Digital government in 2020: not if, but how

Reflections on a defining year at #DigitalBC

We made it!

2020 has been a slog. But it’s also been exciting for those of us who love easy, fast digital services… sometimes a little too exciting. Public interest technologists and the services we build have never been more popular or necessary.

Reflections with a bias

As the year draws to a close, I’m thrilled to reflect on our progress on #DigitalBC. The BC public service made tremendous advances on digital government. I’m so proud to be a part of this wonderful work. But these are reflections with a bias. We can do more.

Over ¾ of British Columbians already access government services online. 2020 has demonstrated that we can and should deliver services that are easier for people to use and for governments to build.

Covid-19: Our only option is online

Digital government made a step change in 2020. In my humble view, we no longer need to debate the merits of digital government. Covid rendered erstwhile debate moot. Today’s question is not if we embrace digital change, but how.

What’s the alternative to digital government? It isn’t analogue government. It’s irrelevance.

What’s the alternative to digital government? It certainly isn’t analogue government. It’s irrelevance. It’s failure to fulfil the basic mission of government: to serve people with integrity. In the Internet age, serving people requires modern tools. It requires responsible use of these tools in cost-effective ways.

And so, in my deeply subjective opinion, 2020 is the year that we learnt that digital government is no longer a position to be argued or defended. It is a fact of public service in 2020. And it is an unprecedented opportunity for all of us who believe in the potential of the State to support vibrant, inclusive communities.

Remind me… what’s digital government?

Digital government is about providing great services to people using modern tools. It’s about constant learning and innovation to capitalize on an exponential pace of technological change. It’s also about governance and processes to make using new tools responsible and sustainable. If we’re careful, over time, we build trust.

“There is nothing to be learned from history anymore. We’re in science fiction now.” Allen Ginsberg

Governments around the world are embracing digital change. In the BC public service, we’ve taken steps like launching our Digital Framework. Across government, our teams are delivering great, modern services.

Digital government meant that with Covid, our teams were able to work remotely. Recognizing the many challenges we faced, both personally and professionally, teams maintained service levels in the face of public health orders. Digital government also meant launching new services like:

• BC’s Covid-19 Self-Assessment App — Working with partners, our Ministry of Health created a self-service application to provide information on Covid-19 symptoms. Next came services like Covid Travel Screening (web form here), which we later repurposed to assist silviculture workers and others in safely returning to work during the pandemic. Other Canadian provinces used our code, and you can too (code on GitHub).
• A chat-bot to address Covid queries — Government launched an AI-powered chatbot on the BC Centre for Disease Control website, and later on the Province’s website. The digital assistant provided quick answers to questions to Covid.
• Supply Hub — Emergency Management BC created the COVID-19 Supply Hub to help partners source Personal Protective Equipment to support front-line health workers. Through a partnership with the Digital Technology Supercluster and the Business Council of BC, the hub was up and running in just seven days.

These are just a few examples of digital government in BC.

Digital highlights from 2020

Digital change in the BC public service truly is a government-wide undertaking. I’ve been honoured to serve next to committed colleagues who have delivered great projects this year.

Here are a few of my highlights:

BC’s Digital Principles

• Clearer policies — In 2020 we launched our Digital Principles. We also started modernizing our broader suite of policies (e.g., Chapter 12; Managing Government Information Policy) and standards (e.g., IM/IT standards). We have a team developing ethical guidance for data and tech, including AI. Stay tuned!
• More capacity for digital services — One of our goals for 2020 was to instill greater coherence in tech across government. We still have a way to go, particularly in reusing code. That said, we were thrilled to create a Digital Support Team that reviews potential investments for alignment with enterprise architecture. We also launched a new digital academy to build skills. And we continued to use our Digital Marketplace to leverage private sector talent — we’ve put out over $15M of opportunities so far!

Initial members of our Digital Support Team

• More modern tools — Access to secure cloud is getting easier in BC (overview here). We expect cloud to help make our services more efficient, scalable, innovative and secure. We made legislative changes in 2019 to facilitate adoption. During the pandemic we issued a temporary order to allow an even wider range of cloud services.
• New direction on hosting and applications — We launched a Hosting and Application Development Framework (more detail here). It’s still a work in progress, but we’re working to provide direction on modernizing hosting for applications that support digital services.
• Progress on digital ID — Teams made great progress validating users’ identity by integrating the BC Services Card into digital services (examples here). Health Gateway is my favourite example. Service BC launched the Verify by Video service to make it even easier for people to verify their identity on their mobile device.
• Strengthening digital trust — OrgBook BC is a blockchain-based directory of legally registered organizations. The team behind it continued to increase the number of listed legal entities on the directory. The underlying technology is being developed by a global open-source community.

These are just a few of the projects that stood out to me in 2020. Congratulations to the many teams and individuals who made this work possible.

Meta highlights

Beyond these individual highlights, I also loved observing a few over-arching trends:

• Swift action on COVID-19 — Partners across Canada made good progress on digital health. In BC, this groundwork proved instrumental in responding quickly and effectively to Covid. Since March, the Ministry of Health has led the development, adoption and expansion of over 30 new digital services and health tools. Other ministries also moved quickly. For example, Court Services allowed people to submit court documents digitally. Our Digital Investment Board made dedicated funding available for a digital pandemic response.

One of our early monthly calls between Chief Digital Officers

• Stronger collaboration — Across government, we organized through a Digital Response Unit. It’s a new, cross-government working group. This organic group helped ministries resolve service challenges using digital approaches. This inter-ministerial collaboration was mirrored by collaboration between governments as we shared lessons and sometimes even code.
• Awesome innovation — Across government, we saw fantastic innovation. Wildfire Predictive Services developed apps to help prevent, prepare and respond. One of their tools allows forecasters to improve how they predict the weather. These tools help improve the safety of crews and communities. Our Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Relief used Robotic Process Automation. They used bots to eliminate repetitive data-entry tasks for employees. Augmenting our people power with technology means we can spend more time delivering meaningful services. Across government, it was thrilling to see teams using new tools and innovating.

Teams learnt to use collaborative tools to advance work while working remotely

The path forward

It’s been a big year. I’m sure that many of us are happy to put many of its challenges behind us. But it also brought tremendous wins: for me, it truly revealed the power of digital government in helping respond to crisis.

2021 brings even greater opportunities. Around the world, Covid has helped government build muscle memory around digital service delivery. Now we need to mainstream this work, making fast, simple services the expectation for government.

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It’s to act with yesterday’s logic.” Peter Drucker

We’ll need to keep modernizing our operating model, prioritizing user experience, de-risking major IT projects, using tech investments to support the local economy, and maximizing the return on our investments. We’ll need to keep strengthening our culture of innovation, collaborating broadly, learning, modernizing our tools, and updating our policies. It’s a lot of work, but for those of us who love simple, fast digital services — for those of us with the vocation to build them for all British Columbians — it’s exhilarating.

There are many public servants like me: hopeful public servants who work hard to bring modern tools into large traditional organizations. 2020 was a big year for us. I’m so grateful for the opportunity.