Insights

Identifying API use cases in government

Many government departments are either planning their API participation or currently on the journey. And while they may be looking at specific use cases for API implementation, the question still arises: what are the other potential uses within their industry? API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface – a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to one other. Originally, APIs were often extremely complicated and not really meant for wide consumption. With this traditional view of APIs, it would be easy to see how API implementation could be seen as too complex to be of widespread benefit …

Planning Liveable Futures for Ever-Changing Communities - Green & Sustainable Cities

Rising populations, technological advances, and climate change all mean that cities need to be vigilant about their long-term sustainability. They need to look at the environmental, as well as the social and economic, consequences of their actions, especially when it comes to forward planning. This paper brings together Australian government officials, city planners, and experts from the private sector. Each has a different focus and perspective, but each is keen to ensure that their city, their state, and ultimately the whole country is well placed for long-term liveability and sustainability.

5 tips to improving mental health and wellbeing

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 …

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 …

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 …

Why customer experience in Local Government starts with a focus on employee experience

Local councils are largely customer-facing organisations and thus they know that they need to provide a good customer experience. However, they are also often large, bureaucratic organisations with legacy infrastructure and resources, and sometimes with employees who are not appropriately skilled for their roles. Research suggests that there is a link between the experience employees have while at work and how they treat their customers. To further explore this link, surveys and interviews were conducted with councils across the country. The interviews, surveys and other research also highlighted that to make real change, councils should focus on culture, communication and …

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 …