The Queensland government is revitalising digital services under a new action plan due for release by mid-year, and coinciding with the creation of a Data Analytics Office.
The future of digital government comes one step closer under an “Advancing our Digital Future” action plan that was unveiled by Queensland’s minister for innovation, science and the digital economy, Leeanne Enoch.
This plan coincides with the creation of a new Data Analytics Office. These initiatives bring the state into lock-step with similar reforms in NSW, Victoria, and more recently, South Australia.
Queensland’s digital plan is due for release in mind-2017. This roadmap builds on earlier reforms that were spearheaded by the Queensland government chief information officer, Andrew Mills.
Andrew Mills, also a keynote speaker at the FST Government Queensland conference being held 16th March in Brisbane, had consulted widely with industry leaders, academia, agency CIOs, community organisations and citizens.
Queensland’s digital plan will replace the existing ICT strategy 2013-17, when fully bedded down, according to minister Enoch. She said the focus is to maximise the benefits of emerging technologies, while harnessing digital platforms, machine learning and the internet of things.
One priority is to make it easier for local start-ups and small businesses to do business with government, noted minister Enoch, who also heads the small business portfolio.
Minister Enoch said the “Advancing our Digital Future” roadmap will guide future investments and core policy decisions. Digital technologies will further support customer services, innovation, security, privacy, as well as information management.
“This strategy will recognise that we have to move beyond our traditional approach to information communication technology (ICT),” she said. “Increasingly, digital technologies will enable government to deliver proactive and personalised services to citizens and businesses.”
Among other reforms, the administration will also bring forward the first dedicated digital infrastructure plan for the state. “We understand that access to affordable and high quality telecommunications are essential for our businesses to compete and local services to be effective.”
The state’s Data Analytics Office will run under the auspices of the key Department of Science, IT and Innovation. The recruitment process is underway, according to a spokesperson. The department is aiming to finalise this recruitment as soon as possible. The detailed planning for the Data Sharing and Analytics Office has already started.
One key activity of the executive director, when appointed, will be to establish the data sharing and analytics capability and demonstrate that capability by working on a number of information-sharing projects that are still under development. The creation of the Data Analytics Office reflects the need to support the information-sharing and collaboration needs of a digitally-enabled government.
Among the activities, this dedicated office will focus on building capability around internal information sharing, data science and data analytics while continuing to operate traditional information brokerage services.
