MJM Sear

The Rise of GovTech

Mohammad J Sear

120

Futurist and Digital Government Advisor

GovTech – a fancy acronym for all technological solutions refers to the growing movement of startups seeking to change public services through high technology.

GovTech is a byword for a new era of government technology marked out by procurement and intelligent purchasing. It is a government approach to all public sectors that promotes efficient, simple, and transparent government, with the country’s citizens at the center of reformation.

GovTech is made from individual terms- government and technology; it emphasizes on implementing technological innovations to digitize the link between citizens and various administrations in the government.

Merits of GovTech

1) GovTech Helps Maintain Digital Identity Across all Customer Services: A centralized portal that creates various identities for individual mobile and web applications is not encouraged. Operating this way creates identity silos that prevent a total view of a citizen’s preferences and journey.

With GovTech, companies and cities can allow customers and citizens to access all the applications within their platform with a set of unified credentials rather than registering for each service separately.

2) Centralizing Online Services: Smart cities need only one unified self-service portal to give citizens an efficient and seamless experience accessing the services they need.

This access delivers a series of connected experiences across all multiple channels and touch points. GovTech supports bill payment, account summary, permit application, etc.

How Startups are Disrupting Government Services

In our constantly evolving business environment, entrepreneurs, business owners, and managers seek innovative ways to manage any threats that could ruin their businesses.

Growing and grooming a business entails coming up with innovative solutions to solve several problems, like identifying your target market – this will then increase the business revenue.

Startup disruption in government can come with different infrastructural changes that can impact the physical location of your business, regulatory changes, the shutdown of the supply chain, etc.

In recent years, startups established businesses that faced disruptions, for example, the coronavirus pandemic, laws deregulations, technological innovations, and changes in government policies. In most countries, disruptions caused by changes in government regulations and policies are the bane of many startups.

How Startups are Using Technology to Improve Government Services Like Healthcare

As we all know, the covid -19 pandemic brought critical adjustments to the world. However, social distancing and induced lockdowns resulting from the mayhem turned out to be a blessing for most startups in the healthcare industry, serving as a strong reason for massive growth.

With technology, healthcare startups provide better and quality services amid the chaos. Individuals that require constant health care need personalized services that will give them an easy-to-manage experience and also protect them from populated environments.

Presently, many individuals choose to take advantage of recent care options by booking appointments online; however, it also becomes necessary for them to pay a visit for physical check-ups.

Steady investments and funds offer a bright future to the healthcare system. Building healthcare data like Chabot, data extraction, ML-powered diagnostics, and unified patients’ medical documents is now becoming manageable. This helps provide personalized, optimum, and excellent healthcare services.

How Startups are Using Technology to Improve Government Services Like Education

The most influential startups in the education sector are those creating interactive learning and apps for fun. These tech startups include games and learning apps for adults and children, and they are designed to function on mobile phones, tablets, and computers, making them super convenient to use.

Furthermore, some startups enhance the education system through better file organization. Universities and higher institutions around the world use apps and platforms that allow both teachers and students to organize their files, share files, and keep track of assignments.

Also, there are online programs that facilitate online courses and video lectures for students and future teachers. For example, aspiring teachers can opt for online degrees, teaching jobs, and good training courses to keep up with the latest academic trends.

Conclusion

GovTech wields enough power to enhance productivity, transform government workflows, offer transparency across all areas, and more.

When startups, governments, and other aspects of the technology industry work together, there will be an emergence of a brand-new digital ecosystem.

Sources

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://legal.businessday.ng/amp/2021/06/24/thriving-through-disruptions-tips-for-startups/&ved=2ahUKEwi6v6WP4vf9AhUd8LsIHS9OB7kQFnoECB4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw3WpRwXuFklhBKxdY0mnzT-

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.loginradius.com/blog/identity/govtech-shaping-future-gov-services/&ved=2ahUKEwj28IrXm_X9AhXOhv0HHYywA-wQFnoECCMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1MpJ21bFYruagxTvbtdAdR

About the Author

Mohammad J Sear is focused on bringing purpose to digital in government.

He has obtained his leadership training from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA and holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, UK.

After a successful 12+ years career in the UK government during the premiership of three Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, Mohammad moved to the private sector and has now for 20+ years been advising government organizations in the UK, Middle East, Australasia and South Asia on strategic challenges and digital transformation.

He is currently working for Ernst & Young (EY) and leading the Digital Government practice efforts across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and is also a Digital Government and Innovation lecturer at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France.

As a thought-leader some of the articles he has authored include: “Digital is great but exclusion isn’t – make data work for driving better digital inclusion” published in Harvard Business Review, “Holistic Digital Government” published in the MIT Technology Review, “Want To Make Citizens Happy – Put Experience First” published in Forbes Middle East.

More From Muhammad J Sear