Many governments find themselves facing a perfect storm: smaller budgets, less staff, higher citizen expectations, retiring baby boomers, legacy systems, and broken processes…shall I go on?
Not long ago, The Economist featured a Special Report on innovation in emerging markets. It discussed how companies in the emerging markets, especially India and China, are forging ahead faster and smarter than the rest of us here in the so-called rich countries.
One of the articles in particular caught my attention. It discussed in detail the concept of ‘Frugal Innovation’. I think this concept really applies to government organizations in these tough economic times. These companies have mastered the ability to constantly squeeze costs out of everything they do while continuing to reach more and more customers. I think that applying this approach can help Governments deal with the position they find themselves in today; budgets are tight yet citizen and management expectations are increasing every day.
Frugal innovation is not just coming out with low-end products or services. It involves rethinking the whole process of how you do work in a way that helps minimize costs while still allowing for increased service levels. The article offered several examples of companies in emerging markets have adopted frugal innovation to deliver better results, and I got thinking about how governments can adopt the same mindset.
There are three key concepts that I think governments can adopt from these emerging markets. These are quite bold statements and not always possible for governments, but you would be surprised to know that they are already taking place in governments across North America. I want to share with you some examples from our own clients.
- Focus on your core business, and contract out the rest – Governments are realizing that they are in the business of protecting and serving the citizens and not in the business of writing software code. This is one reason why we are seeing a huge push towards COTS solutions like AMANDA, and away from custom applications. City of Arlington is using Code Rangers, citizens trained in the most common code enforcement violations, to help with bylaw enforcement issues and has outsourced several inspections to third party firms all because they know their core focus.
- Use existing technology in imaginative new ways – The world where every department bought their own siloed application for its own purpose and didn’t have to share data with the rest of the organization are gone. Also gone are the days where governments could easily find and retain talented IT staff to sustain all those applications. When Province of Nova Scotia was asked to quickly develop a tax rebate system by the Premier, they had a couple of options: build from scratch or see what existing technology they can leverage. Within a matter of months, they had a rebate system up and running in AMANDA. City of St. Paul uses AMANDA for its internal IT support and ticketing solution. I’m not embarrassed to say that never in CSDC’s vision or strategy did we think AMANDA would be used in such creative and imaginative ways. This imaginative thinking has helped them deliver more services with less costs, effort and resources.
- Apply mass production techniques in new and unexpected areas – Walk into the first floor of city hall or the building department of City of San Jose, City of Portland, City of Arlington, Orange County in Florida, to name but a few, and you will see a well laid out and planned One Stop Shop for Permitting. Where previously the permitting process was disjointed, these organizations have setup a One Stop Shop to manage large volumes of customers in a streamlined and efficient manner. The sheer volume of applicants these organizations face has forced them to rethink their processes, specialize their people, and leverage various technologies to deliver the required results.
These are tried, tested and true concepts that have been proven successful in business and are being proved in governments today. Challenge yourself, your team, and your organization to adopt the ‘Frugal Innovation’ mindset, and I promise you, you will be building a stronger foundation for the future.
Nitish
VP, Business Development