Insights

Improving Contract and Supplier Management- Canada

Tamara McNulty, the Director of Procurement, Contracting, and Contributions at Parks Canada, has a slightly more nuanced and possibly “old school” approach to procurement. As much as it should be a disruptor, it should also be about “adding value to services.” Procurement, especially in large and public sector organizations, is still often described “as a necessary evil; as something we go through in order to get what we need.” As much as that is true, it doesn’t make the function appealing or attractive. If however it could be seen “as a value-added service, then it would be embraced as an …

Teresa Anderson General

4 Jun 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Building Green and Sustainable Cities - Canada

In the case of the City of Victoria, they have a 2050 vision and a Climate Leadership Plan, both of which are about “creating low-carbon prosperity.” For instance, the targets include “transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and cutting our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.” The goal of the city is “to lead and inspire” and to “model what is actually possible.” However, in a city like theirs, “corporate emissions account for only 1% of total emissions,” so their real goal is to “support our residents and businesses as they take action to combat that other 99 …

Milena Tsitovitch General

4 Jun 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Data Science & Machine Learning for the Public Sector

“The DPC had long had a data team, but “we were not really a data science place. We were very much just an analytical team.” A department like DPC has a constant flow of data coming in, and analysing it efficiently and appropriately is the role of the data team. They were good at their job, “but we found that there was more that we could be doing with the data to really exploit that data in a better way. We also needed to do it quicker.” There was a lot of talk around the team about how this could …

Public Sector Network Data, Analytics and AI

21 May 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Creating Healthy Workplaces in 2021

Ensuring the wellbeing of staff is one of the primary goals of any employer. Staff are the core of any organisation or business and need to be looked after. This means providing them a safe and comfortable workspace, looking after their needs, and ensuring that they feel supported wherever they are and whatever their roles are. The RTA is a “state government statutory authority” based in the Brisbane CBD. Until the pandemic came along, it was a “very traditional workplace, occupying four floors” of a city building, and with the “majority of people working in the office five days a …

Public Sector Network General

10 May 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Learning reimagined in the Public Sector

Learning and development (L&D) are the foundations of any organization. They drive knowledge and encourage continuous improvement. Some organizations spend significant time and resources building up their L&D, whilst others let it slide, and it is usually clear which ones have made the investment. Geneviève Béland says that at OSFI, they’ve “been on a path of renewal since 2017.” The organization itself “was created in 1987” with a mandate “to protect the rights and interests of depositors, policyholders, financial institution creditors and pension plan members, while allowing financial institutions to compete and take reasonable risks.” In other words, they are …

Neboneid Hamoo Workforce, Skills and Capability

10 May 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Driving Efficiency Through Hyperautomation

For an organisation like Revenue NSW, this is a particularly important thing to be focussed on, particularly since they are the state’s main revenue management agency, “responsible for $27 billion of the state’s revenue in 2019/20, or about a third of all NSW finances.” They operate in five locations across the state and regularly look for ways of automating processes whilst also ensuring consistency across their five offices. Using robotics is one way of doing that, but in essence, robotics is part of “a broader suite of hyper-automation that also includes system to system integration across the organisation,” all of …

Lily Stokes IT Modernization and Cloud

10 May 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

Digital Architecture & ePlanning for Smart Cities

The NSW spatial digital twin is a new product, but the concept of a digital twin is not new. In fact, “there are literally thousands of digital twins or digital models of pretty much everything that exists in our built and natural environment.” The purpose of the one in NSW is “to utilise spatial information positioning technologies to position information and digital models in their real-world location.” In other words, it is designed to “integrate otherwise isolated individual models into their real-world locations.” We are all moving down a digitally data driven society, and without having a spatial digital twin …

Rosie Fea General

7 May 2021

INDUSTRY TRENDS

5 ways cloud can improve government innovation

At its core, innovation is what fuels change. It is discovery that enables government to do more with less, advance economic and national security, and transform public service. Cloud innovation allows government agencies the opportunity to deliver on their mission objectives and achieve a positive citizen response. Here are five ways cloud can enhance government innovation and create a better outcome for all involved. In recent years, technology has enabled government agencies to generate vast amount of data that can be used in many ways. The amount of data being generated and stored has increased significantly – how do departments …

Milena Tsitovitch IT Modernization and Cloud

5 May 2021