The pervasiveness of technology in our everyday lives is increasing our appetite for public services delivered on our terms – available 24\/7 via a single point of contact, primed with re-used data and meeting our needs at first touch point. But services are designed around the silo processes of government. Too often, the public are forced to \u2018join the dots\u2019 to get what they need from central and local government organisations.<\/p>\n
The last four years saw a valiant effort from the Government Digital Service to reimage the front-end of high volume transactional systems. Many digital services are now faster, simpler and more convenient. We have first-hand experience of delivering these benefits. As Student Loans Company\u2019s digital delivery partner, we helped treble user satisfaction through the agile development of a new customer loan portal.<\/p>\n
Scaling digital: moving beyond the benefits of the front end<\/strong><\/p>\n We are told that the next stage of efficiency and reform is moving from putting services online to \u2018Government as a Platform\u2019 and \u2018Common Technology Services\u2019 models, exemplified by the GOV.UK Verify programme, which provides identity assurance for online services. Whilst this will help further the creation and uptake of digital services, it still seems primarily focused on a harmonised interface to the public.<\/p>\n The next objective of public service reform is to scale digital, extending it beyond customer-facing services. As one civil servant explained in our 2016 Government Digital Trends Survey, \u201ctrue digital transformation is complete business transformation to enable government to do business in a digital world \u2013 not just services to citizens.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Digital technologies will remain the tools of this transformation, increasingly enhancing operations through automation and customer experience from data-generated insights. I am particularly excited about the opportunities that \u2018big data\u2019 present for customer segmentation, to customise services, enable experimentation and discover needs.<\/p>\n Why do we need to scale digital?<\/strong><\/p>\n Rolling out more coherently structured and actively managed services is why we need to scale digital across government. New exemplars are needed that link processes in and across organisations. \u00a0With the appropriate consent, information must be shared early and updated in real time for operational and strategic purposes.<\/p>\n Government, like the private sector, must pay close attention to customer interactions and exploit the huge potential for savings and quality improvements that modern digital processes enable. Well-informed customers are often the first to identify new needs or approaches to improve their satisfaction.<\/p>\n