When I joined the civil service in 2017, people immediately raised concerns about how we funded digital initiatives. As I delved deeper, I encountered these frustrations firsthand and came across numerous discussions emphasizing that fixing funding was crucial to achieving effective digital government.
I don’t agree with that view. Funding is important, but it’s just one piece of a much larger puzzle. We need to rethink several core aspects to truly modernize our approach. In the tech world, IT leaders have spent years adapting their practices, releasing updates several times a day, creating flexible architectures, and leveraging APIs to iterate constantly and improve.
Yet, in government, we stick these modern techniques onto a system crafted in the 19th century—one built for a stable and predictable environment. Governments often see technology as a quick fix. They believe that introducing new tools—like automation, blockchain, or AI—will resolve deeply rooted inefficiencies. It won’t.
To move forward, we must integrate digital thinking from the start in policy creation. The process of developing policies and legislation often disrupts the delivery of modern digital services. The civil service isn’t designed for or motivated to create digital solutions. Instead, ambiguity and subjectivity seep into the process, making full automation impossible.
We complicate things further with various layers of conditionality. This slows down policy iterations and prevents us from adapting to changing needs. Breaking down silos and promoting multidisciplinary collaboration is an aspiration, but the pace is far too slow.
The government needs to adopt bolder policymaking approaches. They could, for instance, establish a duty to enhance customer experience right from the beginning, require wireframes or prototypes before finalizing new legislation, or dedicate a significant chunk of policymaking efforts to solving problems through digital means.
Transitioning to a more commercial, user-centric approach can help too. One thing struck me when I entered the civil service: the lack of data, something I’d taken for granted in the private sector. In commercial environments, we constantly analyze costs and performance of services. In government, it’s much harder to track where public services begin and end, making it difficult to measure costs and performance.
If we want to improve user experiences or identify areas for investment and efficiency, we need to start by understanding the true costs of services. The government needs to reassess its spending based on delivered services rather than existing organizational structures. The performance of these services and user experiences must be central to both future funding and individual performance metrics.
Funding for modern software services is critical but often misaligned. Current funding processes are more suited for projects like railways than for software development. They come with excessive bureaucracy, slowing down delivery and stifling innovation. Departments tend to follow strict compliance measures, focusing on rigid processes rather than agile solutions.
We need a fresh funding approach for digital initiatives. It should allow for quicker adaptations and real-time improvements, rather than waiting for lengthy programs to take shape. Some departments are already experimenting with pilots to explore new funding models. We should speed up this testing and establish it as standard practice. Coupled with funding, we need to prioritize incentives to encourage collaboration across departments, especially in an economic climate where saving money is crucial.
Procurement processes also need an overhaul. From my experience in the private and public sectors, I’ve seen compliance often take precedence over outcomes. The time and cost associated with procurement, combined with a risk-averse mindset, lead to inflexible contracts that stifle agility. A new approach, led by experts in digital procurement, is essential. It should utilize existing frameworks to expedite the process and allow for adjustments as needed. We could even foster a “GovTech” ecosystem to support innovation, much like Scotland’s CivTech.
Finally, let’s talk about skills. There’s much focus on the lack of digital and data skills, but I believe we need a broader understanding of digital literacy throughout the civil service. Many leaders still don’t regard digital competence as a necessary skill, which is a problem, especially as technology becomes integral to service delivery.
Senior leaders should know how to run digital operations, and it’s crucial to equip them for success. We need a comprehensive approach to embed these expectations into job descriptions and recruitment processes. Small interventions won’t cut it; we need to immerse leaders in the digital landscape so they can competently steer government in this new era.
Addressing these challenges won’t be easy, but we have some essential foundations in place. To create a truly digital government, we need a system that is designed for flexibility and responsiveness. The real question is whether we are prepared to make this kind of fundamental change. Will we take the leap now, or end up missing the opportunity?