BEFORE the COVID-19 pandemic forced the hands of governments and businesses around the world to aggressively advance their digital solutions and ensure a continuation of services and products, it was difficult for many to envision the world we live in now.
It is not to say this new way of the world was unexpected, but rather, undoubtedly, our acceleration into this new world was hastened drastically by the pandemic. A McKinsey & Company report from late 2020 suggested that: “During the pandemic, consumers have moved dramatically toward online channels, and companies and industries have responded in turn. The survey results confirm the rapid shift toward interacting with customers through digital channels.”
Earlier in 2020, McKinsey plugged the need for digital transformation, noting: “If a digital transformation stalls, the results suggest that organisations can regain momentum by implementing rigorous change-management and internal communications programs and clarifying the transformation’s projected impact, which can help build alignment and commitment.”
Although McKinsey, as a global management consulting firm with a deep interest in digital transformation, focused heavily on the provision of products and services by private entities, there is value in government taking on a similar approach, and so it has.
Guyana is leaning in to the digital transformation. On April 20, the consultation for Guyana’s Information and Communication (ICT) Master Plan 2030: “Discovery kick off” was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
President, Dr Irfaan Ali addressed the gathering of government ministers, permanent secretaries and other senior government functionaries. His Excellency’s message of efficiency and reliability in the delivery of government’s services not only forms part of Guyana’s focus to improve the investor climate, but equally reflects government’s commitment to ensuring citizens have a smoother user interface when accessing public services.
The Master Plan 2030 that manifests from this recent validation exercise, as the stakeholder engagements started more than a year ago, will transform government’s service delivery in education, healthcare, security, and other sectors, and will also improve accountability through more robust monitoring and evaluation of these deliveries to all stakeholders.
In his words, President Ali said: “From security to education, all of it will be on an ICT [Information and Communication Technology] platform that will put our country in the group of nations that utilise ICT as a main architecture in our problem-solving.”
There are cultures, however, to be changed among lead administrators, including the culture of resistance of some to ICT-related transformations. McKinsey, recognising the potential for delays in implementing digital solutions, said: “For scaling digital programs beyond the pilot phase—the first stumbling block in a transformation’s execution—clarity on the time frame and expected economic impact is important, as is partnering with operations.”
Within Guyana’s public sector, the stakeholder engagement team, tasked by the President, had their share of challenges resulting from this very resistant culture. Commenting on this, President Ali said: “Some sectors have been very poor in their response, some sectors were lethargic, some sectors were clearly not interested.
“And you will see the results of your disinterest. But we have given a clear instruction that those who are not going to push this agenda and be a part of this transformation… will have to step aside and allow those who are… pushing this agenda forward to make it happen.”
He continued: “People, sometimes, are resistant to change, especially when you feel you are less powerful with change. But this is a necessary step forward. This is an essential part of the service-delivery component of the government… this is the future of the country.”
Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, recognised also that government’s ICT push could flop if all stakeholders were not on the same page. “Somehow within government agencies,” Dr Jagdeo remarked to the gathering at the consultation, “people believe that once you are talking about an ICT masterplan, an ICT vision, that the most relevant person in the ministry is the ICT officer, or the people who deal with your internet connections.” This was far from what government envisioned.
To put it more succinctly, Dr Jagdeo captured the vision well when he remarked: “We want a smoother interaction between the citizens and government across all sectors.” There is no need to point out all of the transformations Guyana has seen in the last two years. There are hardly enough column inches. What is evident from government’s intention and action is that Guyanese and non-Guyanese alike will experience a different Guyana than existed years prior. A welcomed improvement.