Why Does Transforming Citizen Experience Take So Long?

Obstacles to Transformation

It’s a common frustration – you have a clear objective, an understanding of how to deliver your outcome, but the process takes a ridiculously long time.  By the time you finally implement a solution, other organisations have already moved on, and you still feel behind. 

Well firstly, don’t believe the myth that it's all about the public sector, large public sector organisations are usually very slow and bureaucratic. 

Major Project Limitations

The idea of delivering a major transformation project overnight is obviously not realistic. Technology change takes time, especially when considering procurement timescales, security requirements and configurations. It is also critical to take staff, citizens and other stakeholders on the same journey – you can’t impose improved service from above!   

Of course, a major project has limitations including:

1. Competing priorities
2. The risk of the project overrunning
3. Risk of going over budget
4. Unclearly long term funding
5. Concern if the benefits will be realised

But most critically, if an implementation is going to take a year, that is a year of not delivering improved citizen service and not providing better support to staff. 

It's Possible to Move Faster

While a major project, taking many months, maybe the best option, it is possible to move much faster.  The classic process comprises building a business case, getting approval, running a procurement process, selecting a supplier, implementation, training, testing, and then finally go-live.  But some public sector bodies are going about things in a different way: 

1. Concept – Start with a simple concept – what are the measurable improvements to citizen service, to staff satisfaction and to efficiency you are going to deliver with the project? 
2. Proof of Concept – Prove if your Concept is valid by using a proof of concept.  This can be completed quickly, securely, in a complaint manner and with little or no up-front investment. 
3. Business Case – Assuming the Proof of Concept was successfully (you would stop if it wasn’t!) the business case is fairly easy to write and get approved. 
4. Procurement – Depending on your regulations, this way be simple to expand a cloud service which is already covered by a framework.   
5. Deliver – Document the benefits you have delivered.

This may sound like wishful thinking, but moving much faster to deliver both cost savings and citizen benefits is possible.