Digital economy blueprint

1.5.2.1 Whole-of-government 

Platforms:

This is a single extensible platform on which all gov-

ernment services are built. Typically, this means that 

citizens only have a single place to go to get any and 

all government services. Government provides access 

to its platform to third parties so as to perform ver-

ification of identity and other services that only the 

government could provide. A classic example of this 

is the free and open source ALTINN platform built by 

Norway.

To achieve its objectives of improving public ser-

vices, the Government must modernise and upgrade 

its internal ICT systems by digitising the working and 

functioning of the government as a foundation for and 

to accelerate digitised service delivery. Modernised 

internal government ICT platform is foundational to 

all aspects of a digital Government, whether it’s ex-

ternal services or internal operations.

To deliver on all outcomes for a digital economy then 

using technology internally for government opera-

tions is the best place to start. Government investment 

in ICTs will lead to better, faster and more efficient 

services for the citizens. Digitising health records and 

automating processes will lead to improved health-

care delivery. Agricultural information systems con-

necting government, farmers and agro-business will 

improve food security. Digitising land records will re-

duce fraud and unlock value. In addition, integrating 

ICTs in education increases skills base.

Immediate  benefits  can  be  realized  by  having  opti-

mised local data centres for reliability and reduced 

costs, a cloud-based infrastructure for flexibility and 

efficiencies and a unified communications and collab-

oration system for daily operations. There is also a 

need to securely identify and authenticate a govern-

ment worker, citizen or business, providing the foun-

dation for securing identities, protecting privacy and 

enabling trusted benefits and services. This should be 

implemented alongside a cyber-security framework to 

ensure security everywhere. Finally, the government 

needs to work with partners to ensure the continued 

stable functioning of all the ICT components.