John Baskerville discusses the newly released findings from Sopra Steria’s 2016 Government Digital Trends Survey
There are few commentators who haven’t expressed an opinion on the pace of government’s digital transformation, with some even exhorting the need for “revolution.” But if you want to get an idea of what civil servants themselves think, look no further than Sopra Steria’s John Baskerville.
Baskerville’s organisation is now in the second year of publishing its Government Digital Trends Survey, a report that tracks civil servants’ perceptions of the digital transformation agenda.
“Over the past few years it seems that everyone has been talking about digital transformation,” he says. And for good reason: according to the report, three quarters of civil servants (the same proportion as 2015) say digital transformation has impacted their work.
This shouldn’t give the impression that nothing is changing. In fact, quite a lot already has.
Transformational zeal
Baskerville discerns a much stronger appetite for digital transformation among civil servants than in previous years. Previously, he says, the general feeling was that there was significant digital disruption coming from a relatively small number of people. “Now, however, what we’re seeing is a more widespread will to drive this kind of change through.”
The 75% of respondents who say that the digital drive has affected their work is just one reflection of this, along with 33% who say digital transformation is a big part of what they do.
“Not only is there a rising commitment to support digital transformation, but there’s a growing desire for it as well.”
Conceptual change
There’s also a distinct shift in the way people are interpreting the meaning of digital transformation.
“Respondents have a much richer view of what digital transformation can achieve.
When we started, the main understanding seemed to focus on ‘Digital by Default’, driving citizen engagement onto digital channels and improving the user experience,” Baskerville says. Recently, however, transformation has come to mean much more.
“Now people are starting to see how digital transformation can drive benefit all the way through government and affect how it operates. While ultimately government is about helping the citizen, digital transformation can deliver more than just improving direct citizen engagement.”
Obstacles
These developments shouldn’t be seen through rose-tinted glasses, however. An area of concern is that 28% of respondents say they are not measuring the success of digital transformation and a further 27% do not know whether they are measuring it.
“People don’t seem to be clear on how to gauge the success of digital transformation. Only 4% said they were measuring the impact of the cost of a ‘transaction’ between government and citizen,” Baskerville says. “That is quite a surprise.”
There’s also much uncertainty around the ability of organisations to follow through with digital ambitions. When asked how confident they are that their organisation is going to complete its digital transformation activity, 44% of respondents were either on the fence or outright negative.
Mind the gap
“While the digital transformation agenda is picking up momentum, there’s also a level of nervousness coming in about the ability to do it. The more digital transformation picks up pace, the more people get nervous that they won’t have the skills and the headcount to make it work.”
To Baskerville, this lack of skills and headcount stands out as the biggest problem area. The “skills gap,” appears to be widening. The survey data bears this out. 53% of respondents (up from 43%) cite lack of training as a barrier to progressing with digital transformation, while 50% (also up from 44%) say the same for a lack of resources.
Scaling up
“I think the signs are positive that people are starting to think differently about digital transformation, but the warning signs are also there that the skills gap in particular is really going to get in the way,” Baskerville says.
His proposed path forward follows the example of one of the survey respondents. Asked to define what digital transformation means, one civil servant answered “… complete business transformation to enable government to do business in a digital world – so not just services to citizens.”
“I completely agree,” Baskerville says. “To drive the scale of benefit that government needs, change has to become about how government operates its business – how it runs. It has to be about scaling the benefits of digital transformation end to end across government, not purely around citizen engagement. That is the only way we stand a chance of doing something truly transformational.”
Download the summary report of the 2016 Sopra Steria Government Digital Trends Survey findings