Digital Transformation In The Public Sector With Canalix

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Government Leaders: What to look for in a digital transformation partner?

Optimising processes, delivering better services to the public, reducing operational costs and improving productivity and compliance – those are the primary goals that governments and state agencies are chasing when undergoing a digital transformation. For example, Iceland uses intelligent court management software to bring automation into the courtrooms. Scotland uses an advanced inspection management system that connects case management processes with an AI inspection scheduling and complexity scoring system to deliver a faster, priority-based response on critical inspections. At the centre of these digital solutions is a technology that enables governments and their agencies to use better the data they already have. The common ground between different solutions like case management software, inspection and job scheduling tools, court automation systems, etc. is based on:

Adaptive network
Cloud-based infrastructure
High level of security.

A successful digital transformation has to have a strong foundation over these three pillars.

1. Adaptive network

In the early days of the internet, network connectivity was based on fixed endpoints. At the same time, today, we have networks that connect users to giant data centres – for example, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, and why not government public services? Those are the adaptive networks. They are consolidating disparate connections under a common roof to ensure efficiency, optimal use of the data and a good level of control and automation.

2. Cloud-based agility

Many government agencies are already turning to cloud solutions such as SaaA and PaaS to optimise operations and reduce the financial burden of on-premise IT systems. The use of cloud-based technologies allows big organisations to maximise the value of their data – the one they collect or some other agency shares with them. The scalability and performance capabilities of cloud environments make these solutions the best option for real-time data analysis, automation and AI innovation. The benefits could spread across the whole organisation – reducing costs, improving productivity and efficiency, making the citizen experience great.

3. Built-in security

The larger the network, the harder it is to monitor and manage attacks. That’s why a directly built into network security is the way to ensure a good level of data protection. The concept of connected security provides more visibility on threats and their quick mitigation, which makes this method a preferred way to prevent attacks.

Why should digital transformation in governments have a solid foundation over these three pillars?

The digital environment is quickly evolving. When a government agency goes digital, the future for this organisation will be very dynamic and in constant evolution to address the new opportunities that come in the sector. A digitally transformed organisation founded on an adaptive network, cloud technologies, and built-in security is the way to ensure that governments will be digitalised today and will be ready for the changes of tomorrow.

What to look for in a digital transformation partner?

Even though those are only three pillars we’re talking about, the process of adopting digital transformation in government requires serious attention over hundreds of details – small and big. Government leaders usually turn to trusted partners to help them adopt a solution to meet the short-term and long-term goals. Canalix is a digital transformation partner to government agencies, and based on our experience with government leaders, we collected some of the most relevant requirements that digital transformation partners should be able to meet:

modern technology that provides end-to-end delivery of digital transformation solutions, adaptive network, secure services and cloud-based strategies for scale and integration
track record of successful digital transformation projects in government agencies
knowledge of sector-specific methodologies
good understanding of the problems government organisations are trying to overcome; and how existing processes can be optimised to work better with modern technology.

Evolving with the present

The evolution of governments is already linked with the evolution of technology. Government leaders are trying to equip themselves with the necessary tools to overcome the challenges in the public sector field.

With the three pillars as a foundation for digital transformation, state and local governments will be equipped to overcome some of the most common challenges facing the public sector. Not only because it’s the way things go. But mostly because digital transformation is the way to:

respond to the citizen’s expectation
improve data management
provide a good level of cybersecurity
fix the staffing shortages issues (via innovative job scheduling solutions, etc.)

Contact Canalix to book a free consultation or book a 15-min product tour.

December 3, 2021/by Boris

Public Sector: How To Approach Digital Acceleration With Inspections?

Inspection Management, Regulatory Compliance

“This will change everything” was quite a popular phrase at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the world of business this phrase was mostly connected with changes in terms of digital transformation. But digital transformation has been an ongoing trend for the last 15 years. So what’s the different in digital transformation in the post covid-19 era? The answer is simple: what’s different is the speed of adoption of digital infrastructures. The urgency for action is dictated by the uncertainty in the global situation.

The new world context is affecting the pace of cloud adoption in regulatory inspections as well. A field such as regulatory enforcement that’s focused at ensuring the safety of our communities is a serious matter and the urgency for digital acceleration is very sensible there. It means that decisions must be made on a faster pace to ensure the functioning of law enforcing government agencies in the new reality of mass lockdown with growing infection rates.

If we have to summarize the focus that government agencies must keep in the current COVID-19 recovery era, it will come down to:

Government agency need to make faster decisions
They should focus on automating inspections and leverage on AI in inspections
They should focus on real-time risk assessment
They should focus on driving agility in inspections
They need to stick to cloud-first approach

And all of these must be done on a much faster pace than before the COVID-19 era. So let’s get to the biggest question in this article:

How does digital acceleration in inspection management looks like?

Like every big question, there are a lot of “depends” in the answer of this one. The digital acceleration in inspections depends mostly on the digital adoption strategy of the organisation. In the public sector this means that the CIO must speed up the decision making in the roadmap of the digital adoption strategy. If there’s no digital adoption strategy in motion, then now is the time to make on.

What are the possible ways do accelerate digital transformation in inspections?

Don’t transform outdated legacy systems, move to an entirely new cloud service designed for inspection management. This can be the faster and smarter approach for transforming inspections. But a careful research is needed.Read our guide: How to find inspection management software online?
If on a central level the government has successful history of cloud implementation, then the good example must be followed. Following an already known path can accelerate digital transformation in inspection. For example if a social care institution has a successful history of implementing cloud based case management solution, then the smart move for this institution will be to follow the same path when implementing an inspection management software.
Reorganize spend and move funds from less valuable initiatives to more urgent ones like cloud adoption.

What to expect from accelerated digital transformation in regulatory inspections?

Doing something on a faster pace in the public sector is definitely not normal. But the new reality must be accepted. This means that there are certain red flags that must be kept in mind when we approach accelerated digital transformation in the public sector:

A balance between efficiency and resilience must be kept.
Inspectors, administrators and functional leaders must be equipped with the required skills.
Configurability that can adequately answer the needs to different use segments in inspections (an inspection software must offer configurability for different type of inspections – food safety inspections, construction building inspections, social care facility inspections, playground inspections, etc.

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This all is a part of the strategic planning. Strategic planning includes the conversation for the future and the priorities that must be followed if the most likely future scenario is changed (a thing that already happened on a massive scale with COVID-19). A change of the possible scenario such as the global pandemic might require from CIO’s to change the pacing of the digital adoption strategy for inspections. Disruption is not a bad thing if we are able to predict the outcomes.

Do you need help with the strategic planning for the digital transformation of inspections in your organisation?

October 7, 2020/by Boris

Digital transformation across all government services – how to achieve this?

Case Management, Digital Government, Inspection Management

Comparing governments with businesses has always helped individuals to understand the concept of government better. It’s the same when it comes to comparing digital transformation in enterprises with eGovernment transformation. In both cases we have a big structure that is divided on different department levels – finances, social care, justice, food safety, road safety, etc. However, in terms of complexity there will always be one winner – and it’s the government.

How complexity differs in businesses and governments?

Businesses are serving the market and make their decisions with the goal of extracting a benefit from the market. Governments are beyond that – they serve both the public and the business and have a regulatory function to make decisions based on information that is gathered with paperwork or e-government services. That’s why we talk about whole other level of complexity.

If we take a close look at different levels within a government we will be able to gain a clear picture on the complexity we’re talking about. Let’s take for an example the structure of the government financial management. If a business doesn’t plan budgets wisely and doesn’t take financial decisions based on objectives like cost-efficiency, then the business will collapse. It’s the same with the public sector. That’s why financial systems have streamlined processes and principles that ensure the financial vitality of an organization.

If a closed eco-system like a small or medium business starts automating their financial management process by process, then we will have a classic digital transformation plan in action. Things in governments are a little bit more complicated. It’s simply so because the complexity of governments requires from the IT decision makers, CIOs and functional leaders the look further in the picture.

Why government CIOs need to look further in the digital transformation picture?

Let’s take for an example a social care regulator. Digital transformation in such structure will start by transforming the internal processes: first automating case management operations, then the inspection management processes, etc. The next stage of transformation will capture the processes with external agents by building up self-service portals. The self-service portals might serve the needs of the Ministry of social care at first and then expand to serving citizens. At certain point the social care bodies will have too much portals to work with. This is the moment when the CIO must come with a solution to integrate the automated processes and move every service under the same roof. This is what we call a fully functional eGovernment platform. To realise the full potential of this concept, CIOs must be able to look far in the digital transformation picture.

Transforming one process may catalyse big transformation across the economy

In times where changes happen fast, public finances are concerned with issues such as cost optimisation and efficient allocation of public money. E-government solutions are common means to achieve this. However, the transformation can’t encompass all government areas at once. It always starts with a single process and ends up transforming the whole ecosystem. In terms of where transformation in the public sector starts from, it always starts with the biggest areas of expenditures. These might be: social care and health, food safety, construction, financial regulations, etc.

So if we look for an answer to the big question how to drive digital transformation across all government services, we must stick to the old rule: start with a strategy. Then do things process by process. Make a long-term plan and create a team that will help you achieve this.

Are you looking for an eGovernment platform that will allow you to integrate automated services like case management and inspection management? Contact us.

August 18, 2020/by Boris

Everything You Need To Know About Cloud Adoption in Government

Inspection Management, Resources

The cloud adoption is an ongoing rising global trend. In both the public and the private sector the trend of shifting towards cloud adoption is visible. According to Gartner, across all industries, companies spend an average of 20.4% of their IT budgets on cloud. If we look at the government area, the percent varies as follows:

Local governments spend an average 20.6% of their IT budgets on cloud
National governments spend 22% of their IT budgets on cloud.

Why governments shift their IT infrastructures to cloud?

This big question has a simple answer: cloud delivers digital government services efficiently and at low costs. This answer backs-up Gartner’s forecast that the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 17% in 2020 to total $266.4 billion, up from $227.8 billion in 2019.

How cloud adoption is shaping EU’s digital future?

The digital transformation of governments in Europe has three clear goals, that are outlined in the European eGovernment action plan 2016 – 2020.

Reduce administrative burdens
Improve the quality of interactions with government
Removing existing digital barriers.

The industrial revolution of our time is digital. As companies aim to scale up across the Single Market, public e-services should also meet today’s needs: be digital, open and cross-border by design. The EU is the right scale for the digital times.
― Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market

eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 acknowledges the digital opportunities and sets a vision that aims to make government agencies and institutions in EU open, efficient, providing personalized, user-friendly, end-to-end digital services to all citizens and businesses within the bloc.

What is the economic impact of cloud adoption in government agencies?

The cloud adoption in the public sector contributes to a more cost-efficient future of the public services through e-government. The cost saving efforts are mainly focused at optimizing the resource utilization. But this is not the only benefit, even though it is the most direct one when it comes to adopting cloud in the public sector. In the post-pandemic reality the functioning of institutions should be a priority number one. In case of other waves of infections and returning to restrictive measures, the IT infrastructure of government agencies must allow its workforce to continue working efficiently. With old legacy systems that is a big challenge, but for governments that adopted cloud, this will not be an issue.

The bottom line is that the broad adoption of cloud services in the public administration (whether it is regulatory agency, local government or central government), eases the access of companies and citizens to the services that they need from the public sector. Even in times of social distance rules.

What is the macroeconomic benefit of cloud adoption?

Cloud adoptions is the way towards productivity. This is a healthy boost for every economy in the world that drives innovation and positive transformation. The workforce can operate faster, more efficiently and more cost-effective. These benefits doesn’t reduce their strength even in times of lockdown because of the flexibility that is at the core of cloud. For example, the inspection management of regulators can be transformed entirely digitally. All of the case and document management can be digitalized, the inspectors can access their cases digitally via the cloud – any time, any place, any device. And it all can happen by keeping the necessary security protocols.
The inspection area of public services is a perfect example for digital transformation that fits the visions of the eGovernment Action Plan even in times of global pandemic.

According to Gartner almost half of government organizations are actively using cloud services. The natural evolution of the market will continue to develop the cloud area. The more we go into the future, the need of cloud adoption in governments will become more pressing. The governments’ information officers need to press the cloud adoption button before it starts pressing them. If you’re on the search for cloud egovernment solutions with focus on inspection management and case management, contact us for a free consultation now.

July 29, 2020/1 Comment/by Boris

Three big questions about transforming inspection management system

Inspection Management, Tips

While businesses are moving on in the post-pandemic reality, digital transformation experts in public organisations are also looking for ways to transform their organisations. The main goal is to provide better organisation functioning in the post-pandemic new normal.

By now, digital transformation decision-makers should have re-evaluated the operations of their public organisation. What’s next is for them to set a strategy and prioritise the actions they need to take. In an overlooked field such as inspection management, digital transformation may be a more significant challenge. We dedicated this blog post to three burning questions that need answers before setting in motion a plan for transforming the inspection regime in regulatory agencies.

Resilience factors in the inspection transformation

Regulatory agencies are an integral part of the public sector. They can’t stop their work. But when challenges like global pandemic appear, regulators need to restructure and reorganise their inspection processes in two directions:

The employees (inspectors, administration, etc.) must work safely, following social distance rules.
The citizens must communicate with the regulatory agency’s units to request the service they need.

So to evaluate the resilience factors on regulatory agencies’ inspection process during the lockdown measures means to assess what helped inspectors and administration staff to do their job. For example, some regulatory agencies with existing digital infrastructure and inspection software may have easily moved their work to a home environment. But other government agencies that are not that up to date with their IT infrastructure have probably had to work with reduced working hours and workforce to comply with the social distance rules. So every digital transformation expert coming from a government agency must be ready with a list of evaluations of the resilience factors that positively influenced the inspection performance during the lockdown period.

Was the decision-making process fast enough?

How long did it take for the organisation to respond to the challenges of the lockdown? Did you have to wait for a decision to be made by your organisation on a centralised level? Waiting for a centralised response to the new challenges may not be optimal. That’s why the decision-making in crisis should be made independently of the centralised government unit. In terms of strategy, this is the better approach. The government agencies that already run their inspection management process with updated systems will be able to transform their work mode faster than those with more outdated inspection programs.

Not making the right decision on time will probably result in wasted time. The opposite scenario, backed with an updated inspection management system, will spare your organisation the waste of time and improve productivity. There must be a precise evaluation of the challenges and opportunities during health crisis-induced lockdown for that to happen.

What are the actual options for the digital transformation of the inspection process?

The global pandemic brought global digital transformation. There are thousands of digital safety inspection software tools on the market. But when we talk about regulatory agencies, choosing a proper software solution becomes a more serious matter. And when the software solution must be an inspection optimisation one, things become even more complex. Digital transformation leaders must be up to serious research for good inspection software to provide security, usability and flexibility.

Are you a digital transformation expert looking for the best inspection software? Start with our Guide for finding the best inspection management software. And if you want to know more, contact us directly through our form here.

July 28, 2020/by Boris

Three Transformations That Canalix Brings To the Public Sector

Resources

The optimization of public sector services is one of the major keys for making citizens happier. For different western countries there are different issues that are making the road to digital transformation a hard path to take. The organizations know that they need optimization. They know that there are solutions out there that can make their work more efficient and the use of utilities more optimal. However, they don’t always know how to start this transformation and get the actual business outcomes that they are aiming at.

That’s why we decided to make a list, based on Canalix customers’ data that includes 3 transformation outcomes that public organisations are experiencing with our solution.

1. Efficiency in operations and resource utilisation

Every business optimization platform is focused on improving operational efficiency. This allows government agencies to do more with less. Canalix transforms not only the operations, but also the utlization of resources. This leads to reducing not only the costs for transport, but also reducing the carbon footprint. Doing more with less is a goal that can transform not only operations, but also the resources management.

2. Increasing the public trust

The public sector has many responsibilities. Whether they are to provide services to the citizens or to ensure compliance with state regulations, or to constantly improve the efficiency of operations. The bottom line is that the community always expects accountability and is inpatient towards drawbacks. That’s why one of the goals of the public sector organizations is to maintain high level of transparency. Because transparency is the key to increasing the public trust. The easiest and most sure way for reaching this goal is through digital transformation .

3. Better engagement with citizens

Citizens have to be able to connect with the public organisations that are supposed to provide services to them. The old fashioned and bureaucratic way of communication is no longer the most optimal one. That’s why many public sector agencies are building self-service portals for their citizens. This solution is strongly strategic, because it is a simple change that has the potential to put the beginning of more complex and solid digital transformation movement in organisations.

The optimization of public sector is an on-going process that doesn’t start and ends with these three transformations. There is a whole industry of business optimization solutions that are using cutting edge technology to ensure efficient digital transformation to the public sector. If you’re organization needs software platform, focused on inspection driven regulatory enforcement, contact us.

May 21, 2020/by Boris

How To Compare Different Business Optimisation Solutions?

Resources

Digital transformation is a big step for some businesses. With a variety of business optimisation solutions out there, it’s hard to decide from where to start and what to do. That’s why we wrote this guide for taking the first steps towards business transformation.

Comparing business optimisation software solutions is always a good idea for a start.

Make a list of the demands of your organisation.
After knowing what the demands are, make an initial google search.
Make sure that you are looking for specific solution that will answer to the specific needs of your enterprise.
Shortlist 10 possible business optimization platforms.
What’s next is to compare each one of the possible solutions.

Let’s dive a little bit deeper into comparing business optimization platforms. There are couple of factors to which you must pay close attention.

1. How easy for use is the platform

In order to realize the benefits of business optimization, the product itself must have good usability. At most basic it means that the platform must provide intuitive interface. When someone starts using the optimization platform, the navigation through its functionalities must happen by intuition. If you’re testing different platforms, then you should definitely pay close attention to how easy is the navigation for the users.

2. The price of the otpimisation platform

Some solutions like general business optimization platforms cost less than solutions that are more industry specific. This is a basic economical principal. The price is a serious factor to consider, but it must be considered in context. A general business optimization solution or broad targeted crm platform will definitely have lower price to offer. But what really matter is: can a general solution can answer to the needs of a specific industry like the inspection driven enforcement? The answer is clear and you should always keep it in mind when comparing the price between general bpm platform or specific inspection software. Having this context in mind will guide you into making the better business decision.

Read our article about the differences between specific inspection software solutions and general business optimisation solution.

3. Customer support

It’s important to have good customer support. Make sure that the inspection platform you’ll use have an adequate support policy. You would know the answer of this question in the testing phase of the product. But for the purpose of your initial research it will be good to have a list with your enterprise’s requirements for customer support.

May 14, 2020/by Boris