Government in Post-COVID

The global spending by governments will see a negative growth of 0.5% for the year 2020.

One of the major setbacks of COVID 19 pandemic was in the Public Sector. As economy plummeted, most of the Public sector institutes either scrambled to shut down their operations, or resorted to options that could have their organizations floating. Moreover, the governments around the globe are chalking out strategies that can revive the public sector which is hanging by the cliff. A report by Gartner states that the spending by the governments globally in the areas such as IT Services, Software, Telecom Services, Internal Services and Data Centers will see a negative growth of 0.5% for the year 2020. Moreover, the global IT services will witness a decline of 0.6% in 2020.

Since the global loss due to COVID 19 is cavernous, a report named “The New Reality for Government: Post Pandemic Global Insights” by KPMG has chalked down some strategies that would help in restoring the infrastructure of Public Sector. These strategies are formulated for the governments to focus on key areas for change and opportunity. In this article, we will observe the tenants of these strategies.

Organizational Design

The pandemic has reformed the working framework of organizations in the departmental level. In the Pre-COVID era, the challenge amongst organizations was to share data within the departments. Earlier, it was almost impossible to share the insights about customer services between departments. With the urgency in the COVID 19 response, the walls between different departments, and departments and citizens have been crumbled, leading to a more robust data sharing environment. Citing the examples of UK’s Shielding Program, which is a collaborative framework between the government departments and NGO’s to provide supplies for vulnerable people, and Australia’s replacement of COAG program, the report states the government’s must focus on the needs of citizens as customers and leverage data analytics to meet the customer demands.

Service Design

Prior to the COVID 19, the notion that transformation in the operations amongst sector and new service design lacks rigor, hindered organizational operations. However, the COVID 19 transformed the operational and service design in almost all sectors. From digital consultation in healthcare sectors to tracking down the supply chain digitally, penetration of technology in service design has been applauded globally. Researchers assert for inhabiting efficiency post COVID, organizations must focus in the service design that is being adopted for smooth operations. This will help in working efficiently, and scaling up the operations within organizations. The report also states that Digital tools and databases will enable the government to share and re-use service components for improving customer experience. Moreover, a reformation in the product design will enable to focus more on the customer demands, thus proving more effective and will provide more value for money.

Human Resources

As the Pandemic has lulled back organizations to work remotely, the changes in the roles, focus and leadership has been observed globally. The report states that the in the post- pandemic era, public sector organizations must focus on the recognizing the skillset and taking collaborative responsibility for achieving success. By Developing a vision for the shape of the future workforce enables consistent steps for organizations in mitigating risks.

Digital Transformation

Prior to the outbreak of COVID 19, the government operations were done manually. In the COVID era, a surge in digital operations has been observed. Be it digital transaction in banking process or digital utilization in providing healthcare services. The report states that in the post-covid era, the government laws and policies must be regulated with digital transformation, to support and enable economies, struggling to deal with physically distant commerce, accelerated online, as well as thing like the move a cashless society. This will assist in enhancing the governance, implement a long term saving and huge gains, with delivering better customer and citizen experiences.

Supply Chain

Due to the COVID 19, the global supply chain was disrupted. In the Post COVID world, the governments must establish visibility to restore operations. With the help of Predictive Supply chain toolset, the future shortfalls can be identified, and the risk mitigation plans can be pit in place, before large damage can be done. The report states that the government must also focus on the innovations that can accelerate supply-chain operations. A strategic approach will be imperative to sustain the dwindling supply-chain sector.