Technology is present in practically all areas of society and, of course, also in Public Administration. Currently, there are several cases that are already in use in the day-to-day life of public organizations. Both Generative Artificial Intelligence and blockchain or hyper-automation are playing a fundamental role. These were some of the topics of debate at the observatory The challenges of digitizing the public sector organized by elEconomista.es and PwC.
The event included the participation of Antonio Requena, partner responsible for the Public Consulting Sector at PwC; Elena Liria, CEO of Madrid Digital; Agustín Zubillaga, Deputy Minister of Digital Administration and General Services of the Basque Government and Raúl Jiménez, manager of the Digital Agency of Andalusia.
The transition to digital in the public sector has two main objectives: to facilitate the lives of users, that is, citizens, and to improve the efficiency of public employees. For this, optimal collaboration between the different administrations is necessary. It must be taken into account that “There is a big difference between the degree of digitalization of each one. There is a digital divide between a large city council and a medium or small one“explained the partner responsible for PwC’s Public Consulting Sector. An idea that was reinforced by the rest of the speakers.
The senior executive of Madrid Digital assured that “we collaborate a lot between the different communities. We see each other two or three times a year. I would say that there is no problem between autonomous communities or between city councils. “Communication between administrations positively influences digitalization”. The best proof of this is that a Forum on the Digitalization of Autonomous Communities was recently organized in the Community of Madrid. Also, Liria recognized the cooperation between the city councils and valued the agreement with the Madrid City Council, through which they share the methodologies and experiences between the different public organizations.
The official
The civil service is one of the axes on which the strategy focuses. After all, it is a fundamental piece when it comes to public service. However, the speakers advocated for greater technological training in this area. Jiménez asserted that an urgent challenge is the transformation towards a more technological education, since “we continue to have vertical teams and we need that digital knowledge in all sectors.”
The leading partner of PwC’s Public Sector Consulting supported this argument, considering that “investment, cultural change and sustainability are needed for the administration to face this enormous challenge.” Cooperation between the public and private sectors was another topic of debate. Modernization in the business environment is usually faster than in the public sphere. The first has a risk margin that the second does not have, which gives them greater competitiveness. However, for the Deputy Minister of Digital Administration and General Services of the Basque Government, the key to achieving the challenge of digitalization is to have good political leadership: “If it exists in management, there is a digital strategy and, therefore, it is invested. If the top doesn’t believe it, the bottom doesn’t either.”
In addition to good management, the guarantee and prudence of regulatory compliance are also two relevant aspects. “These are provided by the public sector. Meanwhile, the private sector provides greater experience,” Requena added. In fact, the CEO of Madrid Digital declared that the public sector had been greatly inspired by the digital transformation process of the business world “especially in the banking sector.”
Roadmap
To carry out this digitalization process it is important to have a quality strategy and roadmap, but also that it be maintained over time. Political cycles can affect technology projects. “The administrations have taken a very interesting rhythm by betting on digitalization and, if this does not have economic support later, it will end up declining. And when there is a good service with technological use behind it, you can’t take it away,” Jiménez explained.
For this to happen, the speakers agree on proposing the processing of a law. And in this matter, the regional administrations “do not have great powers in the ICT field, but we do have great powers in the organizational field.” With this law it would be possible to regulate the internal organization and ensure the digital rights and freedoms of citizens“. Another fundamental aspect in this transition is the need to simplify processes, especially to help citizens, who “do not have to be a professor in administrative law to understand certain terminology,” Zubillaga insisted.
In conclusion, the speakers at the round table pointed out that it is advisable to place the ICT sector at the same level as other more established administration departments. The administrative procedures for innovations must also be carried out within deadlines designed in digital and not analogue, to avoid the risk of falling into obsolescence. On the other hand, it is important to have a digital strategy, maintained over time. For thisa specific Contract Law is necessary for this area. Likewise, the experts stressed that the administration must be free to use part of the user data and thus streamline processes.
Antonio Requena, Lead Partner of PwC’s Public Consulting Sector: “Cyberattacks will stop being news because we are going to have to live with them”
Is the public sector prepared for the challenges of cybersecurity? In recent years we have seen that organizations such as the SEPE or some city councils have suffered cyber attacks from which it has been difficult to recover. This is accelerating the digitalization processes of administrations and companies, although the road ahead is still long. This is what Antonio Requena, leading partner of the PwC Consulting Public Sector, considers. “There will come a time when cyberattacks will stop being news because we are going to have to live with them,” he said.
Although public administration is making great progress, almost all governments have specific cybersecurity agencies, “the budget is still around 5 or 6% of the total investment in technology, a figure that is still very low,” he pointed out. Risk management is one of the two challenges that, according to partner PwC, must be integrated into any technological transformation “because we increasingly have a higher level of exposure,” he noted.
Another challenge we face is energy, fundamental in this area, since consumption has increased given that it goes hand in hand with the massive exploitation of data: “This requires intensive use of energy that has to be sustainable and sustained “explained the PwC partner. Requena argued the need to increase investment, cultural change and sustainability so that the Administration faces these enormous challenges.
Elena Liria, CEO of Madrid Digital: “The lack of technological renewal also poses a cybersecurity risk”
Cyberattacks have skyrocketed 509% in eight years. Last year alone, 472,125 computer crimes occurred, 26% more compared to the 374,737 that were registered in 2022, according to the Report on cybercrime in Spain prepared by the Ministry of the Interior. In this regard, Elena Liria, CEO of Madrid Digital, explained that “investment in cybersecurity is never enough because we will never be 100% secure. We all know that.” For this reason, the board explained that a cybersecurity agency was created in the Community of Madrid to be able to set guidelines and coordination throughout the region. This initiative also extends to local entities to help small businesses when they suffer a cyber attack.
Liria assured that the Community of Madrid “wants to protect everyone, training them in cybersecurity issues.” In this way, Liria highlighted the urgency of betting on prevention, although he recognized that “everyone forgets about technological renewal.” And “when the budget is scarce, the most affected is always technological renewal,” added the representative of the Community of Madrid. All of this means “that the lack of technological renewal is a cybersecurity risk, but it is difficult to understand if you are not a technologist, because these dangers tend to be minimized,” concluded the CEO of Madrid Digital.
Agustín Zubillaga, Vice-Minister of Digital Administration and General Services of the Basque Government: “The key to achieving the challenge of digitalization is to have good political leadership”
Investment plays a fundamental role in public administrations when it comes to digitalization, but there are other factors that have an equally essential role, such as, for example, a good team that leads and manages the work carried out in this field. At least that is what Agustín Zubillaga, Deputy Minister of Digital Administration and General Services of the Basque Government, considers it. “The key to achieving the challenge of digitalization is to have good political leadership. If there is a direction, there is a digital strategy and, therefore, investment is made. But if those at the top do not believe it, neither will those at the bottom,” he added.
A leadership, which according to Zubillaga, represents a greater problem for SMEs, which due to their particularity usually have fewer resources to invest in this field and, therefore, do not have as much capacity to take risk as large companies. The latter can be inspiring, “they should be a source of learning.” Public administrations, as a general rule, handle a large volume of data and information that comes from the population on a daily basis. Something that represents a new challenge when it comes to the use of Artificial Intelligence. “In the projects in which we are working with user data, we have to walk with a very sharp pencil. Then we work with Artificial Intelligence in the field of Basque translation and in this field there has been no problem, we do not use citizen data “he noted.
Raúl Jiménez, Manager of the Digital Agency of Andalusia: “The organization has to assume that digitalization is the mechanism to transform it”
Andalusia has not been left behind and has made changes in its administration. “A Digital Agency was created to manage all the administration’s technological solutions in a transversal and comprehensive manner,” explained the manager of the Andalusian Digital Agency, Raúl Jiménez, in his speech. In his case, he stated, “it is associated with the change of Government, because it was decided that it wanted to transform the administration and the most effective way was to commit to digitalization. In the end, it is a commitment not only to have tools, but because the organization “You have to want and assume that digitalization is the appropriate mechanism to transform it.”
In the short and medium term, “we have to give results, because in the end we are an administration and we have to make things improve in a reasonable time,” said Jiménez, who added that “if we want to make a structural change we have to go to long term.”Among the different projects, he noted that “we are using robots to adapt analog to the benefits of digitalization.”
Rules and laws are also adapting. “In February we approved a Decree-Law where we obligated ourselves as an administration to make use of certain technological tools. And, above all, we placed the ICT sector at the same level as other departments that are clearly established in the administration,” he noted. “Any area who wants to carry out a procedure needs their reports and now the report from the Digital Agency department is also necessary. Everything needs technological support, you cannot put a process in motion if you do not know what tool is going to support it,” he said.
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