The Government's 'digital champion' is calling on the Government to sharpen up its online processing of our needs. In other words to do better channel management.
That's no revolution. That's what those in Government have been trying to achieve for some long time. They know it costs less to deal with an individual online than it does by phone or - God forbid! - face to face.
It's all about reducing the cost of transacting with the public. In other words, applying old principles of service delivery (one to many; from the centre to the edge) to the network tool set that is the web. Sure. Do it better. But incremental improvement does not a revolution make.
The real revolution would be for the Government to understand the value it can derive by connecting people to make what they need together - like our example for turning digital dole queues into a breeding ground for new businesses.
It's time we adjusted our thinking away from driving people online to deliver services more cheaply and instead use the advantages of online to develop new models in keeping with the network. Ones that make better services with less waste and deliver new services with those who need them. And everyone can join in that revolution.
And with my work hat on; here's my response to Sir Tim Berners-Lee's discussion of the way uber silos are threatening the web and our ability to create value with it: A wake up call for Open business
I believe that Lane-Fox's proposal is potentially revolutionary, and your suggestion that we 'adjust our thinking away from it'is wrong. Government needs to get better at walking, before it tries to run. 'Channel management' as you call it, was the Blair / Brown paradigm, hence the expensive proliferation of channels. Using network models to deliver service has great appeal for the future, but you can't begin to connect people via the network until everyone has a presence in the network. That's why digital by default has to come first.
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ReplyDeleteThere will be silos of disconnection for a good long time to come (language and e-access being two other very large ones)but we can't stop that enabling the majority to work together to create value for themselves and savings for everyone (connected or not)
ReplyDeleteI deleted my previous response as it didn't make as much sense as I hoped