAS or come from another programming language, and to access the power of SAS from one cohesive place, with a traceable inventory of all analytical assets. Crucially for the forward-looking government organisation, these kinds of solutions have sophisticated data management and governance capabilities built in to de-risk compliance and make it possible to explore your data more deeply, yet legally.
With all that said, what exactly could you achieve by putting data and analytics at the core of your transformation strategy? Here are some ideas. You can discover much more by downloading our new paper ‘Digital government: How far should you go and what outcomes should you expect?’
Discover what’s possible
- Evidence-based policy development
As new channels of communication open up, Government will be able to better utilise data – eradicating siloes by pooling open and incoming data, analysing it in near real time to respond faster and more effectively to public opinion. - Improving citizen engagement
Using digital tools, departments will be able to undertake faster, more frequent and more inclusive public consultations, taking on board online feedback and social media sentiment. - Preventing internal and external fraud
Using behavioural data and analyses, it will be possible to predict, identify and develop strategies to prevent this criminal activity in future. - Improving prediction accuracy
For example, being able to predict housing demand and outcomes from streamlining the planning system. - Improving forecasting and planning
For instance, evaluating local economic growth to budget more effectively for infrastructure growth and social services. - Modelling impacts and next best actions
Such as assessing the impacts of national and international economic fluctuations, population change and environmental legislation to be able to take next best actions on smart transport infrastructure investment.
Whatever your appetite for data-powered digital transformation, it’s imperative that government bodies make full use of the powerful analytic capabilities now on offer. Not only will this drive citizen satisfaction – especially as the data native millennials and generation Ys come to the fore – it will help public sector bodies identify more valuable investments and their outcomes, and make operational decisions with less risk, at every point of decision-making. Most importantly, however, it will deliver the depth of understanding about citizens that matches the personalisation capabilities of the commercial world – and that’s something that will only serve to deliver increased value at reduced cost.