FIVE LESSONS FOR UK GOVERNMENT TECH, ACCORDING TO OPENCAST SOFTWARE

Government technology specialists share their insights into how the government can build on its approach to tech post Covid-19

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic last year had an enormous impact on the need for government support and systems. By the end of May 2020, UK government departments had delivered 69 new digital services, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, which had needed to be implemented at unprecedented speed.

Despite the government delivering on these projects, there are still lessons to be learned in order to improve future government systems and the technology they rely on.

In line with this, Opencast, the independent enterprise technology consultancy that has supported the government on key projects, has today released a new paper, Lessons from the Storm, which includes insights from a range of industry experts, including TechUK and NHSBSAto help inform future government technology projects by highlighting five key lessons from the pandemic response.

 

Tom Lawson, CEO of Opencast, comments:

“Opencast has worked at the sharp end of the digital response to the pandemic, helping government agencies and other suppliers to deliver new services and support. These government platforms have enabled key services to deliver vital support for citizens, businesses and the economy.

“While there have also been some well-publicised problems, it is rare that the technology is solely to blame. Support at the scale and speed we’ve seen in this crisis would have been impossible without it.

 

As such, the key lessons for govtech from the pandemic are:

  1. Need for speed

Urgency was the key driver behind the rapid response by government to the pandemic. Tight deadlines relied on an agile approach to deliver a minimal viable product as quickly as possible. Looking ahead, government should ensure that agile thinking and behaviour translate as standard, coupled with a continuous sense of urgency from the centre.

 

  1. Remote is no obstacle

Remote working was no obstacle to delivering high-quality government technology in 2020. It sometimes helped deliver change faster, driving productivity and drawing on bigger talent pools. Rather than revert to office-based arrangements, government should allow remote working by default.

 

  1. A single delivery platform

HMRC’s multi-channel digital tax platform (MDTP) – a cloud platform for deploying public-facing applications at scale – has helped teams to build enterprise components and avoid wasting money building the same solution in multiple places. This has resulted in faster and more resilient pandemic services. so this approach could be applied to other services – and could help with future unexpected events or crises.

 

  1. Better collaboration

Greater collaboration across teams was key to ensuring work was done fast and efficiently during the 2020 pandemic response. Partnerships between suppliers, aligned to a shared outcome, avoided conflict and unnecessary internal competition. Projects that failed to bring teams together in the right way worked less well. The greater collaboration seen during the pandemic should continue with government technology projects moving forward.

 

  1. Break down silos

The need for departments to work together during 2020 helped to break down long-standing silos between departments, particularly on technology. These efforts should continue, ensuring that services focus more on the needs of citizens than on departmental politics.

 

Jacqueline de Rojas CBE, president of techUK, commented:

“Adoption of tech has been so fast by everybody across the country. Our opportunity is to take advantage of this willingness to adopt technology and create digital-first services, whilst also being mindful not to leave behind those who are unable to access technology on the fringes.”

 

Tom Lawson, CEO of Opencast, continues:

“We don’t claim to know all of the answers moving forward. But our knowledge and experience of UK government technology puts us in a good position to ask some important questions.”

“Ultimately, we want to help government and tech suppliers across the country learn from this crisis, and inform practice in delivering future government digital projects so that they all eventually become faster, stronger, safer and better.”

 

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