25% of agencies are struggling to move forward

According to a recent study conducted by Micro Focus in partnership with Omdia, Australian federal government agencies have been working hard on their digital transformations in recent years.

However, at least a quarter of them have still not moved forward with a digital transformation plan.

The study surveyed 40 Australian federal government decision-makers to assess where they are at in terms of their digital transformation initiatives and the challenges they are currently facing.

The study found that 50% of respondents work in agencies that are implementing digital transformation programs now while 25% do not have an approved strategy in place.

Other key findings included 88% of respondents stating that their IT systems would have to change and 45% saying that new systems or major changes to existing systems would be required.

When it comes to the barriers that government agencies face, the top challenge identified by decision-makers was organisational structure/culture, followed by legacy technology, staff skills, lack of investment, and lack of direction.

Automation on the rise

The research found that 36% of respondents stated they had already implemented automation technology with another 48% indicating a planned investment in the near future.

The leading driver for adopting automation was a reduction in repetitive back-office tasks, following by improved use of data across systems, more accurate responses to customer enquiries, reduced levels of error in data input, and the freeing up of staff so that they can focus on higher-value tasks.

IT investment re-prioritised

The research also showed that government agencies are planning significant investment in core IT solutions that support their digital transformation initiatives.

Even in light of the impacts of COVID-19, the decision-makers surveyed overwhelmingly agreed that their investment levels in IT would not be affected, illustrating its importance.

However, they did note that while investment would not decrease, priorities may be reassessed.

Specifically, they said that in a post-COVID world their top priority is now management of cloud, followed by IT governance, risk and compliance, and IT business management.

To achieve their goals, Omdia recommends that government agencies seek solutions which offer deployment options across on-site, private cloud or public cloud as well as flexible integration with APIs.

How Docuworx can help?

Docuworx, as a Platinum Partner of DocuWare, is ready to assist government agencies of all types and sizes with their digital transformations.

With DocuWare’s platform as the tool, government agencies can:

• Manage risk by protecting their valuable data from cybersecurity threats and natural disasters
• Improve efficiency by having a centralised and secure document pool which can be accessed from anywhere and at any time by workers in different departments.
• Enhance information sharing by integrating with common business applications
• Boost compliance, by adhering to all regulatory requirements
• Eliminate clutter, by going paperless
• Speed up processes by automating them
• Future proof, by allowing citizens to submit digital forms or email their requests
• And more.

Case study: The Town of Henrietta

For example, the Town of Henrietta in the US recently benefited greatly from the implementation of DocuWare.

Henrietta is a small town located just outside of Rochester New York and is home to approximately 45,000 people.

The town’s government offices had a major record-keeping problem as it was overwhelmed by the vast amount of paperwork that was rapidly filling up onsite and offsite storage facilities.

It was not only costing the town money but also making the search and retrieval of important documents a daunting task.

A top priority for the town was to find a solution such as DocuWare that could seamlessly integrate with its existing software.

Today, the town has over half a million documents stored in DocuWare. Thanks to this world-leading solution, the time required to retrieve documents has been reduced to mere seconds and the need for paper records has been eliminated.

Meanwhile, the town’s return on investment was realized within months. It was able to save over $20,000 a year on paper storage alone.

Want to find out more?

Docuworx believes that the DocuWare platform is an ideal digital strategy for the quarter of Australian government agencies that are yet to commence their digital transformations.

To learn more about how Docuworx can assist your organization, book a free trial today