While governments had been able to digitize front-end services over the years, core operations often lagged behind. However, the COVID-19 pandemic saw an acceleration in digital transformation such that governments were forced into scaling up solutions like telehealth and virtual education. Despite all this, the issue of strained systems and scalability reflected upon readiness gaps.
A recent worldwide survey indicated that 77 percent of officials saw positive digital progress during the pandemic, yet 80% felt efforts remained insufficient.
Key Features of Digital Transformation
- Improved
Service Delivery
- Personalized and proactive
services with citizen needs.
- Frictionless experiences and universal
digital identities for seamless access.
- Omnichannel strategies that ensure consistent
service across channels.
- Enhanced
Operations
- Once-only data collection, resilience, and
real-time analytics.
- Flexible, cloud-based platforms to enhance
agility and innovation.
Becoming
a truly digital government requires the development of a broad array of assets
and capabilities, which we term digital pivots. As mentioned earlier, applying
these seven pivots would result in government services that have core
characteristics of “Being Digital”.
1: Data
mastery
Data
mastery is more than building master data management (MDM) systems or data
lakes to empower senior executives to make decisions. It’s about a seamless
flow of structured and unstructured data and making data and systems
interoperable within and between agencies to enable front-line workers to
understand customers and customize service delivery. 67% percent of
high-maturity agencies in our survey reported that they were seeing a
significant positive impact from their use of data, compared to just 10% of
lower-maturity agencies. Data mastery
also stresses the need to
put a right regulatory and legal framework in place to access
and share data between agencies. Governments can also consider allowing
citizens to opt-in to data sharing in exchange
for an integrated experience.
2:
Flexible, secure infrastructure:
It requires deploying
a technology infrastructure that balances security and
privacy requirements with flexible, scalable capacities.
This means embracing cloud infrastructure and a cloud-native
environment, using agile and DevSecOps methodologies, and
implementing a thorough strategy on cybersecurity,
among others. The pandemic forced governments worldwide to
dramatically scale government
services, meaning flexible and scalable yet secure infrastructure turned crucial for
agencies. 67% percent of government executives reported an increase in
financial commitment to digital transformation despite budget pressures brought
about by the pandemic.
Government
executives understand the significance of agile and DevOps methods, with 83%
reporting that they are positively impacting their organization. Further,
cybersecurity (54%) and cloud computing (54%) top the list of technologies that
are expected to play an important role over the next two years in digital
transformation
During
the pandemic, many governments needed flexible infrastructure and hence
aggressively moved to the cloud to scale their services. For example,
eSanjeevani telemedicine platform scaled seamlessly, conducting over 140
million consultations by leveraging secure, cloud-based infrastructure. Agile
methodologies have been embraced through partnerships with private players and
DevSecOps practices that ensure security while enhancing speed
and flexibility.
3:
Digitally savvy, open talent networks
Talent
is without a doubt fundamental to digital transformation.
The digitally savvy, open talent network pivot
includes strategies to enable an agency to access the
right talent at the right moment.
These involve hiring digitally savvy employees, upskilling existing
talent, contingent labor, and even challenging and competing
for the power of the crowd.
Digitally
mature agencies are four times more likely to state that digitally
savvy talent is having a positive impact on their
organization than less mature organizations. Government agencies
will require a step change
in higher sophistication in technical skills such as data
science. The demand for technical capability is likely
to outstrip supply for some
time, and governments will need to find innovative
ways of filling talent
needs or otherwise- by partnering with universities,
recruiting temporarily from industry, and making their
workforce employable.
Digital
transformation is also rattling leadership
ranks across many government agencies, which goes to
show that digital transformation is a leadership imperative and
not just the IT function. 75% of government executives
say that their digital transformation
has resulted in major changes to their senior
leadership team.
Many governments are reskilling and upskilling their employees to get
into the digital age.
During
the pandemic, India had utilized contingent
talent power along with private-sector
collaboration for the development of a vaccine registration CoWIN platform. It has collaborated with startups,
IT companies, as well as the open-source
community for getting scalable solutions.
4:
Ecosystem engagement
Ecosystem
engagement is the strong backbone for India during the
whole period of its digital transformation, particularly during
the pandemic period.
The Government of India actively collaborated with private
players, start-ups, and
academic establishments to solve some of the hardest challenges in
need.
A stellar example is Aarogya Setu App –
co-created with private tech firms
and academia alike, that became the largest
contact-tracing platform in the world, with over 200 million
downloads. The COVID-19 Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN)
was similarly designed in a public-private collaboration to
efficiently manage vaccine distribution and registration for over 1.4 billion
citizens. Apart from health, the Startup India
initiative brings partnerships between the government and
startups for the handling
of governance issues with technology; funding and
mentorship for innovators is provided.
This
collaborative approach accelerates solution
deployment while avoiding the inefficiencies of reinventing the
wheel, as the government increasingly adopts commercial off-the-shelf solutions
to meet its needs. Leverage external
ecosystems and build a more agile, efficient, and inclusive
digital landscape.
5:
Intelligent workflows
Intelligent
workflows are transforming government operations in
India, increasing efficiency, and enabling seamless service delivery.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Network
is one such, where automation has been
used to make tax filing and compliance processes
easier for more than 13 million businesses. Through
automation and AI, redundant manual tasks like reconciliation and validation
are being eliminated, reducing errors and processing time.
Similarly, through the
Aadhaar-enabled DBT system, subsidy
disbursements in programs such as LPG subsidies and
scholarships are automated, allowing for timely transfers
directly to the beneficiaries' bank accounts. This has saved the
government over ₹2.2 lakh crore by eliminating leakages and
fraud.
Indian
Railways is also introducing robotic process automation (RPA)
for payroll, freight management, and passenger
ticketing to curtail operational costs and
delays. Automating workflows not only enables the
government to enrich the citizen experience but
also allocate resources to strategic
priorities and pave the way
for the "no-touch" governance model.
6:
Unified customer experience
In
India, creating a unified citizen experience is becoming a central focus of
digital transformation efforts. Notable examples include the Unified
Mobile Application for New-age Governance, or UMANG, which consolidates over
1,400 government services from 127 departments into a single platform
accessible via mobile, web, and voice. This initiative allows citizens to
seamlessly access services like applying for passports, paying utility bills,
and filing income tax returns, reducing the need to navigate multiple portals.
Similarly, the Aadhaar-based grievance redressal system streamlines
citizen queries and ensures timely resolution by integrating various
departments under a unified interface.
7:
Innovation and new business models
In
India, the pandemic is catalyzing the adoption
of new business
models for governance by all-round digital
transformation. For instance, how the Government e-Marketplace
(GeM) revolutionized public procurement through a transparent,
AI-powered online platform that allows government
departments to source goods and services directly from vendors. This
new model has not only reduced procurement costs by up to 25% but also
empowered small businesses, with nearly 57% of orders on GeM placed with
MSMEs. Similarly, the National Health Digital Mission (NDHM)
leverages AI, cloud, and blockchain to create a unified health ecosystem. This
includes digital health IDs for citizens, enabling seamless access to medical
records across hospitals and doctors nationwide, thus reducing inefficiencies
and delays in healthcare delivery. Another example is India Stack, a
series of APIs including Aadhaar, UPI, and eSign, which has enabled innovative
financial services and inclusion, powering over 10 billion UPI transactions
in October 2024 alone. These transformative initiatives highlight how India
is embracing digital technologies to reshape service delivery and build
resilient, citizen-centric governance models.
Conclusion:
Digital
transformation
is, therefore, not just about adopting technology but building a
fundamental shift in how
governments do things and serve their
citizens. Through innovation, embracing AI,
cloud, data mastery, and new business
models, the government will redefine
citizen experience and efficiency. A case in point
for India's examples would be the Government e-Marketplace
(GeM) and India Stack-a testament to overcoming unique
challenges through impactful solutions at scale.
We
are proud to
be leaders in enabling such transformation through
our secure, scalable, and AI-driven cloud
solutions that empower the government agencies and
enterprises in innovating citizen-centric
ecosystems. Focusing on resilience, agility, and sustainability, ESDS
is committed to partnering with all stakeholders
to deliver future-ready solutions, bridging the digital
divide and driving inclusive growth across India.
Visit us: https://www.esds.co.in/govt-community-cloud
For more information, contact Team ESDS
through - 🖂 Email: getintouch@esds.co.in|
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