News & Views
New collaborative service delivery models
are needed
 The
processes and technologies required to support collaboration are
where ICT can provide the greatest value. So said Thomas Shirk,
president of Global Public Services for System Application
Programmes (SAP), outlining a variety of ways in which new
delivery models are evolving.
Shirk highlighted several imperatives for successful
transformation, including executive leadership and measurable
outcomes and milestones. The big picture perspective has
changed, he said stating that the days of a huge project
implementation plan that would take five years to deliver
results is no longer on.
“Nowadays, there has to be an overarching focus on the outcomes,
role definition, the processes and the data to enable it.
Operational cycles, political cycles and budgetary cycles all
compete for resources, and it’s difficult to maintain a
balance.”
The goal of the public service is to maximise public value, said
Shirk. The challenge lies in defining value. “To define success
you have to know what holds value for all parties involved. It
is easy in business where revenue and profit are the driving
forces, but that those forces don’t work in the government
context,” he said.
“Public value is measured through the multiple facets of public
Return on Investment (ROI),” said Shirk. “A model like this
addresses political, financial and social levels of return. The
norm in ICT to look at the financial benefits, is not relevant
for government agencies. All the benefits of a delivery model
need to be measurable and must be mapped back to the levels of
ROI, especially when you are dealing with value chains such as
education, health and transportation.”
One of the biggest problems in the public sector is the ability
to adapt and be flexible in the systems, said Shirk. “Even after
you are successful, it’s a big challenge to be able to make
changes later.”
Shirk said it’s important to enable the people and the
processes. There also needs to be a means to utilise components
to build new and innovative processes. “This is where we see
things evolving and platforms springing up between governments
and agencies,” he said.
“A new model is needed.” said Shirk. “The model we see evolving
will be one of collaborative outcomes. A model with the ability
to take ICT and define processes that go across agency and
within agency, and link public and private sectors will improve
interoperability and service delivery.”
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