How government agencies can drive OPEX in the public sector

PEX Network catches up with Nedzad Piric, director of digital transformation and smart cities at EU Tech Chamber, to learn about his experience and success with operational excellence (OPEX) and how digital transformation is progressing in the public sector.

Ahead of his session at PEX Live: Operational Excellence in Public Sector Piric shares his advice for government agencies looking to drive OPEX and shares the major trends he has observed in the public sector.

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PEX Network: Can you tell us more about your experience with operational excellence?

Nedzad Piric: It started with my bachelor's degree thesis, Quality Management process approach in Human Resource Management, which is directly related to operational excellence.

From my experience as a digital transformation consultant, I can say that if organizations do not include OPEX in their digital transformation initiatives, they will fail. For private and public sector OPEX, the main purpose is to create an ecosystem where every employee is empowered to deliver and improve the flow of value to a customer.

It is critical to bring together top management, solution providers and employees for successful digital transformation.

PEX Network: What are the biggest OPEX trends you are seeing in the public sector?

NP: Digital adoption will continue to grow in line with the demand for digital transformation improvements for employees, citizens and businesses. The main goals are to deliver quality services with increased user experience.

Trust is, and will remain, the vital component that will enable the public sector to deploy state-of-the-art technologies. Such technologies will establish partnerships with all stakeholders but mainly citizens and businesses.

Transparency is also an important factor that will require the public sector to work closely with service providers. Such a partnership should ensure that applied technology provides full transparency, autonomy, control and regulatory compliance.

Citizens will also have full control of the use of their data, deciding when and with whom to share it, and exercising their right to choose to become smart citizens.

We will see citizen engagement dramatically increase, which will require authorities to accept citizens as partners and active participants in the pursuit of public policy goals, enlisting their support and involvement.

Finally, we will see cyber security remain one of the priorities. Successful digital transformation also requires a transformation of security as some of the largest public sectors and companies in the world have fallen victim to cyberattacks. For that reason, security must be embedded directly into all applications.

For more insights on how government agencies are driving OPEX, register for PEX Live: Operational Excellence in Public Sector

PEX Network: What is your advice for those government organizations and agencies looking to begin their OPEX journey?

NP: The most important advice is that transformation projects by government organizations and agencies must prioritize citizens. In 2018, the United Nations Population Division reported that about 55 percent of the global population lived in cities. It is projected that by 2050 this number will rise to 68 percent which is expected to add another 2.5 billion new residents.

Cities occupy only three percent of the earth but account for up to 80 percent of energy consumption, as well as 75 percent of global waste and carbon emissions. With hundreds of millions of people moving into cities in the coming decades, a failure to invest now in the next generation of digital infrastructure and government could mean those millions go underserved.

As city populations continue to grow, we must support increased demand.

PEX Network: What do you hope viewers will take away from your session at PEX Live: Public Sector Operational Excellence?

NP: The session will cover change management and raising awareness of digitalization in government.

To raise awareness of digitalization in government we need all stakeholders on the same page, including politicians, urban planners, academics, NGOs and technology providers. We need everyone to work together toward solutions for digitalization in government for the coming decades.

Digitalization in the public sector means new ways of working with stakeholders, building new frameworks of service delivery and creating new forms of relationships.

The digitalization of public services, which has become a key policy issue since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, must never be about simply cutting costs. The goal must be to make public services more efficient.

According to recommendations from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, looking forward it seems necessary to increase the visibility and attractiveness of capacity building for digital transformation. This includes:

• Increasing the visibility of the existing training programs, for example by mapping every initiative and making the information easily accessible or certifying certain skill sets.
• Building a shared narrative on how this training aims to develop key competencies for the future of work in the public sector and for delivering public value to citizens.
• Pursuing research on the impact of digital transformation.
• Pursuing efforts to implement new skills and working methods in the workplace.
• Working on specific challenges or setting up follow-up mechanisms could help sustain digital transformation in practice and in the long term.
• Continuing to develop institutional partnerships and different modalities of collaboration between public, private and civil society organizations.

For more OPEX insights and advice from public sector industry professionals, register for PEX Live: Operational Excellence in Public Sector