Innovatia

process of leveraging the technological and capability disruptions of the computer, serv- ers, networking, the internet, apps, cloud, big data, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In my role as CEO of the Australian Gov- ernment’s Digital Transformation Agency, I have come to understand the history of how these technologies and capabilities connect over time to reflect our digitisation journey that has innovated to inform, support, and protect our Australian society. In Government, digitisation allows us to support our most vulnerable and isolated. Online social and medical services seamless- ly incorporate the collection of taxable reve-

nues from people and business into every- day activity. This also makes it possible to connect and consult with vastly more of our citizens, wherever they are, to decide how we collaboratively shape the future of our country. This has been a challenge for gov- ernment. In protecting our society, it is im- possible to satisfy everyone. We do not get to choose our market or our preferred channel. We must always strive to provide more while spending less. And when the worst happens – if we experience flood, fire, or life-chang- ing virus – governments must rally, organise, “In a decade marked by emergencies, digitisation has been a silver lining to a dark cloud.” and innovate quickly to ensure support for our people and businesses and continuity of the functions of government. In a decade marked by emergencies, digiti- sation has been a silver lining to a dark cloud. Through digital innovation, functions that tra- ditionally took years to deliver were sudden- ly able to be delivered in weeks and months. Our digital capability supported the rapid policy and service delivery processes neces- sary to manage the wellbeing of society and the economy. While some might think that all the digital capability was forced into real- ity by the crisis, the fact is that governments have been innovating for decades, navigating the digital disruptions and innovation cycles

Australian leadership teams adapt to digital transformation Digital technology is a powerful tool for leaders in every industry, from business to government, to connect – but in order to get the best of it, we must embrace the process of digitisation. By Chris Fechner A s a younger leader developing my un- derstanding and craft, I often encoun- tered disruptive new technologies and

capabilities. These disruptions interested me as I had seen both their positive and neg- ative impact on my organisations, strongly influenced by leadership’s understanding and management of them. Looking deeper at these disruptive events, I became acutely aware that the timeframe in between them was shrinking, as was the ability to bed- down the changes into the “new normal.” This meant that change was compounding, creating increased levels of uncertainty and risk and decreasing capacity to use the com- petitive advantage presented by new tech- nology and capabilities. Computerisation, automation, digitisa- tion, digitalisation: these terms describe the

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