Driving government digital innovation through industry collaboration

Integrators and vendors are poised to play pivotal roles as governments in Australia are at crossroads as they adopt emerging technology to meet the internal needs of agencies and external needs of citizens.

Within government agencies, personalisation is a growing expectation, similar how to the private sector has integrated personalisation and customer experience to drive engagement and trust.

In an interview with ARN, John Mackenney, Adobe director of digital strategy group for Asia Pacific, said while commercial sectors had to compete on customer experience because products were standardised, the public sector is now realising that a personalised experience can rebuild trust.

“Looking ahead to 2025, there will be a fundamental shift in how citizens interact with [the] government,” he said. “Governments need to leave assisted channels for complex cases and free up capacity for simpler digital interactions.”

According to Mackenney, these interactions utilising interfaces are changing, with technologies like AI and conversational agents like ChatGPT transforming the way people engage.

“The commercial sector is already ahead in terms of digital adoption, particularly with retail and ecommerce,” he said. “But at the rate [the] government is going, it will take five years to reach where the banking sector is today.”

Governments will need help navigating this change to keep up with evolving citizen expectations as legacy systems remain a significant barrier to meeting those expectations.

Mackenney, who has spent over a decade in financial and digital transformation roles at various government agencies before joining Adobe, said the government is carrying lots of legacy systems.

“In a lot of ways, those front ends were probably tied to those legacy systems when they were built,” he said. “How do you decouple some of that legacy while trying to build that sort of connected front end?”

As agencies work through this, they are also looking at procurement issues as they develop their own digital products without coordination from each other.

“Multiple agencies are going out and building their own digital products and don’t necessarily join up from a customer perspective,” said Mackenney. “Whereas if you think about how a bank or a telco works, they have to build a united sort of customer experience layer.”

However, getting all levels of government to adopt this vision is still a challenge, especially when legacy systems and budget constraints are involved. Incentives for collaboration are necessary, but it will take time for universal adoption.

There is an opportunity for government agencies to catch up to the private sector, but they must first understand how their objectives differ.

“For example, helping vulnerable people with complex needs can’t always be done digitally,” Mackenney said. “The focus should be on providing high-value services through assisted channels while freeing up capacity for more complex tasks.”

The crucial question is whether government programs are funded to replace old systems or because they’ll bring economic benefits.

“If funding decisions were based on economic impact, we’d be able to fund programs more agilely, investing in personalised services for education or healthcare based on specific needs,” said Mackenney. “Reframing funding decisions would help create a more effective governance model.”

This leads to an opportunity for the technology industry to help the government navigate the changing interfaces that citizens are interacting with.

“The problem we’re talking about is clearly bigger than one vendor and we believe in an open ecosystem approach to solve this,” said Mackenney. “Governments want a ‘Better Together’ story [and] they want solutions that are accessible, inclusive and interoperable.”

According to Mackenney, governments are open to embracing the idea that “one size doesn’t fit all”’.

“Ministers are recognising the need for tailored approaches, whether it’s on a state or federal level,” he said. “With an open ecosystem approach, integrators and vendors can support governments in delivering inclusive, interoperable solutions that rebuild trust and drive economic benefits.”