High aspirations, stark realities · 2019-01-08 · High aspirations, stark realities: Digitising...

High aspirations,stark realities:

Digitising government in South-east Asia

A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit

Sponsored by

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016

High aspirations, stark realities: Digitising government in South-east Asia

Foreword 4

About the report 6

Executive summary 8

1 Aiming high 10 Figure 1: Technology laggards 11 Figure 2: South-east Asia by the numbers 12

2 Clouds, data, analytics and smart things 14 Figure 3: Beyond mobile 14

Cloud computing 15 Figure 4: Keeping up-to-date with cloud 15 Box: The Singaporean G-cloud 16

Big data and analytics 17

Towards a smart society 18 Figure 5: Making us healthier and smarter? 18 Box: An IoT initiative in Thailand 19

3 What holds digital government back? 20 Figure 6: Having it, and knowing how to use it 20

Infrastructure impediments 21 Box: Greater wireless capacity needed 22

Priority: standardisation for data sharing 22

The user perspective: connectivity divides 23 Figure 7: Citizens struggle to access and use digital services 23 Box: Public- and private-sector divergence 24

Conclusion 26

Appendix 28

Contents

4 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016


Foreword

A surprising finding from the research is that security risks are not considered a significant barrier to adoption of technology by governments, as respondents believe that security concerns may partially be overcome by setting up ‘private’ government clouds. Both strands of this thinking appear to be at odds with earlier studies, which suggested that security is a major concern and is not necessarily addressed through developing private clouds.

An October 2014 survey of almost 300 CIOs from ten countries in the Asia-Pacific region, conducted by Microsoft, indicated that 79% of respondents were concerned about security and privacy of cloud solutions.1 Another more extensive survey of cloud security and encryption conducted by the Ponemon Institute in 2012 also highlighted security concerns; it, however, suggested that sensitive and confidential information was already then being transferred to the cloud and that the trend would likely continue.2 This study observed that organisations transferring sensitive data to externally based clouds share three important characteristics: 1) They understand security and have a ‘strong security posture’; 2) They believe that the cloud provider has the primary responsibility of protecting data; and 3) They are more confident in the cloud provider’s ‘actual ability’ to protect

Cloud services, big data analytics and the Internet of Things can transform the public sector. While the opportunities appear to be innumerable, restricted primarily by finite budgets, barriers to adoption commonly emerge in three areas: quality of infrastructure, legal framework and skills. Comprehensive coverage and bandwidth are important infrastructure requirements but cost of access can impede take-up, a problem which countries can potentially manage by reducing entry barriers in their telecommunications sector. Facilitating adoption requires clear rules relating to data collection, storage, sharing, privacy and security. Deep digital and analytical skills are critical since without these, countries will find it challenging to turn information into insights. Easing the skills constraint will require a reassessment of both education and immigration policies.

Respondents from all five South-east Asian countries covered by this survey acknowledge the importance of these technologies. Indeed, they all aspire to harness them for providing better and more efficient e-government, but countries are constrained by the three barriers identified above to a greater or lesser extent. The results vary across countries, perhaps reflecting their levels of economic development and size. Singapore and Malaysia have made the most progress, with the former well ahead of the rest.

1 http://news.microsoft.com/apac/2014/10/27/microsoftciosurvey/ 2 http://www.ponemon.org/local/upload/file/Encryption_in_the_Cloud%20FINAL_6_2.pdf. This survey canvassed the views of 4,140 executives from

seven countries in different regions.

5© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2016


data than their own. Clearly, cloud service providers have had success showing best-in-class security, privacy and trust measures.

So, while the approaches to security and trust remain somewhat divergent, what is uniform is that governments across South-east Asia all have high ambitions when it comes to digitising their services. They are motivated by the benefits and are aware of the barriers to realising these ambitions. This report lays out what might be a set of practical solutions to help governments overcome these impediments and help citizens across the region reap the rewards.

Ashish Lall Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy National University of Singapore



About the report

Our thanks are due to the following people for their time and insights (listed alphabetically by last name):

• Louis CASAMBRE, executive director, ICT Office, at the Department on Science and Technology, Philippines

• CHAN Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Information Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA)

• Ilham HABIBIE, chairman of the Indonesian National ICT Council (DETIKNAS), Indonesia

• Richard MOYA, CIO at the Department of Budget and Management, Philippines

• Bambang HERU Tjahjono, director-general for informatics applications, Ministry of Communication and Information (KOMINFO), Indonesia

• Dato NG Wan Peng, chief operating officer, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), Malaysia

• King Wang POON, director of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore

• Sarun SUMRIDDETCHKAJORN, executive director, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), Thailand

High aspirations, stark realities: Digitising

government in South-east Asia is a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by Microsoft. Kim Andreasson was the author and Charles Ross was the editor. The report draws on a survey of 300 senior respondents: 150 from the public sector and 150 from the technology sector. All respondents hail from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. The survey findings were supplemented by interviews with senior public-sector managers and other experts as well as wide-ranging desk research. The objective: to understand the drivers and inhibitors of public-sector digital adoption within government organisations and among citizens.

The EIU bears sole responsibility for the editorial content of this report. The findings do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor.



exeCutive summAry

Cloud computing is the top technology priority today for South-east Asian governments. ‘The cloud’ enables access to the latest technologies without the need to upgrade existing hardware or software—a crucial benefit for cost-conscious government agencies. Big data and analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) also figure prominently in the list of technology trends of importance to public-sector organisations. These technologies and related trends are integral to the development of ‘smart societies’ in which everything is digitised across government sectors.

Institutional challenges limit public-sector adoption. Insufficient ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure, in terms of bandwidth, speed and connectivity, is the primary barrier to greater public-sector technology adoption in most of the region. High-speed broadband networks, for example, are required to reap the full benefits of online education, e-health and other public-service areas requiring large amounts of data to be transferred quickly. Limited ICT skills amongst staff also seriously hamper digital government initiatives. Finally, a lack of data sharing between government agencies is hampering the benefits of big data and analytics.

Enhanced efficiency, increased convenience and cost savings are at the heart of digital-government strategies around the world. Governments in many countries are digitising and automating internal processes and shifting external service delivery to online platforms. Benefits are beginning to accrue in the form of improved cost efficiency and better citizen engagement, and some governments are beginning to monitor the benefits at a service-by-service level. In South-east Asia at least one government—that of Singapore—is among the world’s leaders in this sphere, and the others aspire to reach similar levels.

However, the 300 public-sector and technology-sector executives surveyed for this report agree that most South-east Asian governments are not effective in implementing new technologies. Along with other senior officials and experts interviewed by The Economist Intelligence Unit in five of the region’s countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand), they also highlight a raft of obstacles—notably involving infrastructure and skills shortcomings—that need to be surmounted for digital government to become a reality.

The key findings of the research are as follows:



A variety of digital divides impede citizen uptake. The greatest of these is a connectivity divide in terms of access to broadband, which is increasingly necessary to conduct more advanced online transactions. A persistent affordability divide means even those having physical access to broadband find it too costly to obtain it. Mobile phones often overcome these challenges but government services are not always designed for the mobile environment. Many citizens lack the skills to use the services on offer, but poor design means that even those with the access and skills cannot use the available services effectively.



3 http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21569716-new-attempt-reform-public-services-through-data-efficiency-transparency?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/efficiency_by_transparency

4 https://www.gov.uk/performance 5 https://www.ida.gov.sg/Tech-Scene-News/Facts-and-Figures/Survey-Reports/Annual-eGovernment-Perception-Survey-Citizen-Conducted-in-2014 6 http://web.kominfo.go.id/sites/default/files/Prioritas%20Kominfo%20210-214.pdf 7 http://i.gov.ph/

Aiming high 1Other governments in the region aspire to reach similar heights. Malaysia’s Public-Sector ICT Strategic Plan 2011-2015 set a bold target of making 90% of all government services available online and having 90% of all transactions conducted via digital channels by the end of the period (under the slogan “Do More with Less”). In Indonesia, expanding online access to public services and making them more user-friendly were among the top five priorities of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology between 2010 and 2014.6 Thailand’s ICT Policy Framework (2011-2020) calls for ‘smart government’ to improve internal efficiencies within agencies and improve access to government services for the public. In the Philippines, the Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) project is central to implementation of the e-Government Master Plan of 2013-2016, which aims to improve government processes and provide better services.7

However, there is a yawning gap between these aspirations and the realities on the ground, judging by the survey of public-sector officials and technology-sector executives conducted for this report. No more than one-third of respondents believe that South-east Asian public-sector organisations are very effective in implementing new technologies, leaving two-thirds to suggest they are not (Figure 1).

Public-sector organisations around the world are looking to technology to improve internal and external efficiency through greater use of electronic government (e-government, also referred to in this report as digital government). For citizens, online services offer greater convenience and save time. For government, digitising public services can also cut costs. A 2013 study by the UK Cabinet Office found that digital public-sector transactions are on average 20 times cheaper than if conducted by phone and 50 times cheaper than if done face-to-face.3 Indicative of the potential benefits, the UK government has started to track 800 services on a central dashboard to analyse the percentage of people who use the service online, the cost per transaction, completion rate and user satisfaction.4

Given the obvious—and often measurable—benefits of e-government, South-east Asian countries are following suit. This is exemplified by Singapore. The city-state conducts an annual e-Government Customer Perception Survey to assess adoption of key initiatives and to identify areas for further improvement. The 2014 survey found that eight in 10 respondents had visited a government website in the past year and that more than nine in 10 were satisfied with the online service they used.5



of ICT development—suggests that user expectations pose a continuing challenge to public-sector organisations and rise over time. “Content and services may not meet the requirement of savvy users,” explains Ng Wan Peng, chief operating officer of Malaysia’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). “People in Singapore are sophisticated at using e-services and expect more from the services,” adds Chan Cheow Hoe, Government Chief Information Officer at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

To be sure, there are large country variations in this perception, which appear counter-intuitive at first glance. More than one-half of Indonesian respondents say the public sector is very effective in technology implementation, as do four in 10 Philippine respondents. In stark contrast, only about one-fifth of respondents from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore believe this to be true. That perceptions are so low in Singapore and Malaysia—the former which is usually a world leader and the latter a regional second in many international comparisons

Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

Total

0% 10%

57%

23%

40%

20%

23%

33%

20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Figure 1: Technology laggards Countries “very effective” at implementing new technologies (% of respondents)

Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit



Figure 2: South-east Asia by the numbers (select countries)

Sources: UN E-Government Development Index; The State of Broadband 2015, a report by the Broadband Commission; World Bank World Development Indicators

IndonESIA MALAySIA PhILIPPInES SIngAPorE ThAILAnd

Un E-government development Index 106 52 95 3 102 ranking, 2014

Internet users (per 100 people), 2014 17.1 67.5 39.7 82 34.9

Fixed-broadband subscriptions 1.2 10.1 23.2 27.8 8.2 (per 100 inhabitants), 2014

Mobile-broadband subscriptions 34.7 58.3 28 156.1 79.9 (per 100 inhabitants), 2014

Fixed-line broadband affordability 6.9 2.4 8.6 0.4 5 (as a % of gnI per capita), 2013

Total population, 2014 254.5 29.9 99.1 5.5 67.7

gdP per capita, current USd, 2014 3,492 10,934 2,871 56,287 5,519

and to a lesser extent Malaysia, far outshine their neighbours (see figure 2). This report explores the technology drivers of digital government in the region’s major countries, and seeks to understand the different factors that inhibit greater public-sector technology adoption—by both governments and citizens—in them.

“The challenge going forward is that all the basic work has been done and we have to meet greater expectations.”

The uneven development of public-sector technology across the region is also reflected in actual e-government usage where Singapore,



Clouds, dAtA, AnAlytiCs And smArt things2

Cloud computing, big data and analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) all figure prominently in the list of technology trends of importance to public-sector organisations in South-east Asia today. Mobile devices, on the other hand, are well down the list, suggesting that the opportunities presented by mobile saturation have already been seized upon. It may also reflect a growing focus of governments on the cost-effectiveness, security and scalability of online public services, and the value lying in the data that they generate. (Figure 3)

It was once assumed that mobile technology was integral to spurring usage of online public services in Asia, providing a leapfrog-type ability to reach the masses of citizens without fixed-line connections. Today, however, at least in South-east Asia, government agencies are according higher priority to other technologies. Indeed, digital technologies are advancing quickly, and the priorities they are accorded by governments can change just as rapidly. “Technology is just a tool,” explains Bambang Heru Tjahjono, director-general for informatics applications at the Ministry of Communication and Information (KOMINFO) in Indonesia, indicating that the priority of technologies depends in part on a country’s strategic direction.

Cloud computing

Big data and analytics

The Internet of Things

Mobile devices

Social networking

Cyber security

Software-de�ned networking (SDN)

Basic computer literacy

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

37%

27%

25%

17%

16%

21%

11%

11%

Figure 3: Beyond mobile Most important technology trends for organisations (% of respondents)




This notion is reinforced by the survey, where cloud computing’s most important benefit (as judged by nearly half of respondents) is access to the latest technologies, without the need to upgrade existing hardware or software (see figure 4). Overall, nine in 10 respondents also agree (40% ‘strongly’) that the greater use of cloud computing by the public sector will improve efficiency.

Cloud computing “At present, cloud computing and cloud hosting are number one,” says Richard Moya, chief information officer at the Department of Budget and Management in the Philippines, when asked about his government’s technology priorities. “Cloud is important because it enables us to deploy systems quickly, allows us to test systems early and lets us offer online services to the public 24/7 without having to increase personnel and resources.”

Figure 4: Keeping up-to-date with cloud Top 4 benefits of cloud computing (Rank & percentage of respondents)


govErnMEnT And PUBLIC SECTor IT And TEChnoLogy SUPPLIErS

Access to the latest technologies 1st (41%) 1st (51%) (eg, no need for hardware and software upgrades)

Accuracy 2nd (35%) 2nd (29%) (eg, improved record management)

Collaboration 4th (23%) (eg, improved working culture)

Convenience 3rd (30%) 3rd (22%) (eg, no need for an in-house IT department)

Cost 4th (20%) (eg, reduced fixed costs and flexible pricing models)



Only a minority of respondents (35%) strongly believe that security issues will limit the potential of cloud computing in the public sector. Security concerns are realistic when it comes to storing sensitive information on public clouds, but these can be addressed with the development of private clouds in which security is enhanced (see box).

Globally, the International Data Corporation (IDC), an IT research firm, expects total spending on cloud IT infrastructure to grow by 24% and reach US$32.6bn in 2015.8 It sees spending on traditional non-cloud infrastructure, on the other hand, declining by 1.6% in 2015. Cloud spending in 2015 is estimated to represent one-third of all

8 https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25946315 9 United Nations E-Government Report 2012 (page 26) 10 http://www.egov.gov.sg/egov-programmes/programmes-by-government/cloud-computing-for-government

the singaporean g-cloud Whereas public-sector and technology-sector managers in other South-east Asian countries cite access to the latest technologies as the leading benefit of cloud computing, those in Singapore focus on other advantages, namely convenience (32%), accuracy (28%) and cost (27%). This may be a result of the cloud’s wider adoption in the country. According to the United Nations (UN), one area of its cloud leadership is “the use of private cloud computing for leveraging ICT infrastructure and services.” 9

The private cloud was developed primarily for one simple reason: security. “The government has a lot of classified data,” explains Mr Chan, Government Chief Information Officer at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). “We have to ensure that these are well maintained and secured. To ensure greater control and security, we developed our very own private cloud or Government Cloud in Singapore. However, we want to provide agencies with cloud options.” As a result, it developed a hybrid cloud model in which public data takes advantage of the economies of scale of public clouds while storing sensitive information in the private one.

The Singapore Government Cloud (G-cloud) aims to provide an IT environment in which all public-sector agencies are connected to the same infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to provide secure web hosting and meet governance requirements. In 2014 the G-cloud was expanded to include software-as-a-service (SaaS), which enables agencies to use the same operating systems, applications and databases. More recently, the government has been expanding the service through a ‘CloudStore’ in which business analytics and security services, including qualified offerings from industry for government agencies, will be made available.10



spending on organisational IT infrastructure, up from 28% in 2014. South-east Asia generally lags behind other regions in cloud adoption. According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an advocacy group for the global software industry, Singapore ranked fifth in cloud computing adoption among 24 countries around the world in 2013;

Malaysia (13th), Indonesia (21st) and Thailand (23rd) all lagged behind. (The Philippines were not part of the ranking.)11

Governments are recognising that releasing public-sector data can help organisations generate new products and services and find other innovative ways to use such data. Such ‘open government data’ initiatives are flourishing around the globe due to their economic benefits. A 2015 study by the OECD estimated the public-sector information market to be around US$97bn in 2008 and could have grown to around US$111bn by 2010.12 “Governments are keen to leverage growing amounts of data to create better services for constituents,” says Ms Ng of MDeC.

The survey respondents agree, citing big data and analytics as the second-most important technology development for their respective organisations. “The trend in data and analytics is a very important one, and its potential can only be fully realized by making data accessible and usable to the public,” confirms King Wang Poon, director of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Singapore.

However, South-east Asian countries have generally been slow to join the open data movement. To date only Indonesia and the Philippines have signed up to the Open Government Partnership, an international initiative to provide more public-sector data.13

Singapore is striving to build the world’s first ‘smart nation’ through increased access to data in order to leverage technology to its fullest extent.14 “There is strong high-level support for the Smart Nation initiative,” says Mr Poon. “There is much more readiness and willingness to share data across government departments and externally, and we would all like this to move along more quickly.”

big data and analytics

11 http://cloudscorecard.bsa.org/2013/ 12 OECD, Assessing government initiatives on public-sector information: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5js04dr9l47j-en 13 http://www.opengovpartnership.org/countries 14 https://www.ida.gov.sg/Tech-Scene-News/Smart-Nation-Vision



In order to fully capitalise on smart initiatives, however, cloud and data/analytics must be combined with technology advances in other areas, such as the Internet of Things (denoting a wide universe of everyday objects communicating with each other through embedded sensors) as well as newer, emerging technologies (see box). Drones, for instance, can monitor and police remote areas by taking pictures, and are helpful to countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia with vast land masses stretching across thousands of islands.

Extending the benefits of technology into such areas as education, healthcare and transportation involves efforts to ‘digitise everything’ by converting manual tasks into bits and bytes. Cloud computing and big data and analytics are not the only technology trends that feed into this broader vision but they are core to the efforts.

Cloud computing is seen by survey participants as having the biggest potential impact on public-sector service delivery—both today and three years from now—in the areas of health, education and finance, while having lesser impact in security/policing, social security/welfare and labour/employment (Figure 5).

Health

Education

Finance (eg, taxes)

Social security/welfare

Labour/employment

Security/policing

Don’t know

0% 10%

23%

40%

20%

23%

33%

20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

59%42%

51%43%

45%39%

31%36%

26%38%

33%33%

NowIn 3 years

Figure 5: Making us healthier and smarter? Where cloud computing will have the biggest impact, now and in 3 years (% of respondents)

towards a smart society




An iot initiative in thailand Gartner, an IT market research company, forecasts that 4.9bn ‘things’ will be connected globally in 2015 and expects this number to grow to 25bn by 2025.15 Governments and public services in South-east Asia will be among the beneficiaries. “Technologies that are related to sensors and data analytics are among the most important trends for the public sector today,” says Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn, executive director at the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) in Thailand.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, a southern province in Thailand, a local team developed an innovative solution to better track and manage flooding, which is a big problem in the region.16 (In November 2002, a flash flood resulted in estimated losses of more than 10m Thai Baht.) Wireless sensors at 15 remote sites around the province now enable monitoring of water flow and precipitation levels. The information collected can be used to forecast flooding patterns and send warnings to government agencies and local communities via email or SMS. Officials and residents can also use a standard web browser or their mobile devices to access real-time information, thus helping to prevent future disasters.

15 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2905717 16 rdo.psu.ac.th/sjstweb/journal/33-2/0125-3395-33-2-227-235.pdf



26% of respondents strongly believe

that their country is well-prepared for cloud computing in the public sector

whAt holds digitAl government bACk?3primary challenges (see figure 6). In this context it may not be surprising that only one-quarter of respondents strongly believe that their country is well-prepared for cloud computing in the public sector.

Understanding the barriers to technology adoption in any context requires analysis from two perspectives, that of providers (in this case governments) and of end-users (citizens and businesses). In much of South-east Asia, both strands of analysis reveal difficult obstacles in the way of greater adoption of digital government.

Within governments, the foremost barriers are of an institutional nature. Insufficient ICT infrastructure (in terms of bandwidth, speed and connectivity) and staff ability to use technology effectively (according to 40% and 39% of survey respondents, respectively) are cited as the

Organisational ICT infrastructure

Lack of technology standards

Staff ability/skills to use ICTs

Affordability/funding

Budgeting and procurement policies

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Government/public sector IT and technology supplier18%

23%

20%

37%

32%

28%

46%

44%

36%

18%

Figure 6: having it, and knowing how to use it Top 5 barriers to greater use of ICT in the public sector (% of respondents)




It may be surprising that cyber security is low on the list of challenges cited by survey respondents to public-sector technology adoption (mentioned by 16% of them), especially given the number of high-profile attacks around the world. “Security is not a big issue because most data are already publicly available,” asserts Richard Moya, who emphasises that sensitive information such as private and national-security-related data should not be put in the public cloud. (And, as discussed earlier, private clouds can address many public-sector data security concerns.)

the challenge of connecting everyone,” says Mr Habibie. “We have yet to connect the last mile, meaning offices and hospitals that use lots of data to conduct, for example, tele-medicine,” he explains. “Limited access to ICT infrastructure in remote areas is a particular challenge for local governments,” adds Mr Heru of KOMINFO. However, innovative initiatives can help overcome these deficiencies (see box).

Building a ‘smart society’ also necessitates skills to develop local solutions to local problems, an area in which many South-east Asian countries struggle. “The lack of human resources is a big barrier,” says Ilham Habibie, chairman of the Indonesian National ICT Council (DETIKNAS), who highlights the importance of having educated ICT staff to achieve a thriving digital environment. “Technology cannot be implemented by itself,” adds Mr Sumriddetchkajorn of NECTEC, who underscores the point that organisations must also develop talent. “In other words, people, processes and ICT together lead to high effectiveness.”

Inadequate ICT infrastructure is a greater problem—in reality and perception—in some countries than in others. Survey respondents in Singapore (12%) are the least concerned about infrastructure, while those in Indonesia (58%) and the Philippines (55%) express the greatest concerns. In part, this is due to the uneven development of affordable broadband infrastructure, which enables more advanced services such as e-health, e-education, and other public-sector services that require faster speeds for delivery.17 In Indonesia, for example, ‘first mile’ broadband infrastructure is expected to reach all the country’s regions by the end of this year. “But it is a fallacy to believe we have actually covered Indonesia as there remains

infrastructure impediments

17 EIU, The future of broadband in South-east Asia: http://www.economistinsights.com/technology-innovation/analysis/future-broadband-south-east-asia



greater wireless capacity needed Many of the technologies deemed by survey respondents as important for the public sector rely on—or benefit from—the ability to access them over wireless networks at high speeds. However, the rapid growth of mobile devices in use, including smartphones, creates the need for greater capacity to transfer large amounts of data. Existing networks either do not have appropriate reach to rural areas or are already operating at close to full capacity in many places.

A big barrier facing developing countries in building out mobile broadband networks is often insufficient spectrum allocation—a necessary technical development that allows operators to utilise unused wireless frequencies. Successful spectrum management can potentially bring big benefits. The GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association), an association of mobile operators, estimated that the Asia-Pacific region can unlock US$1 trillion in GDP through better spectrum efficiency between 2014 and 2020.18

To resolve the issue, many countries are looking to convert ‘TV White Space’—unused spectrum allocations for television broadcasters—into wireless frequencies for mobile devices. Singapore, for example, started this process in 2014 in order to improve capacity.19 But the technology may hold even greater promise in large developing countries as it can be used to provide broadband access to rural areas in a cost-effective way, enabling them to seize on the potential of technology trends such as cloud computing.

on common data formats, for example, can negatively impact initiatives in cloud computing, which thrive on common systems and databases. “Siloed legacy systems which can’t communicate with each other are a major challenge,” agrees Louis Casambre, executive director of the ICT Office at the Department on Science and Technology in the Philippines. “The public sector must take a ‘whole-of-government’ approach, because citizens just want government services and don’t care which government organisation is offering it.”

A reluctance, and inability, to share data across public-sector agencies and departments is no less intractable an obstacle to digital government. “The biggest challenges to greater ICT use generally within the public sector involve coordination and communication among institutions,” says Mr Heru. The lack of willingness to share data is only the first obstacle to overcome. “The second,” according to Mr Poon, “is how to make different data sets work together in terms of standardisation and interoperability.” A lack of agreement

priority: standardisation for data sharing

18 GSMA and AT Kearny: The Mobile Economy 2013 19 https://www.ida.gov.sg/About-Us/Newsroom/Media-Releases/2014/180-MHz-of-Spectrum-to-Be-Made-Available-for-Use-with-Implementation-of-

TV-White-Space-Regulatory-Framework



the toughest challenge for increasing end-user demand for online public services. A dearth of ICT skills among end-users is the other major challenge to greater citizen adoption (cited by 44%). (Figure 7)

interest or understanding of its benefits. Another is a digital divide between urban and rural areas in which the latter often find themselves with inadequate broadband speed and reliability to take advantage of advanced online services. “The cost of Internet and computing devices is another challenge,” says Mr Moya. Only Singapore and Malaysia are below the affordability target of 5% of monthly income set by the Broadband

Inadequate or unevenly developed ICT infrastructure is just as large a barrier to end-user uptake of digital government services as it is to the government agencies which provide them. Over half (52%) of respondents cite this as

Country divides in connectivity come into focus again from the user perspective. In Singapore with its dense fixed- and mobile-broadband networks, only 30% view ICT infrastructure as a major barrier compared to almost two-thirds (63%) in Indonesia and Thailand. Beyond actual broadband cables, there are other associated barriers to greater usage of digital government services. One is low Internet penetration, often due to a lack of

the user perspective: connectivity divides

Figure 7: Citizens struggle to access and use digital services Top 5 barriers to greater public demand for public sector services via ICTs (rank & percentage of respondents)


govErnMEnT And PUBLIC SECTor IT And TEChnoLogy SUPPLIErS

Lack of skills among users to use ICTs 1st (53%) 2nd (35%)

Country ICT infrastructure 2nd (50%) 1st (54%) (eg, bandwidth, speed, connectivity)

Price of ICTs for users 3rd (35%) 4th (23%)

Security concerns and trust 4th (22%) 4th (23%) (eg, relating to data protection and privacy)

Lack of content/service availability 5th (18%) (eg, some public sector services are unavailable online)

gaps between technology ownership and service 3rd (27%) delivery channels (eg, lack of computers and smart phones to take advantage of cloud computing services being offered)



public-and private-sector divergence The 150 public-sector officials and 150 technology-vendor executives in the survey are in agreement on many issues but not all. Differences in opinion emerge in particular regarding barriers to ICT adoption and the potential for cloud computing.

Both government and technology-sector respondents view a country’s ICT infrastructure as the greatest challenge to increasing end-user take-up of online public-sector services (see figure 6). However, public-sector respondents are considerably less concerned about their own infrastructure issues than are technology suppliers. The former are more concerned about their staff’s ability and skills to use ICT (see figure 7). Similarly, public-sector officials also view affordability/funding as an institutional barrier to a greater extent than tech-sector respondents, which may be attributed to the fact that they need to compete for budget to pay for any ICT investment.

Resource constraints also permeate respondent views about cloud computing, where affordability is seen as a far greater concern for public-sector officials than for technology-sector executives (cited by 34% and 20% respectively). When it comes to cloud computing, public-sector respondents find it much harder to value the return on investment (37%) compared to their private sector counterparts (26%).

aware of the benefits of online service delivery but do not have the infrastructure or skills to use it.

“The challenge for the public sector is to make services easier to use,” says Mr Casambre. In the Philippines, almost one-quarter of all households have broadband subscriptions. Among those, it is estimated that 9 of 10 have a Facebook account. “Government services need to be present on social media,” adds Mr Moya, whose own department has a Facebook page from which it links to relevant services. Once users get to them, he believes, the development of simple user interfaces by creating customer friendly portals will serve to greatly enhance usage.

Commission for Digital Development.20 The Philippines government, like those of other South-east Asian countries, provides for free Wi-Fi in certain places to help lessen this burden; however, users often browse the Internet with a mobile phone, which can create device access limitations as services are often designed for computer usage.

Studies often find that low usage is attributed to low awareness of the benefits of online services. However, few survey respondents (13%) believe a lack of knowledge about available services or cultural preferences for service delivery via offline channels are a major brake on demand growth. The inference is that users are generally

20 http://iif.un.org/content/broadband-commissiondigital-development



ConClusion

• Prepare for convergence: Information and communication technologies should not be viewed in isolation from one another, as larger benefits accrue from combining them. Likewise, a holistic view of both problems and solutions on both the supply and demand sides is required. Poorly designed services may be a supply-side issue, but if nobody can use them due to a lack of infrastructure, there is no point in addressing them in isolation.

• Think out of the box: Hybrid cloud solutions are effective in minimising data security concerns while reaping the benefits of international economies of scale. Such innovative thinking can be applied to other areas as well, such as using TV White Space in wireless spectrum allocation to help overcome geographic divides.

• realise that less can be more: For the past decade the UN, amongst others, has measured progress in e-government by counting the number of services offered online. But the realisation is dawning that fewer services which are better designed are more appreciated by actual users. Rather than requiring citizens to file tax returns, for instance, the forms can pre-filled and mailed to recipients who only need to confirm them. ‘Less is more’ is helping governments to improve the user experience and to meet rising citizen expectations.

Digital government is beginning to deliver tangible results to societies in many parts of the world, in terms of both public-sector efficiency and citizen engagement. Governments in South-east Asia are keen to realise the same benefits, and Singapore and Malaysia have made a credible start at setting digital government in motion. This report makes clear, however, that difficult obstacles impede government efforts to turn aspiration into reality.

Above all, public-sector organisations in most of the region are not considered effective in implementing new technologies, whether due to inadequate infrastructure or a shortage of skills. There are other, emerging challenges to address. For example, data localisation regulations and demands for ‘sovereign clouds’, in which data must be stored within a country for cyber security and privacy reasons, are growing around the world. “Data sovereignty is one of the challenges to cloud computing. Public cloud providers need to work closely with government to understand the key concerns around classified data. It’s not impossible for some classified government data to be hosted on a commercial cloud model with some variations,” according to Mr Chan.

Our research suggests a few lessons for governments in the region looking to transform public service delivery through technology:



Appendix: survey results

1. What is your primary industry?

2. In which country are you personally located?

3. Which of the following technology trends are most important to your organisation today?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Government/public sector

IT and technology supplier

51

49

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

20

20

20

20

20

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Cloud computing

Big data and analytics

The Internet of Things

Mobile devices

Social networking

Cyber security

Software-de�ned networking (SDN)

Basic computer literacy

37

27

25

17

16

21

11

11



4. In your opinion, how effective are public sector organisations in implementing new technologies?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very effective at implementing technology

Somewhat effective at implementing technology

Neither effective nor ineffective at implementing technology

Somewhat ineffective at implementing technology

Very ineffective at implementing technology

33

51

13

3

1

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Organisational ICT infrastructure (eg, access to bandwidth, speed, connectivity)

Lack of technology standards (eg, no agreement or disagreement on which cloud solutions to use across agencies and departments)


Organisational culture (eg, resistance to change)



Lack of understanding of senior management regarding the bene�ts of ICTs

Migration to ICT-based service delivery is a low priority

Security concerns

Con�dence and trust of service providers

Regulation (eg, relating to data protection and privacy)

40

23

39

16

29

20

11

13

16

7

7

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Country ICT infrastructure (eg, bandwidth, speed, connectivity)

Gaps between technology ownership and service delivery channels (eg, lack of computers and smart phones to take advantage

of cloud computing services being offered)

Lack of skills among users to use ICTs

Culture (eg, a preference for service delivery via non-ICT channels)

Price of ICTs for users

Lack of content/service availability (eg, some public sector services are unavailable online)

Lack of knowledge about available services

Security concerns and trust (eg, relating to data protection and privacy)

52

22

44

13

29

19

13

23

5. In the country in which you are located, what are the greatest challenges towards greater demand for public sector services via ICTs?

6. In the country in which you are located, what are the greatest institutional and technical challenges towards greater usage of ICTs generally in the public sector?



7. In the country in which you are located, what are the greatest institutional and technical challenges towards greater usage of cloud computing specifically in the public sector?

8. how important is cloud computing technology to the public sector today?

9. how important will cloud computing technology be to the public sector three years from now?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Organisational ICT infrastructure (eg, access to bandwidth, speed, connectivity)

Lack of technology standards (eg, no agreement or disagreement on which cloud solutions to use across agencies and departments)


Organisational culture (eg, resistance to change)



Lack of understanding of senior managementawareness of bene�ts of ICTs

Migration to ICT-based service delivery is a low priority

Security concerns

Con�dence and trust of service providers

Regulation (eg, relating to data protection and privacy)

36

28

34

16

27

23

13

8

20

9

8

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very important

Somewhat important

Neither important, nor unimportant

Somewhat unimportant

Very unimportant

57

37

5

1

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very important

Somewhat important

Neither important, nor unimportant

Somewhat unimportant

Very unimportant

Don’t know

63

31

5

1



10. What are the most important benefits of cloud computing in the public sector?

11. In which public sector areas can cloud computing make the biggest difference today?

12. In which public sector areas can cloud computing make the biggest difference three years from now?

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Access to the latest technologies (eg, no need for hardware and software upgrades)

Accuracy (eg, improved record management)

Collaboration (eg, improved working culture)

Convenience (eg, no need for an in-house IT department)

Cost (eg, reduced �xed costs and �exible pricing models)

Innovation (eg, reduced cost for new initiatives)

Standardisation (eg, same software used across agencies)

Time savings (eg, shared infrastructure and information

minimises in-house work to deliver services)

Better delivery of public sector services

Greater security

46

32

21

26

18

12

14

16

9

6

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Health

Education

Finance (eg, taxes)


Labour/employment

Security/policing

Don’t know

42

43

39

36

38

33

3

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Health

Education

Finance (eg, taxes)


Labour/employment

Security/policing

Don’t know

59

51

45

31

26

33

3



13. do you agree or disagree with the following statements

My own understanding of cloud computing in thepublic sector has improved in the last three years

My country is well-prepared for cloud computing in the public sector

The increase in cloud computing by the public sector is likely to improve ef�ciency

Security concerns limit the full potential of cloud computing by the public sector

Valuing the return on investment is hard when it comes to cloud computing in the public sector

0% 20% 40%

Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

60% 80% 100%

35

26

40

35

32

54

49

48

50

46

9

21

10

12

16

1

3 1

11

2 1

4 2

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High aspirations, stark realities · 2019-01-08 · High aspirations, stark realities: Digitising...

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