10. Use digital technologies to enhance service delivery

  • Use technology as an enabler for well-designed services to deliver further efficiency and cost effectiveness, not as the purpose or driver.
  • Assess how technology can be used to help deliver, automate and enhance services, regardless of the channels people prefer to use.
  • Stay current with best practices and keep the technology sustainable through the life-cycle of a service.
  • Understand how use of digital technologies can improve accessibility and communication and apply that understanding
  • Understand requirements for privacy and security.

Why it matters

The tools and technologies you choose will affect the ability to build a good service in a cost effective way. Maximising the configurability will minimise the cost of changing direction in future.

Technology decisions are a significant area of investment for the service. The choices you make will have a huge impact on your ability to build, iterate and operate the service in a sustainable way.

Test the technology you’re working with regularly. Testing is the only way to be confident that your service can cope with the demands likely to be placed on it, and that it works on a wide range of devices.

Technology is an enabler that allows more opportunities when developing service delivery solutions, such as:

  • anytime access
  • self-service
  • sourcing and connecting information (where permitted) for faster and more accurate decision making
  • re-use of components
  • greater efficiency.

Use of technology is not limited to the delivery of services via the digital channel and it should not be assumed that everybody will be able or willing to use the digital channel to access your service. It may not be appropriate to use the digital channel for some services.

How to meet this principle

At a minimum you should describe:

  • your consideration of using cloud and open source as first options
  • your consideration of opening up data, potentially as Application Programming Interfaces (API’s), transactions and business rules that underpin your services
  • your digital channel strategy
  • how you plan to meet accessibility standards (external site link)
  • how technology will be used to support users outside the digital channel; for example web chat, telephone assistance, service intermediaries, face-to-face
  • the strategy for educating users in the use of any technology selected.
  • what commonly accepted methods, tools, platforms, components or processes developed to support other services you can use, and understand the potential benefits or caveats to the reuse of these tools
  • how you have met the requirements of the PSR and NZISM.

At a minimum you should be able to demonstrate that:

  • your team has the skills necessary to understand available technology and how it can contribute to service being designed
  • technology has been used to enhance your service in both the digital and non-digital channels
  • you have a way to continually identify new technologies and how they may be used to improve services
  • your team has an understanding of the PSR and NZISM requirements.

Rules, requirements and directives to follow

Guidance

Utility links and page information

Was this page helpful?
Thanks, do you want to tell us more?

Do not enter personal information. All fields are optional.

Last updated