Digital transformation based on services, not our IT systems

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) is designing new digital services to improve the Australian agricultural export experience.

Jordan Hatch is Assistant Secretary Digital Strategy at DAWE. Jordan shared with the Digital Profession his experience of operating models for transformation. Jordan emphasises two aspects of effective digital transformation:

  • prioritising user needs over internal constraints
  • starting with the ‘steel thread’ that runs through the whole service, to prove it can work and build upon.

Jordan stresses the importance of changing our worldview from being based on the IT systems we manage to the service we provide for our users.

A combination of old and new systems will often have to support better government services. Government needs to:

  • focus on the whole service, including the processes and humans that support it
  • join forces with business areas and regulators to find opportunities to reform the regulation and technology in lockstep.

Watch Jordan’s 10 minute presentation from ‘Public Service of the Future: Contemporary operating models to deliver better outcomes for all Australians.