“Without a doubt, Covid has accelerated appetite for digital government, but maintaining this momentum beyond the pandemic will be key.

Part of this will be continued work into expanding ‘digital doors’ – making services accessible anytime, anywhere, and being as inclusive as possible. Due to the pandemic, we now all need the capability to do our jobs from any location, and people expect the same in public services too. The public sector as a whole has taken note of this by deploying services at speed, enabling staff to work remotely at short notice, and I think it’s vital for this mindset to carry through into the new year and beyond.As well as that, the rise in public sector projects being delivered at record pace has to continue, even as the emergency public health situation subsides.

The daily whirlwind of distractions within the public sector can make it difficult to progress things at a fast pace, so a continued drive for the right kind of leadership will be vital in sustaining the progress already made. Decision-makers within organisations need to make time to prioritise long term economic savings and efficient service delivery.

When it comes to finances, my view is that technology should be the last place budget cuts should be made. Although – the end goal is exceptional services, not technology. Technology is the enabler, and we need to invest more in it, not less. It should be viewed as a core-competency. A drive to invest in innovative solutions from contactless systems to remote service delivery will be a ‘must have’. Peoples’ needs are forever changing, and the expectation for the ‘anytime, anywhere’ model should be the foundation of the way we deliver public services now and into the future.”

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