Published on the 12/04/2016 | Written by Donovan Jackson

New Zealand’s productivity is low and not improving, but ‘new technology’ can change that…

That’s according to NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller, who in a statement pointed out that productivity is a measure of being able to produce more with less effort or resources.

In the statement, the organisation noted that ‘services make up 70 percent of GDP and it is here where New Zealand is least productive’. That’s particularly pronounced in government services, which account for half of all services, Muller said.

“The government understands these services need to be transformed in order to improve productivity and they appreciate technology is the way to solve the problem. But, according to Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, the transformation is not happening fast enough. This is due to government employees’ fear of failure, resistance to collaboration and capability gaps,” he said.

Asked by iStart what ‘technology’ specifically should be used to improve productivity, Muller gave a non-committal answer, which can be summed up as ‘ICT generally’ (given the breadth and depth of the industry, the question is admittedly a difficult one to answer). However, the organisation’s statement noted that, ‘since 2012, better use of technology has delivered a 16 percent reduction in the reported effort in dealing with government departments’.

Muller’s statement was promoting NZTech’s background briefing paper ‘Transforming Government Technology’, in which the industry association is pushing for greater innovation through an improved partnership between the Government and the ICT industry.

At the recent NZTech Government Technology Summit, where English spoke, Muller said a clear theme emerged that ‘transforming government services will lead to better outcomes for all New Zealanders, especially those in most need’.

“So the Deputy PM is planning to put further fiscal pressure on agencies to try to force them to innovate. The tech sector is concerned that without cultural change, fiscal pressure runs the risk of driving a ‘cost reduction’ mentality in agencies, resulting in decreasing service rather than transformation.”

When iStart pointed out that governments are notoriously bad at innovating (and further imagines that ‘forced innovation’ is, like so many government initiatives, likely to produce unintended results), Muller agreed but said the intentions are good.

He added that the bureaucratic components tend to be well addressed, ‘with great strategies and guidelines in place and partnership frameworks’. Where it all falls apart is the implementation. “It’s the nuts and bolts. Government workers are designed to be risk averse, so it is hard to innovate in that place, so we see innovative thoughts at the strategic level, but anything deemed risky is avoided which means innovation tends to be squeezed out in the implementation.”

That said, Muller said there are ‘pockets of innovation’ in government, found where the incentives are right and chief executives have a high understanding of technology and what it can offer. The situation is also better, he added, “when working closely with the industry; innovation doesn’t necessarily come from a government agency and that’s not what they are there for”.

The summit recommended that further investment be made in alignment with the government ICT strategy – building better tech capability across government, continuing to drive better use of data, working on innovations with the tech sector and agencies sharing examples of successful innovations with each other.

iStart notes that these are somewhat nebulous targets which are difficult to measure.

“The Government is the tech sector’s largest client. Engaging proactively together will not just improve the country’s productivity it will also further stimulate the country’s fastest growing export sector. With up to 40 percent of all money spent on ICT in New Zealand spent by the public sector, enabling agencies to share innovative ways of using technology can drive better public services,” Muller said.

He added that New Zealand’s tech sector presents ‘the most obvious opportunity to expand the diversity of New Zealand’s exports’ and ‘ongoing investment in the New Zealand tech industry can help achieve these aspirations, while helping to drive better public services’.

NZTech’s briefing paper on Transforming Government Technology is available here.