Innovation in the New South Wales Public Service

In most NSW Government agencies, major transformation or change is either already happening, or is just about to occur. Given this inevitable tide of transformation, what do leaders need to know and do to ensure transformation is successful and as the public sector shifts to a somewhat un…

APIs In Action: How APIs are Facilitating Open Data Sharing and Enhancing Citizen Outcomes

Application Programming Interfaces, commonly referred to as APIs, are the cornerstone of modern applications, enabling core features of complex software to be extended and integrated in many different ways. The adoption of Big Data, coupled with Federal Open Government Data initiatives around the world have driven increased use of APIs. APIs are rapidly innovating and transforming the way that organisations can deliver services and improve customer experiences. By adopting an API first digital government approach, in the public sector, these benefits manifest themselves in three key ways: Ultimately however APIs are about transparency, sharing and openness, which is how most …

6 Top Tips: Embedding a Data Centric Organisational Culture

Data is king in the technological economy, but before you can unlock its potential, you’ll need the right culture. To learn more about embedding a data-centric organisational culture read on below. In the second part of the series we look at how to build the right culture to effectively harness data for informed decision making. Data has become an organisation’s most valuable asset, providing a strong foundation for decision making and citizen experience initiatives. But unlocking its true potential is more than just empowering leaders to make better decisions using insights extracted from data; it’s about embedding data science into …

State of Ransomware Industry Update 2020

The increased reporting of cyber incidents among large companies in ANZ in the first half of 2020 has been clearly evident. A handful of ransomware families are dominating these attacks. It is not uncommon for many organisations to fail to report breaches, or worse, to be completely unaware that they have even taken place. Ransomware is being used for much more than just blackmail. It can be used as a diversion; first harvesting credentials for later use, and then encrypting the drive to keep IT staff occupied while the attacker covers their tracks. More recently, attackers have accomplished even more …

Australia's Cyber Security Strategy 2020

​On 6 August 2020, the Australian Government released Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2020. The Australian Cyber Security Strategy 2020 will invest $1.67 billion over 10 years to achieve their vision of creating a more secure online world for Australians, their businesses and the essential services upon which we all depend. It will be delivered through: Reference: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.

Public Sector Big Data: Exploring Use Cases For Government Data Sets

In the next edition of PSN’s Data and Analytics Blog Series we take a look at Public Sector Big Data – what it means, why we need it now more than ever, and how three departments are already leveraging insight to drive efficiencies. Big data management generates better information and practices across a wide array of areas and is part of both Federal and local governments’ plans to improve safety, increase innovation and optimise security, helping Australia grow as a nation. With advancements in technologies such as machine learning and cloud computing, coupled with global Open Government initiatives, emerging Big …

Digitising and Scaling Corporate Services: Understanding the Benefits of Transformation for Government

In part two of the Digital Corporate Services blog series we take a look at how two public sector organisations are maturing, digitising and scaling corporate services, as well as the benefits they’ve achieved through transformation. Shared-services functions have a central role to play in today’s digital environment. These groups exist to streamline the management of internal processes and to assist in the quick and efficient delivery of software and services to customers as increasingly, the back-end work they perform is critical for capturing data that can then be used to create even better, more seamless front-end experiences. While corporate …

The Next Big Step: Digitising and Maturing Government Shared Services

In part one of the the Digital Corporate Services blog series we discuss the opportunities, challenges and benefits of maturing government shared services with emerging digital tools and how to extract greater value and increase organisational agility and flexibility by maturing these services. It goes without saying that by now every public sector department and agency is on some kind of digital transformation journey. For a long time though these transformations have been end-user or citizen-centric – whether that be a new portal to renew drivers licenses online instead of queuing in person or a self-service function to help answer …