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Digital at depth for government innovation

Digital technologies are at the heart of public service transformation and act as a catalyst for economic growth and government innovation.

Overview

Governments need to drive digital at depth to rebuild public accountability and boost their mission productivity. But that means instigating digital change, not just reacting to it.

By becoming digital disruptors themselves, not just adding digital services but digitalizing to transform their operations, governments can seize the initiative from the nimble new entrants invading their traditional turf and greatly enhance their own competitiveness.

By becoming public entrepreneurs, in partnership with the new digital businesses and micro-multinationals that now account for such a large share of new jobs, they can catalyze a digital economy that will sustain innovation and drive economic growth.

This report describes how digital leaders in government are delivering public service for the future—and how others can follow their example.

Accenture examined the digital transformation of government, looking at the impact digital services have on a country’s economy, competitiveness, government innovation and its citizens through a research report and a global pulse survey.

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Background

1. An aging demographic means that by 2050 the number of adults older than 60 will have doubled, driving up dependency ratios worldwide and especially in OECD countries.

Coupled with flat-lining labor participation rates, this ”silver tsunami” is straining already challenged public service budgets.

In this study, we focus on the portfolio of measures available to policymakers that could boost productivity, entrepreneurship, government innovation and growth in the economy.
2. The mismatch between jobs and skills is contributing to productivity drains made worse by labor market rigidities and stagnant innovation.

The new digital economy requires fresh skills. Without them, governments will be forced to provide more benefits for the unskilled, further eroding public finances.

In this study, we focus on the portfolio of measures available to policymakers that could boost productivity, entrepreneurship, government innovation and growth in the economy.
3. Resource limits mean many governments—especially those managing mature economies—have very little room for maneuver.

Thanks to the size of their budget deficits, they no longer have a mandate to make new public spending commitments. Indeed, while they continue to recover from the crisis of 2008, fiscal stability remains most leaders’ principal concern.

In this study, we focus on the portfolio of measures available to policymakers that could boost productivity, entrepreneurship, government innovation and growth in the economy.
The confluence of these 3 factors—less people available to work, output per worker in decline and lack of demand-side stimulus measures available to government—is that traditional approaches to improving growth and competitiveness are rendered ineffective.

In this study, we focus on the portfolio of measures available to policymakers that could boost productivity, entrepreneurship, government innovation and growth in the economy.

Analysis

The expectations of government’s constituents are changing just as radically.

The Accenture Digital Government Pulse Survey shows that digital natives demand simpler, faster and cheaper government services, equivalent to the mobile services accessible through apps and social media that they receive commercially.

Governments need to capitalize on these digtal advantages-and not only by digitalizing their own processes, workforces and infrastructure. They also need to digitalize through government.

By becoming public entrepreneurs—enabling a digital economy with the right regulatory environment, investments and ecosystems—governments can actually drive innovation.

In this study, we focus on the portfolio of measures available to policymakers that could boost productivity, entrepreneurship and government innovation.

We benchmarked the digital maturity of 30 different countries against six key measures:

Economic competitiveness;
Public sector productivity;
Constituent satisfaction;
Citizen engagement;
ICT development; and
Digital priority

and found:

Effect of digitalization on GDP.
Effect of digitalization on unemployment.
Effect of digitalization on international trade.

Leading by Example

To become future-ready, a government needs to drive digitalization proactively.

A future-ready government should also have an entrepreneurial and performance-driven workforce of digitally savvy administrators committed to driving innovation and capable of addressing the complexities of increasingly virtualized business. It should establish a collaborative service ecosystem, encompassing all sectors and connecting them through common digital platforms to achieve a shared goal.

These are the characteristics of a government capable of delivering public service for the future. The time to start building them is now.

Of all the citizens surveyed, a majority believed that their willingness to engage with government would increase if it improved digital services.

Accenture Citizen Survey, November 2013

Open & insights-driven services.

Creating an "open-paradigm" of government and leveraging Big Data to catalyse new digital economics, developing an intelligence-driven responses capability.

Collaborative services ecosystem.

Collaborating in new innovation ways with the private and third sector and experimenting with the new models of public service delivery.

Government as a disruptor.

Establishing a bold, risk-taking culture of disrupting current infrastructure and processes for a step change in the public services.

Resilient mission-critical infrastructure.

Designing services that are ‘always on’ and robust to facilitate fast-paced technological change, as well as being highly secure, so citizens are assured of their personal data.

Entrepreneurial & Performance-driven workforce.

Selling the right incentive and conditions for entrepreneurs to thrive and for the public services workforce to be digitally-savvy and productive.