Since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Canadians are increasingly engaging with the government through online means. Resultantly, Canadians are needing and expecting accessible digital options to deliver programs and services. With Canada’s “Digital Ambition,” the government has committed to “better serving Canadians in a digital age” through providing modern, integrated systems and a focus on the needs of citizens. Under the leadership of the Chief Information Officer of Canada, Digital Ambition provides a “clear, long-term strategic vision for the Government of Canada to advance digital service delivery, cyber security, talent recruitment, and privacy”. The Digital Ambition will also act as a foundation for the digital transformation of the government .

In line with the Government of Canada Digital Standards, the Treasury Board fo Canada Secretariat (TBS) has incorporated the feedback received no previous strategic plans and “compliments other policies, guidelines, plans, and strategies” of other departments’ planning processes. Departments will develop their own plans in alignment with the Digital Ambitions in accordance with their departmental requirements. The TBS will update the Digital Ambition annually to address emerging priorities and actions and compile them into an annual progress report.

Bronson’s Digital Transformation Approach

Bronson’s Digital Transformation knowledge is transferrable to the specific policies and standards of your organization, no matter the size. Whether your business already has clear challenges or are actively seeking out areas of improvement, a Digital Readiness Assessment will help. Bronson will work with you to understand your people, process, and technology to help you ascertain where you are and how we can work together to develop and enhance your digital practices. Read our brochure to further understand our approach and help you to assess where your organization is now.

The Digital Ambition is built with four themes:

  1. Excellence in technology and operations with a de-risked technical landscape and modern, agile, human-centred practices
    • Maximize effectiveness and value assurance of technology investments across government
  2. Simpler, trusted digitally driven services and programs underpinned by GC-wide data integration and management
    • Drive cross-government improvement in client and employee services, data and cross-agency integration
  3. Governing frameworks and policies designed for a modern, secure and privacy-centric digital government
    • Set strategy, policy and guidance that enables safe, secure, reliable and privacy enabled operations
  4. Optimized, upskilled, and empowered digital talent across the GC, with the knowledge that digital talent across Canada is at a premium
    • Advocate for changes to policy and governance that prioritize and unlock the full value of digital investment

The Chief Information Officer of Canada emphasized that it is crucial to put the “needs of the people [they] serve at the heart of the government policies, programs, and services” through modern technology and the effective use of data. Many services that Canadians rely on daily utilize 20 to 30 year old technology that is cost and resource intensive to maintain. To maintain trust in Canadian institutions and services, it is essential for the government to accelerate towards modern services that are “secure, reliable, user-centric, and barrier-free”. Moreover, the CIO demonstrated the need to “build a bridge between people and technology” by making critical services accessible to every Canadian. To respond to the impending challenges, collaboration will be necessary between federal partners and organizations to identify common solutions to ensure “the best use of technical expertise and public funds”.

Although most Canadians agree that personal information should be shared between governmental departments to enable faster and simpler service, many are concerned about how the government uses and manages their personal information and what exactly is being done to ensure privacy and security. Building privacy into new digital initiatives right off the bat to ensure that privacy is always respected and prioritized throughout the project life cycle will be foundational to the government’s digital transformation. Including privacy safeguards in contractual partnerships and data-sharing agreements is essential, including:

  • Ensuring accountability
  • Limiting the collection, use and disclosure of information
  • Retaining information for only as long as needed
  • Maintaining the accuracy of information
  • Ensuring transparency in practices

Furthermore, building public trust includes recognizing the value of data as a “strategic asset,” which includes when data constitutes personal information and protecting it accordingly.

Canada has the “lowest usage frequency for digital government services – only 30% of citizens used government digital services once per week” compared to an average of 47% from 36 countries. Emerging technologies and digital solutions provide a multitude of opportunities to the digital transformation. The government has made investments and in big data, analytical tools, accessibility, and cloud computing tools. These tools will help the complex flow of vertical data be easier for users to find and navigate, thus making government services easier to access.

The Cloud Adoption Strategy means that departments “must use the public cloud to store, manage, and process data and applications when it makes sense to do so. This approach will help departments to deliver high-quality digital services with secure delivery. Moreover, Public Services and Procurement Canada will ensure that SMEs have a role in providing services to the government. To protect government devices, systems, and information an “information-centric security model that is supported by a trusted digital identity” will be employed. The IT systems transformation goals are as follows:

  1. Preventing service failures from negatively impacting the lives of Canadians in the short term by stabilizing systems most at risk of failing
  2. Avoiding new legacy problems by designing IT systems to be adaptable, resilient, iterative and secure
  3. Enabling consistent, timely and reliable services to Canadians by building modern IT systems and by updating them frequently
  4. Providing modern, secure cloud-based tools for enhanced productivity, collaboration and email, and equipping the GC workforce with modern workplaces and secure devices

As well, the government is focusing on avoiding “technical debt” that occurs when a vendor hasn’t upgraded an application or when an application is so old that it is challenging to find workers with the skills to maintain it. This can be costly as it risks security failures. To avoid future technical debt, departments should modernize their application portfolios by:

  1. Prioritizing cloud services or moving to SSC’s enterprise data centres when it makes sense to do so
  2. Building a roadmap laying out target dates for data centre closure
  3. leveraging common enterprise solutions and cloud-based solutions such as software-as-a-service (SaaS)
  4. Monitoring and investing to keep the portfolio in good health
  5. Using secure application development practices to help mitigate the risks of vulnerabilities in application software and to provide assurance that digital services are operating as intended
  6. Minimizing cyber risks by implementing the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s top 10 security actions
  7. Developing standards, tools and guidance for a user-centred approach to accessibility and disability that makes it part of the application development process

To provide horizontal leadership on data-related initiatives, a Chief Data Officer of Canada has been established within the Office of the Chief Information Officer of Canada. This new leadership is responsible for “pushing forward the government’s data integration and management strategy with privacy and security as key foundations”. Unlocking the potential of data will “improve services, protect users’ privacy, support evidence-based decisions, and create internal efficiencies”. It will be important to establish roles and responsibilities for data stewardship and advocate for legislative framework that supports the responsible and ethical sharing and use of data.

It is also important to be cognizant of people, processes, and culture when undergoing a Digital Transformation. Public servants must be “flexible, collaborative, digitally knowledgeable, and supported by leaders who facilitate and enable the transformation”. It is crucial to ensure that employees have the right digital skills and are supported by enabling leaders with a commitment to transformation. CIOs should “foster a more entrepreneurial culture by shifting objectives from compliance and risk-mitigation to outcomes and enablement”.

Read more about the Digital Ambition from the Government of Canada and learn about Bronson’s approach to Digital Transformation.

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