Presentation, summary and Q&A by Chris Fechner, Queensland Government Chief Customer and Digital Officer and presentation by Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz, Founding Director, Centre for the Digital Economy, QUT at the COVID-19 Partners in Technology briefing.

1. Queensland Digital Industry Webcast
Partners in Technology
Mr Chris Fechner
Queensland Government Chief Customer and Digital
Officer
Department of Housing and Public Works
and
Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz
Founding Director, Centre for the Digital Economy, QUT
4th June 2020

2. Key Messages
Department of Housing and Public Works 2
During the COVID-19 response, the Partners in Technology forum will be used as the key
mechanism for Queensland Government to engage with Queensland’s digital and ICT industry and
to share its key ICT, Digital and Data priorities.
The Queensland Chief Customer and Digital Officer will host fortnightly briefings which will include a
key address and a facilitated Q&A session with participants.
100 people participated in the sixth interactive Partners in Technology webinar which had a focus on
the Future of Digital and ICT in the Queensland Government and it’s potential impact on
procurement.

3. Key Messages continued
Department of Housing and Public Works 3
The QLD Government has received 46 offers of assistance from it’s ICT industry partners to support
the state’s COVID19 response
The short form contract is still available for use by agencies and partners with seven applying it over
the last 2-3 months. Adoption of digital technologies has massively accelerated as a result of
COVID19.
How will we as an industry use sensors, data, and more to help us deliver better services for citizens
and businesses?
Since COVID19 how will government and wider sector adopt and adapt to the changed world through
digital and ICT to support Queensland’s economic and social priorities?

4. Key Messages continued
Department of Housing and Public Works 4
Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz, Founding Director, from the Centre for the Digital Economy provides
insights into the new normal, digital change and the new economy.
• Government 5.0 - Personalisation, a focus on a citizen model with a KPI of desirability
• COVID19 has been a significant driver for digital transformation
• Digital Resilience – Sustaining, long-term, tenacity, focus
• Digital Agility – Transforming, short-term, velocity, exploration

5. 5.0
PERSONALISATION
Whole-of-life
service delivery
Focus
Citizen model
KPI
Desirability

8. DIGITALRESILIENCE

9. DIGITALAGILITY

10. DIGITAL RESILIENCE DIGITAL AGILITY
Sustaining
Long term planning
Tenacity
Focus
Transforming
Short term response
Velocity
Exploration

12. 1
2
3
4

14. 1
2
3
4

16. 1
2
3
4

18. 1
2
3
4

20. Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
Class 4
Digital
agility
Digital
resilience
HighLow
LowHigh

21. Key Questions and Answers (starts at 30 minutes)
Department of Housing and Public Works 21
Q1: Have you heard of organisations testing, roleplaying, scenario playing the possible issues that
might confront their businesses like cyber attacks?
A1: Marek: Yes many organisations are using this, it is a subset of futures thinking but is not yet well
developed as a skill as it could be
Chris: Work recently on pandemic research used scenario planning prior to the recent event which
allowed them to respond significantly better than those that hadn’t. This for example applies to Cyber
security and we have used this across government to help prepare for incidents
Q2: How important is data management when moving to everything digital?
A2: Chris: It’s been said “data is the new oil”, we have a great Open Data policy, and there is still lots of
opportunity for improving it and for the sector to take advantage of it. Data is an opportunity for the new
economy, with new value from the data alone.
Marek: If data is the new oil, then we need good oil for good performance. Many organisations don’t
recognise the value of some of their data for a while, whilst others connect more data than they need.
Following the briefing, a facilitated Questions and Answers (Q&A) session was held
with the participants. A summary of the key Q&A’s is provided below

22. Continued
Department of Housing and Public Works 22
Q3: With the expected downturn on ICT expenditure, where do you feel that government should focus on
over the next 3 years?
A3: Marek: As many working from home have been using their personal systems, they might find it challenging
to get back to the office so can we recreate the home office experience in the public sector.
Chris: I think that is a valid point, COVID19 did expose some weakness of digital on the inside like
movement of paper and physical signatures. Resilience and agility is also important, agility in particular for
short and sharp initiatives which derive value to the customer.
Q4: How are more resilient businesses using data to improve and make decisions?
A4: Chris: Government in general has come a long way with this and I think we will move beyond just reporting
but also delving further into data interpretation
Marek: Public sector has an opportunity as digital maturity changes and each part of government is at
various stages of their journey. There is an opportunity to test this.
Chris: My experience with this was through NSW Minister Dominello who pays very close attention to
dashboards, watch this space for Queensland.

23. Continued
Department of Housing and Public Works 23
Q5: Have you seen any new practices that we should keep or avoid?
A5: Chris: I think that social isolation is something that we need to work on. Returning to the workplace will be
a positive for many for the social aspects. A positive example is the rapid evolution of software, for example
MS teams and raising hands is a significant contrast to initial teleconferences.
Marek: Agreed healthy workplaces are important and there are challenging aspects in the change from
working from work to working from home. I would like to see joining a meeting remotely stay for all
meetings.
Chris: I’ve really enjoyed the unsolicited proposals from industry in how they can help us solve problems
differently, it has lead to many productive conversations.
Q6: Any closing comments or thoughts?
Marek: Agreed healthy workplaces are important and there are challenging aspects in the change from
working from work to working from home. I would like to see joining a meeting remotely stay for all
meetings.

24. Continued
Department of Housing and Public Works 24
Q6: Any closing comments or thoughts?
Marek: We’re living in very exciting times, but also very challenging. Together we find ways
to solve challenging problems, so long as we think about ensuring our organisations are
resilient and agile, and as long as we focus on Government 5.0 and the customer the future
will be pretty bright.
Chris: The recovery process is full of opportunities and my hope is that we can apply those
opportunities in a way that they can be delivered fastest to the people that need them.
Solutions need to be developed in time to help those in the time they need them. The
phrases that I’ve been trying to use is to “not let perfect get in the way of good” which I think
is a good approach to market, and we’ve seen how accepting people are of iteration of
solutions. Good examples of this were the border crossing process and the covid19 website.

25. In Closing
Department of Housing and Public Works 25
Thank you to everybody for joining us in these sessions over the last several months,
with an average attendance of 200 people.
- Fortnightly sessions will be moving to monthly sessions
- Move back to the old style but combine with new
- Webcast sessions have enabled regional attendance which I am keen to maintain
- I’d like to hear from industry what they’d like the sessions to contain
- Thankyou again for your participation today and over the previous months.
- You can share your ideas with me through ICTIndustryEngagement@hpw.qld.gov.au

26. Email: Share questions, ideas, challenges and offers of assistance by emailing
ICTIndustryEngagement@hpw.qld.gov.au
Online: Queensland Government ICT online resources and previous PiT briefings at:
https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/science-it-creative/ict
Short form ICT contract: created especially for COVID-19 response where there is an emergent need for
contacts of 12 month duration or less, and with a value up to $1 Million
https://www.forgov.qld.gov.au/create-ict-contract#emergency
SME Access Incentive: https://www.forgov.qld.gov.au/guidelines-working-smes
Centre for Digital Economy QUT: https://research.qut.edu.au/cde/
Key Links and Contact

27. Thank you
Please don’t hesitate to contact me or my office
ICTIndustryEngagement@hpw.qld.gov.au