The document discusses the challenges facing modern governments and how adopting a "next-gen government" approach can help address these challenges. Some of the key challenges mentioned include budget cuts, rising citizen expectations for digital services, and the fast pace of technological change. The document proposes that digital government is the leading approach to meet these challenges by focusing on goals like saving taxpayer money, delivering citizen-centric services, and keeping up with technological changes. It advocates adopting a "digital first" approach, encouraging innovation through partnerships, shifting resources to digital, and effectively managing operations with limited resources.

1. Next-Gen
Government
Digital, Lean and Innovative
November 2014

2. SMS MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Change is Constant
in Modern Government
There are two certainties that you are
dealing with: you need to keep up with
the pace of change, both internally and
externally, and you have less to do it with.
How can I..?
Find out how going digital, encouraging
innovation and adopting new ways
of working can help meet the challenges
you face today.
More than ever, there is a
focus on every dollar spent.
How can I get it right?
Our clients want access to our
services anytime, from anywhere,
on any device.
How can I meet this demand
for digital services?
Our citizens are expecting higher levels of service delivery.
How can I meet their rising expectations?
Technology is moving at a fast pace.
How can I access the best new
technologies to deliver improved
services, more efficiently?
I am required to deliver the efficiency dividend each
year, while maintaining operations and services.
How can I make my budget go further?

3. 2
Keeping up with the
pace of change
These are the challenges facing
government at all levels and in
all jurisdictions.
You need
Budget cuts mean you have fewer
staff and resources
...to manage headcount reductions and recruitment freezes without
impacting operations, program implementation and service delivery
Citizens are expecting higher service levels
to match standards set by private sector
leaders, and clients are demanding access
to self-services through digital channels,
anytime, anywhere on any device
...to move towards digital to improve service delivery
The pace of change in technology
is quick—and it’s getting quicker!
...to keep up with changes that can deliver increasing efficiency to your
ICT infrastructure management and help you achieve financial sustainability
Changes in government result in shifting
priorities, which lead to new cycles of
legislative and regulatory change
...programs that deliver change more quickly and are flexible
enough to cope with ongoing change
There is greater public scrutiny
of government spending
...to get your priorities right
Contemporary Challenges Facing
the Public Sector

4. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Meeting these Challenges
with Digital Government
Government services for the millennial generation and into the future have to
address all these challenges. Next-Gen Government must combine the latest
technology with service delivery that is both streamlined and in tune with
contemporary citizen expectations.
Globally, Digital Government has emerged as the leading approach to meet
these challenges.
Digital disruption
Digital technologies are rapidly
changing the way many industries
operate, including government.
Digital Government initiatives aim
to move consumers of government
information and services from higher
to lower cost channels and, wherever
possible, from human-delivered service
to self-service. In almost every case, digital
channels (web, email, text messaging,
social media) offer the lowest cost per
transaction, while the web channel
facilitates self-service by end consumers.
It is well recognised that changes in
government services caused by digital
disruption are predicted to build gradually
over a long period, but will have a major
impact on governments and users
of government services.
When it happens the transformation
will result in major changes to the way:
• Governments interact with citizens
and consumers of government services
• Government agencies interact
and collaborate with each other
• Government agencies plan, organise
and manage themselves
These days people’s expectations are very high of how
they do things in their ordinary life. People don’t think
doing things digitally as being about technology: its just
part of their life. And so much that they do is done online.
Francis Maude, UK Minister for the Cabinet Office
Goals of the US Digital Strategy:
• Focus on... driving impact across government
• Saving taxpayer money; we think we can do things
better, faster, cheaper by unleashing innovation
• Delivering government in a very citizen-centric way
Steven VanRoekel, US Federal CIO
Digital Government: Changes the way the public sector works
UK Government Policy
‘Digital by Default’
Stimulates innovation so that the services
clients expect are being delivered
US Digital
Government Strategy
Encourages working with partners who are able to
bring efficiencies to operations and program delivery

5. 4
1. Creative Commons: one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work.
Digital technologies provide
the means and the incentive
to change how the public
sector operates.
The types of changes we are seeing
in the Digital Government context are:
Innovation
• Encouraging the use of government
data by others
• Opening up procurement to encourage
greater participation by innovative
small-to-medium enterprises
• Faster adoption of new technologies
• Building up digital capability within
government so that government is
‘a more informed and challenging client’
Attitude to Risk
• Changing public sector risk culture
• Acceptance of ‘intelligent’ failure
• De-risking large scale projects with
new approaches
• Opening up government data sets
• Making government information creative
commons1
by default
• Measuring agency and individual service
performance, and publishing the results
• Higher levels of citizen consultation
Simplification
• Amending legislation to reduce
obstacles to digital enablement
• Simplified processes
• Consolidated systems and
data- single sources of truth
• Holistic design of services from
the citizen point of view
Next-Gen Government:
Setting the Foundation
Change how Government Works
• Increasing Innovation
• Changing Attitude to Risk
• Reducing ‘Information Asymmetries’
• Simplification and Redesign

6. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Keys to Next-Gen Government Success:
Adopt these Different Ways of Working
Key Success Factors for Digital Government
Design the experience
• Take a citizen-centric approach
• Design services that are optimised
for the digital environment
• Aim to design services that “are so
good that people choose to use them”
• Carefully manage the ways in
which your users are shifted from
old to new channels
• Establish a single point of
accountability for each service
• Continuously improve based on
research and analytics
Open everything
• Consider greater use of open
source software
• Share with other agencies code
and implementation lessons learned
• Practice transparent
performance reporting
• Consider ways in your services and
systems could integrate with those of
other government agencies
or private sector organisations
Tight at the top
• Top down leadership for move to digital
• Common standards: agile development,
multi-disciplinary teams, language,
branding and visual style
• Common platform components
(eg. customer relationship management,
content management, identity
management)
• Common implementation approach
Detailed, Standardised
Performance Analytics
to Fuel Improvement
Lean Project
Management
Centralised
Agency Publishing
Continuous
Improvement
Philosophy
Single Point of
Accountability
per Service
Transparent
Performance
Reporting
Citizen-Centric
Approach
Top Down
Mandate
Skills Uplift
Across Agencies
Understanding
of the Changing
Digital Landscape
Successful
Channel Shift
Design Process
to Optimise
for Digital
Legislative Change
to Streamline Services
Standards:
Agile Development,
Multi-disciplinary Teams,
Language, Branding
and Visual Style
Common Platform
Components
(eg. CRM, CMS,
ID Management)
Code and Lessons
Learned Open
Sourced and Shared
APIs for Public / Private
Sector Integration
Common
Implementation
Approach
Process Technology
People

7. 6
Next-Gen Government:
Making the Right Changes
Concepts, such as openness, designing
for the client experience and balancing
centralised control with local initiative
can be challenging in the public sector.
And some of these changes you can’t do
on your own: sharing of data, for example,
may require legislative change, and a
top-down mandate requires whole-of-
government initiatives. But doing things
the same way delivers the same results.
So what can you do now to make
a difference?
Go digital
• Adopt a ‘digital first’ approach to meet
customer demand for digital services
(anytime, anywhere, on any device)
Encourage innovation
• Partner with the private sector for
innovation and the skills in delivering
digital services, and to help you find
newer, leaner ways of working
Adopt new ways of working
• Shift resources from legacy platforms
(systems and infrastructure) to free up
investment in digital areas
• Focus on service delivery and employ
your people to do the things citizens
expect governments to do
• Engage IT service providers to provide
managed services to look after your
infrastructure and convert Capex to
Opex by adopting newer ‘pay-as-you-go’
models, such as cloud
• Seek external providers that can perform
functions that are not core to your service
delivery, such as program delivery
services. Pay for services and outcomes,
not for resources
Effectively manage your portfolio
(operations, program and service delivery)
with limited resources
Make best use of the skills
and expertise of the industry
in delivering your programs

8. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Next-Gen Government:
Going Digital
Digital first
When taking up digital technologies,
it is best to adopt a ‘digital first’ approach:
• Investment needs to go to digital
options first
• Make the digital channels the best
they can be so clients will use those
channels first
• Streamline legacy channels as the
need for them diminishes (making
sure that means of access to services
is available to all clients)
• Apply to both client-facing service
delivery (digital services) and
to organisational processes
(digital transformation)
In managing the challenges you face
today, digital technologies are the basis
of the solutions for meeting the rising
expectations of clients for commercial-
standard, easy-to-access services, as
well as providing a significantly lower
cost channel for service delivery.
Going digital also encourages new ways
of working, leading to more innovation
and design-led solutions.
Meeting Rising Expectations Saving Money
• Higher service levels, as good
as Amazon, eBay, Google
• Simple, time-saving services
• Lower compliance / interaction cost
• Time and device flexibility –
where and when I want
Citizens and Business
16c
x38$6.15
$18.50 x115
Transaction cost per channel

9. 8
Digital technologies are quickly able to
disrupt and transform industries. To meet
this pace of change, faster and leaner
ways of delivering products and services
are required. The traditional ‘waterfall
model’ for software delivery is giving
way to tools and techniques that enable
innovation, speed and responsiveness.
Exploring new approaches
While the public sector may not face
the competitive pressures of commercial
enterprises, and may be restricted by
legislative and organisational constraints,
there is still a need to explore new
approaches that encourage innovation
and accelerate program delivery to help
you meet the challenges you face.
Adopting agility in the
public sector
Being agile is a set of tools and techniques
that help you deliver change from concept
to implementation in a fast-tracked
defined process.
What can you take from the
steps and processes defined
for Digital Agility?
Idea factories for generating innovative
solutions and design labs for designing
client-centric services.
Prototype if you can: it need not be
complex or costly and it allows you
to test concepts.
Iterative delivery for managing risk and
early implementation of elements of the
solutions, with later releases adding
more functionality.
Build, Measure, Learn
Generate
Concrete
Abstract
Ideate
Opportunity
Engage Subject
Matter Expert
Define the
Challenge
Observe
Form
Insights
Frame
Opportunity
Brainstorm
Concepts
Deliver
Rapid
Prototype
MVP
Build
Measure
Learn
Define
Fabric
ate
Iterate
Filter and
Validate
Concepts
Refine and
Define Ideas
Next-Gen Government:
Digital Agility for Program Implementation

10. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Next-Gen Government:
Design Thinking and Processes
Design thinking and
processes are standard
approaches that are being
widely adopted for solving all
types of complex problems.
Design thinking uses creative and rational
techniques so that problems and their
possible solutions are looked at in
different ways.
Multi-disciplinary teams participating in
the process ensure that all aspects of the
problem and outcomes are considered.
In the public sector, policy experts and
service staff working together with
the project team leads to better
service solutions.
Design thinking focuses on the
client and thus fits well with Digital
Government principles around
designing citizen-centric experiences.
Design Process:
1. Seeking
2. Analysing
3. Synthesising (Ideation)
4. Prototyping
5. Scaling
Design Thinking:
1. Value the citizen
2. Appreciate the context
3. Challenge the status quo
4. Experiment with different possibilities
5. Be concrete

11. 10
Next-Gen Government:
Innovation Partners
Partnering
Design thinking, openness to innovation,
and agility are approaches that give you
the best results in the move to digital.
While already widely adopted in the private
sector, these approaches can challenge
the traditional ways of doing things in
the public sector.
You don’t have to face these
challenges on your own.
Innovation partners – look
internally and externally
for innovative ideas
Collaboration and sharing across
departments and agencies can generate
new ways of looking at and solving
problems. Knowledge and experience
can be accumulated, enabling reuse for
efficiency and ultimately leading to more
consistent interfaces to citizens.
Partnering with experienced IT service
providers and small and medium-sized
enterprises gives you access to innovation,
and to the skills and expertise needed
to progressively introduce new tools and
techniques with lower risk.
Your partners can also help you develop
the right strategy so that you are taking
the best approach for your agency
to make the move to digital.
Citizen-centric
Design
Principles
1. Start with
user needs
10. Make
things open
3. Design
with data
9. Be consistent
not uniform
6. Build
for inclusion
5. Iterate.
Then iterate
again
7. Understand
context
8. Build digital
services not
websites
4. Do the hard
work to make
it simple
2. Do less.
Create better
flow in your
pipeline
Source: UK Government, GDS Design Principles

12. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
Next-Gen Government:
New Ways of Working
Managing your ICT
Infrastructure
The most efficient way you can manage
your ICT infrastructure is by not managing
it – let someone else do it for you. Adopt
a ‘pay for what you use’ approach for
data storage, data processing and
software usage.
Wind down legacy systems and hand
off future infrastructure set-up and
management to external providers.
An added advantage is that it gives
you access to the latest technologies
for your ICT infrastructure.
Managed Services
• Move Capex to Opex
• Allows you to manage your ICT
operations, infrastructure and application
management as a service
• Reduce fixed costs by moving to
a consumption-based model
• Services can be expanded and reduced
to manage transaction peaks and troughs
• Consider Managed Services
for all new applications
• Sunset data centres and legacy
environments
Cloud services – what you need to know
• The cost of cloud computing for data
and services has reduced dramatically
• Public cloud facilities such as Amazon
Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure
have security accreditation enabling them
to store government information (up to
a specified security level)
• A private cloud solution allows you
to operate your infrastructure with
a ratio of 1 technician per 10,000 servers
• You can adjust your infrastructure as
you need to meet changing demands,
by only paying for what you use, not
spare capacity
• Cloud-based content management
systems can be provided as a service
at whole-of-government level for
efficiency and scalability
Program delivery services
Being responsive to legislative and
regulatory change means that you need
to be able to staff change programs
quickly and flexibly.
Hiring contractors to resource projects
can mean a lengthy recruitment process.
And once they are on board, you may
still need to pay for them even when
there are project delays.
Buy services not project resources
Take a more flexible approach by
looking to your IT partners to help
you manage your skill requirements
for your change programs.
Program Management, Business Analysis,
Design, Testing, Change Management
can all be provided as services by skilled
professionals:
• Get people with the right skills for
each project phase
• Services can be engaged quickly
minimising project initiation times
• Fixed price for services and outcomes
reduces project budget risk
• Carrying cost of resources during
project down-times is eliminated
The benefits of cloud
• Reduce storage costs
• Reduced infrastructure costs
• Leverage the benefits of
ICT as a service
• Drive success through
a shift in focus
Go Hybrid
Adopting a ‘digital first’ approach,
introduce all new applications
in managed environments
(cloud based, managed services).
Phase out old data centres and
legacy applications as the need for
them diminishes.

13. 12
Change:
Bringing Everyone With You
Insights
Investment Delivery Success
Customer
Strategy
The Lens – a view into every
part of your program
To implement and manage change
effectively you need to understand what
to do, why you are doing it and what impact
it has on other areas of your operations.
Large strategy documents sit on a shelf and
are out of date as soon as they are written.
Alternatively, a visual, interactive tool that is
developed from collaborative conversations
and is readily adapted as elements change
or new insights are reached, helps you
keep activities aligned.
The Lens (by SMSMT) is designed to
spur ideas and create dialogue between
divisions. It is a walk-in environment that
uses various means (sticky notes, posters,
butcher paper, formal documents etc) to
document ideas and plans, and to show
sequencing and dependencies.
It is a tool that encourages innovation and
creativity, through both the process of its
creation (collaborative conversations) and
the graphical documentation techniques.
It provides an environment where people
can think and talk about problems in
different ways.
Change Management
Moving towards Digital Government
involves a considerable amount of change
to the way you work and how you interact
with your clients.
You will know that to successfully introduce
change you need to bring people (agency
staff, ministerial staff and clients) with you.
A sense of engagement is a major factor
in successful change.
The Lens provides a tool for maintaining
and communicating your program to keep
your people aligned with the change.
It allows engagement from as wide afield
as you choose. It offers at the very least a
space where people can see the program
laid out and append their comments.
The Lens gives a consistent view of change programs. As a visual medium it is a
high impact way of communicating agency activities for your people, and for staff
from other agencies and government ministerial offices.

14. SMS MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEXT-GEN GOVERNMENT
SMS: Partnering with You
in Times of Change
SMS has a long history
of working with the public
sector helping to deliver
operational and service
improvements, and devising
and implementing the
right strategies.
We work with you as you
manage through these
times of change.
Our full range of services can help you
get your operational and service delivery
priorities right. In particular, we have the
expertise to guide you through each step
of the way towards Digital Government.
As a Digital Government partner – we
can provide digital strategy and planning,
implementation, rollout and change
enablement helping you deliver digital
services that are right for your agency.
We do this through:
Strategic advice – find better ways
to do things
• Helping you decide how best to
implement policies and deliver client
services using the latest technologies
(Digital First – Design Thinking –
Mobility – Cloud)
Program and project implementation –
assist delivery
• Helping you design innovative solutions
and implement your programs efficiently
and effectively (Digital Agility – The Lens
– Program Delivery Services – Change
Management)
Sustainment – provide Managed Services
and infrastructure support
• Helping you maintain your ICT
infrastructure efficiently, and
store and maintain data (Managed
Services – Cloud Services)
Design Build Operate
The SMS Approach

15. Contributors to this paper
Christopher Gill
Katherine Gray
Malcolm Dick
Stephen Hall
Merlin Allan
Michael Bromley
Leigh Whittaker
Allan Cotterill
Pau l Cooper
Rebecca Campbell-Burns
Marlon Perera
Anne Mellino
Are you ready for
Next-Generation
Government?
smsmt.com

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