Digital Government Excellence. Siim Sikkut
hope that this helps everything to go forward, too.
What Is the State of Finnish Digital Government Today? What Are the Remaining Challenges?
When I started, I went abroad to see how other countries had digitalized and learn about what to do. The same countries I went to visit have been now coming to visit us in return. It shows that we have achieved something by digitalizing Finland if others are coming to see our results.
The remaining challenges are to develop and implement a mobile identity, which is a big change in the short term because it is not just improving the current electronic identity and how it operates. We were looking at a whole new way for identity. Also, the Digitalization Agency is now a couple of years old and still needs work to stabilize its services for delivery and customer satisfaction as well.
COVID-19 has supported people seeing and understanding the big value in consolidated common services. Otherwise, government staff would not have been able to move to work at home in such a way so that everything continued working. This would not have been possible earlier when every agency had its own services. Now it is better understood that shared services can really give you a benefit.
What Do You Wish You Had Known When You Started in the Job, If You Look Back Now?
I guess it would have helped me if I would have understood better the expectations on substance. I remember that when I joined the ministry and the department, people were already talking about digitalization more than ICT—but the department still had (and has) ICT in its title. So, for half a year I had to learn to understand that my work is not actually ICT, but digitalization! The thing is that nobody really explained what they expected from me.
What Are the Key Skills Necessary to Do the Government CIO Job Well?
As the CIO, you need to understand digitalization and the possibilities on a general level of what you can do. On the state level, you need to know how the government operates, the decision-making, the financial processes. Or you need to learn it. The faster you learn it, the better.
My boss at State Treasury told me that social know-how is the skill set you need nowadays, and this relates to networking. You need to be able to create the network. This includes that you should be willing to learn from others and not create your own bicycle—instead, copy from the best.
Finally, you should be able to build the culture that works.
Would You Actually Recommend This Job to Anyone? What Makes It Special?
I would definitely recommend it. There is one and only government CIO. There is no other position like that in Finland or any country. Because ICT and digitalization are cross-cutting themes, you are then able to see so much. You can see all the ministries and how they work, all the municipalities. You also see the private sector, if you work with them in your network—and you should. In Finland, working in the Ministry of Finance as the “super ministry” is especially worth it as you see how it works and operates.
What Are the Key Recommendations You Would Have for a Peer on How to Do the GCIO Work the Most Effectively?
First of all, you have to create the strategy and to have the big picture about where to go. This is necessary for yourself, for your team, for your network or for your state. As I said, the team of experts will move in the direction you show by themselves. If the goal is clear and they see the big picture, they are then able to deliver it and you do not need any management at the level of details.
Second—and it is related—you really need the network. You need the people and to know the people. You need to create this network, and not only in your own country but other countries as well. That makes you able to see the big picture better. If you do not have the network, then you do not hear, you do not learn, and you do not see when you need to revise your direction.
Finally, deliver what you have promised!
Notes
1 1. The government program in Finland is the political work plan for the Cabinet of Ministers for the duration of the government term, agreed by the parties upon forming the coalition government. It essentially contains the political goals and promises of the current government.
2 2. It was the report called “21 Paths to a Frictionless Finland: Report of the ICT 2015 Working Group,” published in 2013.
3 3. X-Road is the data exchange and interoperability platform used for government-wide secure data sharing in Estonia first, implemented then under the name Palveluväylä in Finland and now in other countries, too.
4 4. Oy Suomi AB could be translated as Finland Inc., or Finland Ltd.—denoting the concept of state as “one enterprise.”
5 5. Maija is referring to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, titled Digi- ja Väestötietovaristo (DVV) in Finnish.
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