What are new CEO Gavin Slater’s priorities for Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency?
The government’s Digital Transformation Agency boss Gavin Slater has outlined his priorities for digitisation in Australia.
Speaking to the Australian Information Industry Association, Slater discussed value creation, customer centricity and building productive relationships in his first address as CEO.
The priorities can be summarised in five key points:
- Developing a digital service delivery roadmap for the Australian government
- Improving the major infrastructure and core platforms, helping to enhance user experience
- Improve means of evaluating IT performance
- Open up access to government contracts to more smaller and medium sized businesses
- Establish a digital training programme for all public sector staff
“The first time I thought about technology and how it could enable a better outcome was in 1986 when I started my first full time job as a batch processing clerk in the local bank branch,” Slater said when opening his address.
“From those early days I’ve always had this insatiable curiosity for how technology can improve things, automate processes, reduce manual tasks, improve accuracy and ultimately deliver better outcomes.”
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Slater did acknowledge that the DTA alone cannot implement the sweeping changes and targets set out above.
He said: “In outlining these priorities, it’s important to keep in mind that while the DTA will play a pivotal role, we alone can’t deliver them — we’ll need the help and support of all agencies across government.”
“There is much to be done if we are to increase the value creation for individuals, businesses and taxpayers. I don’t underestimate the task ahead — particularly in the context of a large, complex and decentralised organisation such as the federal government.
“To be successful, there are a couple of challenges and obstacles that will need to be overcome.”
These challenges, he stated, are collaboration between departments and thinking differently, drawing on curiosity and appetite for learning.
