Whether you're in the middle of your municipality’s digital transformation or just getting started, keep these 4 common mistakes in mind. Avoiding them will make for a smoother transition for affected employees and citizens adapting to new processes and interacting in the digital channel.
Underestimating Workload
Appointing a project manager or hiring a consultant exclusively dedicated to your digital transformation can save thousands in budget costs and unnecessary frustration.
Identifying the impacted work cycles, training staff and creating educational documentation are tasks that can be difficult to delegate to overburdened employees who lack the time and resources to fully commit to the complex task of change management outside of their regular responsibilities. Managing expectations and the stress and uncertainty involved in adapting to new processes are key to successful change management. Optimizing and adapting workflows takes time, energy and expertise to properly identify points of friction and areas for improvement.
Forgetting a Risk Management Plan
In today’s digital-first era where cyberattacks have grown in frequency and sophistication, security breaches happen. Therefore, having a solid risk management plan is crucial to any digital strategy.
To be best prepared, a solid risk management plan should take into account not only the correct steps to rectify the security breach, but also a communications strategy to inform affected individuals of the leak. Transparency is paramount when it comes to a security violation.
Most importantly, do not forgo employee training. In a vast majority of cases, security breaches occur because employees are not well-informed about the evolving risks and tactics of online fraud.
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Projecting Only Short-Term ROI
Yes, a digital shift can require significant short-term investments, but the medium- to long-term gains should not be ignored. Digitally transforming services and processes saves hours in unnecessary time and labor costs.
In addition, by immediately rolling out digital access to citizens in the short-term, on a project-by-project or case-by-case basis, repetitive handling of information and costly mailings are avoided.
In addition, municipalities can avoid repetitive handling of information and costly mailings by rolling out immediately or progressively rolling out digital access to citizens. For example, a new digital municipal tax platform could be immediately released to all citizens or progressively released based on which parts of the platform are ready to deploy or based on geographic location as a pilot program.
According to a Deloitte study, a digital service will cost $0.45 per transaction verses an average of $18 for a similar in-person service. Imagine the possible gains over several years!
Choosing One Solution to Solve One Problem
Let's face it, the pace of digital adoption forced by the pandemic has somewhat justified this reflex, which is still a frequent problem plaguing government institutions as well as the private sector.
However, this profusion of different solutions from each provider necessitating their own distinct usernames and passwords on each platform becomes a daily frustration for users, and a headache for employees seeking to connect services together.
Generally, the core of a municipal services platform is created from a framework of 4 key solutions. When consolidated together in a unified environment, the user experience is much more intuitive, convenient, simple, and secure.
Below is an example of an ideal combination of solutions to create a unified and seamless user experience:
- A DXP platform that allows you to manage web content by drag and drop, create forms, and manage roles and permissions
At Portage CyberTech, we offer these privacy-by-design solutions and support their implementation based on clients’ needs. We have been involved in the digital transformation of governments for over 30 years.
If your municipality is looking to accelerate the digital transformation of online services, do not hesitate to contact us.