Three transformational opportunities for APAC governments in 2023

Reflecting on 2022, it’s evident that governments across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have reached a critical juncture in policymaking and the delivery of services to citizens.

APAC governments and their agencies responded remarkably well to the COVID-19 pandemic, rapidly introducing essential new digital services to help individuals and businesses through a time of great disruption.

However, new challenges for governments have emerged, while others have endured, even as many countries learn to manage the pandemic and return to some semblance of normality. These include rising inflation, skills shortages, increased cyber-risks, global geopolitical instability, climate action, and ever-increasing citizen expectations.

APAC remains an economic bright spot globally, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts growth will slow in 2023. According to the IMF, “Amid lower growth, policymakers face complex challenges that will require strong responses,” adding that “digitalization has emerged as a focus area in the aftermath of the pandemic, and faster adoption can boost productivity and improve resilience.”

One thing is certain: governments cannot afford to go back to the way they operated before the pandemic, nor can they slow their pace of digitalization. APAC policymakers must prioritize digital initiatives for their administrations to successfully address these complex and persistent challenges. The question is: how?

The answer to this question will vary across the region, depending on the specific circumstances of each country. However, as we enter 2023 there are broad strategies that can unlock opportunities for all governments to transform operations and citizen services.

1. Deliver whole-of-government transformations

It’s encouraging to observe APAC nations setting ambitious goals for their digital transformation programs. However, most nations have a long way to go to rival mature digital economies. Many digital initiatives are still driven by individual agencies on an ad hoc basis. And while these projects can help improve efficiency and citizen services, they often simply provide a digital front-end to overlay manual, legacy processes.

A holistic transformation can deliver more far-reaching efficiencies, deeper insights, and fundamental operational gains by digitalizing back-office processes as well as citizen services across government.

For example, the Australian Government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is responsible for driving whole-of-government reform. IBM Australia recently signed the next iteration of our Whole-of-Government Arrangement with the DTA, providing all government agencies continued access to IBM technology, including Cloud, AI, Quantum and Cyber Security, with the benefit of cost efficiencies resulting from emerging economies of scale. For the major agencies that partner with IBM – the Australian Taxation Office, Department of Defence, Department of Home Affairs and Services Australia – the new arrangement will continue to provide them with the autonomy to accelerate the deployment of technology that aligns with their individual agency priorities and needs.

As government agencies respond to a wide variety of persistent and emerging challenges, they require agility and flexibility to adopt and scale up certain types of technology as needed. IBM’s new arrangement helps to enable this, providing agencies with the flexibility to adopt technology at their own pace and adjust the types of technology they use to best suit their needs.

Nevertheless, implementing whole-of-government transformations can be challenging, particularly for minority or coalition governments in APAC nations. The key to succeeding with any large transformation is to engage all stakeholders and demonstrate the mutual benefit from taking a cooperative approach.

Cooperation is essential to create unified platforms and methodologies that enable individual agencies and ministries to roll out digital initiatives more quickly and efficiently, improving their specific services to citizens and businesses.

2. Use data to inform and accelerate decision making

Unified platforms also provide more opportunities to integrate, share, and analyze data for more powerful, real-time insights into operations and citizens’ needs. With these insights, policymakers and public service leaders can make faster, more informed decisions, measure the impact of their policies, and deliver better results.

This will become particularly important as much of Asia continues to urbanize and governments need to scale their services for some of the world’s largest and most densely populated cities.

Jakarta Smart City, for example, adopted a strategy of integrating data from a range of existing sources to help deliver better services to citizens of Indonesia’s capital city. It did this by creating a large data hub that collects citizen feedback from a dedicated app, analysing social sentiment, as well as engagement with government services from transportation, healthcare, water distribution, and other departments. Analytics then identify problem hotspots and help government agencies make fast, informed policy decisions.

The Indonesian Government also has ambitious goals with its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2020-2045. The strategy aims to expedite the development of 98 smart cities and 416 smart districts across the nation. It includes plans to use AI to improve health, food security, education, research, and other services. Importantly, an overarching governance framework will be vital in ensuring AI is designed and deployed ethically for the benefit of citizens.

3. Promote digital access and inclusion to bridge skills gaps

While digitalization can increase efficiency and improve government services, its effectiveness depends on citizens having the access and skills needed to use those services. That’s a challenge for governments in many APAC countries, especially those with a relatively high proportion of citizens who don’t or can’t access digital services.

In 2023, continued government investment in and incentivization of broadband services, such as 5G networks, will help. However, while mobile networks cover around 96 percent of APAC’s population, just 44 percent of the population is using mobile internet services, according to a recent GSMA report.

The GSMA cites a lack of digital skills as one of the main inhibitors of mobile internet adoption. There are, of course, critical digital skills shortages at all levels across the region.

Education, therefore, should be high on the agenda of every government and corporation – ideally in partnerships that align public-and private-sector needs to help bridge skills gaps. The Philippine Government, for instance, has recently established an Inter-Agency Council for Development and Competitiveness of the Philippine Digital Workforce. This council can authorize public–private partnerships with industry associations, private companies, and others to create and implement training, skills development, and certification programs.

Increasing citizens’ digital skills, even at the most basic level, democratizes access to information, services, and opportunities. As the world continues to digitalize, the most prosperous nations will be defined by how well their people leverage technology. Governments should have a conscious strategy for making effective and meaningful access to technology ubiquitous, because increasingly differences in digital skills are driving cleavages among demographic and ethnic groups.

Building on the region’s global advantages

APAC may have its challenges, but it also has several globally significant advantages. These include an economy that is outperforming other regions, a relatively young population that is embracing new technologies, and a large cohort of fast-moving tech start-ups.

By implementing digital transformation schemes, data initiatives, and education programs, governments can leverage and build on these advantages.

There is still plenty of work to be done for governments in the region to fulfill their potential. However, ambitious digital initiatives such as those showcased provide reason to be deeply optimistic about the progress and momentum in the year ahead and beyond.

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