Getting Ready For Digital In Tax And Welfare

The digital transformation of government is already underway in a number of agencies around the world. We know, for example, that Australia expects its citizens to be able to complete the vast majority of their business with government online by 2017.

This digital capability, however, is still a long way off for many others. In a three-year research program looking at the impact of digital, Capgemini Consulting and the MIT Center for Digital Business identified different levels of maturity. Those organizations enabled by digital technologies, like the Australian example above, are referred to as the ‘digirati’. Others are more likely to be at ‘beginners’ stage, where little is done with advanced digital capabilities.

The challenge is to move up the digital value chain from ‘beginners’ status to ‘digirati’. But being a digitally-enabled organization is not a small step, although the impacts and benefits are significant. Transforming through digital will require tax and welfare agencies to develop a range of new capabilities, such as analytics techniques.

Applying these will involve significant changes to the work people do; how decisions are taken; and to the underlying technology platforms. For example, in terms of ‘how’ people work, digital will enable more integrated working with tax agents, banks and the voluntary sector, as well as with third party information bureaus, risking & scoring services and debt collection agencies.

New ways of presenting and drilling down management information in real-time will be complemented by new digitized processes re-designed for a paperless world.Getting ready for such a transformation must begin with a clear vision for your digital agency. To align your vision with what success looks like download the Capgemini-MIT report .