Western Australia shifts to digital innovation

Western Australia’s inaugural information and communications technology (ICT) strategy aims to use continuous advances in technology to lower the cost of Government services for taxpayers. Releasing the whole-of-government Digital WA strategy in late May, Innovation Minister Bill Marmion said it was a practical vision to give West Australians easier access to quality services, whenever and wherever it was convenient for them.

“Imagine having secure and relevant State Government services available through a single web portal anywhere, anytime and on any device – your computer, mobile phone or tablet – without the need to attend or call a Government office,” Mr Marmion said. “From simply paying bills online to obtaining the latest information and data on everything Government that matters to you, that is the Digital WA promise once fully implemented.”

“Digital WA will also help entrepreneurs and start-up companies flourish, as they use Government open data sources to produce new products and services to meet the evolving needs of the community.” The Minister said the Digital WA strategy would guide those changes over the next four years.

The Digital WA strategy for the period 2016-20 was developed in consultation with the public sector and the ICT industry. It is supported by policies on cloud, disaster recovery, digital security, interoperability and digital services. Digital WA will give clear direction to Government agencies in their planning, investment and use of ICT, driving the delivery of projects on time and on budget.

“Our ICT bywords are innovation, collaboration and transformation, and work has already started to ensure the success of the strategy,” he said. “In November last year, I launched the GovNext-ICT initiative to help agencies migrate to the cloud, reduce the cost of running and maintaining systems, and connect all agencies into a single Government-wide network, enabling synergies to be realised that were previously impossible.”

One of the Digital WA KPIs is to have 75 per cent of all Government-related transactions completed online by the public by 2020. With the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer leading the collaboration across the State’s more than 100 agencies, the shift to common platforms and the leveraging of cloud services will enable agencies to be more agile and responsive to the changing needs of the community. 

For more information on Digital WA, see: http://gcio.wa.gov.au/initiatives/digital-wa-state-ict-strategy/