Thursday, 17 May 2012
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Government CXO
NZ CIO plans closer Govt-to-citizen ties
More development in the role of whole-of-government shared services and an authenticity in the use of social media will be two targets of the new GCIO for New Zealand.
In an interview with his predecessor, now the editor-at-large of FutureGov Asia Pacific, Laurence Millar, Brendan Boyle said the short-to-medium term targets for his new role centred around the uptake of i.govt and one.govt - New Zealand’s shared services for identity management and secure network.
Boyle, who is Secretary of Internal Affairs and will take up the new post in February, said the public sector was reaching “critical mass on shared services.”
But the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, has made e-government a priority for service delivery and wants CIOs to “lift their game” to meet citizen demands.
“Not just providing information but a major shift in the way we transact with the public,” Boyle said.
The role of GCIO was resurrected by Key after Millar’s departure and will be incorporated into a new business group to encompass the current Government Technology Services (GTS), Archives NZ, the National Library and ICT procurement and supply.
Boyle told FutureGov Asia Pacific: “Since your departure, there had been discussion on the role, and we looked at three options – disestablish the role, keep it as a policy role at the centre of government, or move it into operational agency.
“Ministers chose the third option, and wanted the role to be vested in the Chief Executive, to make sure it is at the right level.”
Other areas the GCIO will turn his focus to include better connecting government departments to their citizens through online shared services platforms such as ServiceLink.
“The public are much more used to the online channel in their private lives and are asking why can’t government do this too?” Boyle said.
“The ServiceLink programme will provide an integrated online service platform, which will cover the majority of government business with citizens.
“For agencies the default will be to make services available online, and to do so using common shared services.”
Agency chief executives in New Zealand have commissioned communications professionals across government to develop options about how government might use and understand social media more effectively, Boyle said. But citizens are quick to spot online discourse that is disingenuous.
“You can’t place boundaries and controls in the way that you can with other services, and so we need to experiment,” he said.
“It is important to be authentic - you have to write the blog yourself and regularly, and you have to be the person that tweets.”
According to Boyle New Zealand had made great steps forward in information management, particularly around metadata and interoperability.
The National Library has also taken social media further than any other NZ government organisation with Digital New Zealand and the Aotearoa People’s Network providing free Internet access in libraries around New Zealand, a policy that sits comfortably with plans to integrate Servicelink into future online services delivery.
In terms of records management, Boyle said that value had been created by close proximity between the work undertaken by archivists and people working in technology.
“If we can harness those capabilities, services and resources with the shared services already provided by GTS, it can become scalable - a centre of expertise for information management in government.”
The full interview between former Government CIO, Lawrence Millar, and the GCIO in-waiting, Brendan Boyle, will appear in the January edition of FutureGov Asia Pacific
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1 Comments
On 20 December 2010 MikePearsonNZ wrote:
It's not just about sharing services to save money, it's about innovation and thought leadership, and I fear we lost that in the restructuring. NZ govt could lead the world with ideas like realtime archiving and reputation authentication; concepts proposed in the original EGU work.