Back to news overview

Conclusion: ‘Smart ecosystems’ can give digital government a boost | NPM Capital

News
Date
April 13, 2018
Conclusion: ‘Smart ecosystems’ can give digital government a boost | NPM Capital

The iPoort event ‘The state of the Digital Netherlands’, an initiative of Conclusion and the National Commissioner for Digital Government Agency, recently took place in The Hague. Arjen van Berkum, Chief Disruption Officer at Conclusion, is convinced the Dutch government can only meet the immense challenges it faces relating to the digital domain through public-private partnership. Plus: The Netherlands needs a strong ‘IT Minister’. 

Conclusion co-organised this iPoort event together with other organisations including the National Commissioner for Digital Government Agency. Why have this event?

‘I don’t think it’s a secret that various government services in the Netherlands are having tremendous difficulty with the rapid social developments in the field of digitalisation. It is often said that the ‘government has to catch up,’ but that’s an understatement. But we do see many Dutch citizens asking for exactly that and many politicians are very aware of this fact. I mean, for example, it’s just unacceptable that in 2016 you can’t e-mail the Dutch tax authorities. In short: something along the lines of a “burning platform” is emerging, but at the same time the government is still exploring what would be the best path forward. That’s perfectly understandable given the track record of the Dutch government’s IT programmes and projects. Be that as it may, at Conclusion we believe it is helpful to conduct a more frequent and in-depth debate on the best path forward. Because doing nothing really isn’t an option.’

Why does the government have so much trouble digitalising its services to citizens efficiently?

‘It’s due to a number of complex factors. To start with, there’s no such thing as “the government”. What you’ve got are lots of individual government domains, each of which opts for its own approach to digitalisation. The result: extensive fragmentation and sub-optimisation. It’s also important to remember that privacy and security are especially vital in the government domain. So you can’t “simply” experiment, or as they say in the business world “just start somewhere”. Plus you’ve got the very strict budget culture with all the related control mechanisms, a great deal of regulation and, last but not least, statutory delineation. Add it all up and it becomes crystal clear why it’s no wonder the government doesn’t have what it takes to make the difference in the digital domain.’

Doesn’t it simply come down to a lack of political will?

‘I’ve noticed in the conversations I have had that the political will really does exist – also within the civil service system. But it’s very difficult to turn that will into action. The government is also seriously impeded by the fact that they’ve got to put almost everything out to tender. And government tendering processes take a relatively long period of time and often lead to a scope that doesn’t always help the digital transformation. Here’s an example: the government explicitly asks for a barrier in its call for tenders, while parties taking part in the tender process see that a barrier isn’t the most effective solution.’

What transformation does the government need to make? 

‘Simple question, complex answer. I think we have to conclude that, in order to bring about effective digitalisation of the public domain, we must bring together multiple areas of intelligence, even though there isn’t a single market player that has comprehensive expertise in all these areas. So we need to move towards forming what we call “smart ecosystems”: a dynamic conglomerate of market players that can each provide a certain building block. Keeping it close to home: we as Conclusion have vast experience in managing so-called mission-critical systems that must never fail. So that’s great: use that knowledge and find another organisation that knows everything about cyber security. This is how you can in each instance build an ecosystem that is based on an array of services that you sometimes deliver yourself, sometimes co-manage and sometimes source from third parties. By combining all these facets, you ultimately end up being able to offer the government the ideal solution.’

Sounds like a form of public-private partnership…

‘You could see it that way. Let’s take the Dutch Ministry of Waterways and Public Works for example. They tell a consortium: “You can build and maintain the tunnel and you’ll be paid on the basis of each car that goes through it over the next 20 years.” This approach means parties remain much more involved in the project because they continue to bear serious responsibility. Right now there are thousands of external IT experts working for the government who all charge their hourly rates without really bearing any responsibility.’

What are the main IT pain points for the government?

‘The government suffers primarily from outdated systems based on “old school” relational databases. This not only makes managing them very difficult, but also unbelievably expensive. What’s more, there are also lots of systems that operate in parallel and do more or less the same thing. To put it somewhat bluntly: there has been a new application developed for just about every exception to the rule over the past decades. The current state of technology means this is no longer necessary: modern databases work with unstructured data in one big container and algorithms are used to determine which data are relevant and who has access to which data. The transition from relational to modern databases would in itself produce massive cost-savings. Because that’s essentially what it all comes down to: if you digitalise your processes in an effective manner, you won’t just save a little – you’ll save a huge amount.’

Isn’t the fact that every government service has its own Head of IT part of the problem?

‘Absolutely. It’s actually very odd that in the Netherlands we have a highly diverse IT organisation called “the government”, without it really being under centralised management with a mandate. While the position of CIO exists, it is not held by a political official. I’ve been calling for some time for the appointment of a designated Minster who can manage the government’s entire IT portfolio, who understands what has to be done and has the perseverance needed to make it happen.’

In closing: Are you hopeful about the government’s capacity to become digitally mature?

‘Critical, but also certainly hopeful. The appointment of a National Commissioner for Digital Government is a good first step. But a whole lot more will have to be done before the government is an agile organisation that acts according to citizens’ needs on the one hand and is able to develop new services concepts based on clear choices on the other: What do we and do we not want to facilitate as government? The government has been working on all kinds of changes for many years. It’s now high time for a really big change: placing IT under the control and management of one centralised body.’

 

NPM - Sfeer - 173 - clara tafel

Join our newsletter to stay informed of the most relevant updates