Digital Transformation in Provincial Governments
How provincial governments are taking control of their digitization and driving true innovation with no-code
Reputations are meant to be broken
Government organizations have a tough time compared to businesses in the private sector. Budget restrictions, bureaucracy, and complex core systems are massive hurdles that projects must overcome to see the light of day. It's this red-tape that places modernization on the backburner and has left governments with a reputation as outdated, slow, and frustrating to work with for citizens and investors alike.
Unfortunately, the traditional challenges aren't going anywhere because strict processes are a necessity in government. This is why innovators within the sector are embracing technologies like no-code, which provide smart solutions to everyday challenges, rather than attempting to bypass established processes.
By addressing the core issues of software projects such as complexity, time-to-market, and cost, no-code is allowing a very traditional sector to rapidly modernize core systems or even create new lines of business to serve increasingly digital-focused citizens.
Unfortunately, the traditional challenges aren't going anywhere because strict processes are a necessity in government. This is why innovators within the sector are embracing technologies like no-code, which provide smart solutions to everyday challenges, rather than attempting to bypass established processes.
By addressing the core issues of software projects such as complexity, time-to-market, and cost, no-code is allowing a very traditional sector to rapidly modernize core systems or even create new lines of business to serve increasingly digital-focused citizens.
What are the key innovation drivers?
Competition isn’t exactly a motivating factor for the government sector. Rather, innovation is driven by the demand for more effective systems and processes to improve municipalities, cities, or lifestyles as a whole. Advanced technologies are therefore more focused on bettering experiences and optimizing processes across the board — while driving down costs, of course.
Process automation
With hundreds of processes in motion over multiple departments, any level of inefficiency creates an exponential time-cost for government workers, citizens, or partners. Likewise, optimizations through smarter software, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or no-code platforms support rapid application development (RAD).
Flexibility and affordability
According to a 2018 report by Granicus, “nearly three in four respondents (73 percent) said they were being asked to accomplish more with less budget”. The need to derive maximum value from technology and licenses has led to widespread no-code adoption, thanks to the agility of platforms like Betty Blocks and the comparatively low monthly fees that come with them.
Community enrichment
Social services in any form play a vital role in a government’s operations. Put bluntly, happier, more engaged citizens are less of a financial drain on a government's resources than those without the means to communicate their problems effectively. No-code tools like Ikzoekjeugdhulp.nl which enable open, real-time communication between parties help by preventing real issues before communities or people are severely impacted.
Connected data and analytics
Governments generate and collect immense amounts of data to literally keep a country running. Because of this, major steps are being taken to move information from local, decentralized servers to the cloud. Common Ground, a provision in the Netherlands, is one of the largest scale examples. This movement is set to enable cities, municipalities, and services to use their collective information for the betterment of hundreds of processes.
Shorten time-to-market
Speed and flexibility are an absolute must in the digital revolution. No-code platforms support RAD and enable professionals to build any application up to eight times faster than via traditional development methods. Due to the extremely short time-to-market, a no-code platform, combined with the RAD methodology is perfect for testing and further developing effective web applications.
Reduce project complexity
Governments are typically traditional organizations where change on any level must be justified to decision-makers. This is a project killer for IT, who’s projects are difficult to quantify or explain to those outside the sphere. Simplification in the software development life cycle (SDLC) that helps stakeholders understand the process and components therein, can dramatically increase buy-in.
Tom Uleman, City of Zaanstad Senior Information Manager
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