TECH4GOOD
President Bongbong Marcos recently approved the adoption of a single operating system for all government transactions as part of the government’s effort to ensure ease of doing business in the country. This is definitely a step in the right direction and really shows the President’s intention to start transforming the government into an agile, more responsive, and citizen-centric bureaucracy. He has made this very clear from day 1 of his administration and has repeated it several times in front of different audiences.
Streamlining the bureaucracy is not an easy task to do and may take several administrations to start making an impact. It will require a great dose of political will to implement process changes, cultural and mindset shifts, the enabling policies, and the best means of communicating them to everyone. There is no other option if we want our country to be more competitive and conducive for investments and for businesses to thrive. Trim the fat and take out all the cobwebs or continue to stay at the bottom.
Past administrations have acknowledged the need and tried to do something about it. Most of the initiatives, however, got stymied by the immenseness of the changes that need to happen. It is not easy to right-size something that involves not being able to provide food on the table for thousands. Or reengineering the existing siloed structure of the government which resulted from their siloed mandates.
Today, having a seamless and smooth experience whenever we transact with the government is an exception more than the general rule. Even with offices and local government units that have announced to the world that they have digitally transformed successfully. Back during my government days, we started an initiative to recognize LGUs who have transformed some of their business processes using digital technologies. I was so dismayed to discover firsthand that one of the winners, despite the fancy name they used, was practically providing the same sad experience I had before they automated the process. They also automated the inefficiencies of the old manual system.
The House of Representatives recently approved on the third and final reading House Bill 7327 or the E-Governance bill which is meant to institutionalize the transition of the government to electronic governance and creating for the purpose the Philippine Infostructure Management Corporation. The bill seeks to adopt a policy to create, foster and sustain a digitally empowered and integrated government that provides secure, responsible, and transparent citizen-centered services and harnesses the potential of open data for promoting economic growth and a globally competitive Filipino nation.
If approved into law, it tasks the DICT to formulate and promote an E-Government Master Plan that will serve as the blueprint for the development and enhancement of all ICT-enabled government services. The plan must be future-proof and must take into consideration the reality that expectations of people have changed and technology has changed people. They prefer to transact with a digital government office rather than visit a brick-and-mortar facility. They prefer to do it, if possible using their mobile phones, within the confines of their homes where they can just log in and finish all their transactions including payments.
All digital transformation initiatives must focus on citizens and not on the government. Initiatives to streamline government processes must be based on and viewed from the citizens’ perspective. How best can their needs be met? This is where the concept of design thinking can be put to good use.
Culture change is always a critical consideration in any digital transformation initiative. There must be a shift in attitude among the government people who will man the front and the back offices like having the kind of service orientation we see in the hotel staff whenever we are at the hotel front desk. The frontline services, especially, must be improved because that is where the citizens will be able to feel and see if the government is really working for them or not.
The other front door for most citizens is the website of a government office. They usually use websites to easily find what they need when they need it. The need to provide exceptional web experiences is a must. These tasks should be given to competent content authors.
The DICT, the agency mainly tasked to take the lead in the digital transformation of the government, is manned today by very competent digital professionals. I am confident that DICT Secretary Ivan Uy and Undersecretary David Almirol, Jr., who is on top of the E-Government portfolio of the agency, would be able to properly drive all the digitalization initiatives of the President and realize all the expected outcomes from them. I hope they realize that putting citizens at the center of the experience is critical to creating the citizens’ belief that the government is competently working for them.
(The author is the lead convenor of the Alliance for Technology Innovators for the Nation (ATIN), vice president of the Analytics Association of the Philippines, and vice president, UP System Information Technology Foundation. Email: [email protected])