In the global scramble to digitise effectively, there may be some merit in considering how those who lead change successfully managed to do it. In his first book, the self-described serial government intrapreneur Siim Sikkut does just that. Sikkut’s own background is an interesting one, having graduated from Princeton University in 2005, he has gone on to work in public policy and up until this year was the Chief Information Officer for the Estonian Government. He has just launched a new project called Digital Nation. This is believed to be the vehicle that brings the successes of the Estonian government’s embrace of technology to a wider audience.
The issue of government digitisation is becoming a more pertinent point. Leaders are actively considering how to best move state interactions as well as how to create novel services that otherwise would not have been possible. Creating a digital society cannot be achieved overnight.
Due to its achievements, Estonia serves as an intriguing case study for illustrating how governments can become digitised. However, Sikkut believes that there are other governments from which we can learn. One of the criteria for Sikkut when selecting who to interview was whether they had shown “remarkable” leadership. Something that Sikkut feels is fundamental to ensuring that digitisation can be implemented effectively. Sikkut himself is a co-founder of the groundbreaking Estonian e-residency scheme. This allows business owners and entrepreneurs to become digitally resident in Estonia, giving access to the whole European single market.
Much of these Estonian innovations were made possible by a number of unique factors. Internet infrastructure is no longer an obstacle to getting online, over 90% of households have internet access. This allows the government to make almost all interactions with the state online and as streamlined as possible. By giving citizens an online presence and digital signatures, they can easily sign documents online.
There are immediate and complex challenges associated with the level of digitalisation that Estonia’s public service system underwent. During the coronavirus pandemic, the digital divide was brought into sharp relief, especially when it came to education. Lower income families who didn’t have internet access or devices to connect suddenly found themselves digitally locked out of the education system.
There are also well-founded privacy concerns. It is true that governments already store information on their citizens, further digitisation opens a new paradigm of possible data collection and retention. For governments to encourage high levels of uptake trust is an important factor. The public has to trust that their details will be safe.
Sikkut’s new book seeks to offer advice to those working in the public sector on how to overcome these issues. Through the medium of interviews Sikkut’s playbook describes the challenges and opportunities we all face on what is an issue of growing global importance.
The Following is an interview with the author Siim Sikkut, answers have been edited for clarity.
GovTech: What do you want digital leaders in the public sector to take from this book?
Siim Sikkut: First, inspiration. Digital government building is a hard job, but it can be done and so many people have such great experience to share for it. Each of the 20 stories (or: interviews) in the book is an inspiring one, in a different way. But each tells the same bottom-line story: with good management and leadership practices, success is possible.
Second, practical points and tips. This book emerged from conversations that digital government leaders are having with each other all the time. Whenever these folks meet, then – like any peers – they pick each other’s brains and ask for lessons learned or sharing of practices on how to tackle the challenges of digital transformation of governments. These challenges are similar, regardless of jurisdiction or country. That is why picking each other’s brain and experience is so valuable, as lessons can be learned and transferred into practice [by] another leader or team.
I wanted to bring those kinds of conversations to a wider audience, as the aspiration and hardships of making government digitally excellent is universal. I have been enjoying and benefitting a lot from these conservations from my time as Estonian Government CIO, and I am truly thankful to 20 old colleagues and friends who agreed to be in the book. Each of the 20 interviews with them, each of the chapters, includes a set of insights and practical ideas that any next digital government leader or doer can pick up into their work and practice. So, it is very much a book from practitioners to practitioners.
GovTech: Do you think there are lessons to be learnt by leaders beyond the public sector? If so, what are they?
Siim Sikkut: Digital transformation at its core has the same challenges and opportunities in any organisation, especially the big ones – where bureaucracy inevitably builds up, and sheer size of organisation adds complexity for change.
As such, the insights and practices of remarkable digital government leaders in this book should really resonate to CIOs or Chief Digital Officers or digital teams in any organisation, including especially bigger and more traditional ones. The way the 20 leaders in this book have approached strategy creation, stakeholder management, team building and culture, and so on – all these can serve as a food-for-thought or perhaps even tricks to copy for anyone in the digital leadership and transformation “business”.
GovTech: Why was Estonia so successful in implementing digitisation and from your experiences writing this book have any other countries come close?
Siim Sikkut: Long story short: Estonia managed to get the blend of leadership, public-private partnership, building up of strong foundations and a burning platform (aka drive), management of risks of digitalization and working approach right. For example, Estonia’s journey has been very much one of experimentation – how to make bold initiatives like nation-wide digital identity, X-Road as platform for data sharing, e-Residency or online voting work. Our leaders have had willingness and boldness to also try stuff out, which has created space for innovation. The rest has been hard steady work from this, scaling initiatives out, building capacity, sometimes stumbling as well.
The book should clearly show that Estonia is not alone is such progress. In fact, no country is the best at everything digital – even cannot be, already thinking about the law of comparative advantage. Plus, digital government is a never-ending journey. There is always the next level to strive for, especially as technology marches ahead.
There is no universal benchmark on which country is truly the best in digital government – depends on what you measure. Philosophically, to some degree I think there even cannot be, despite the efforts to do so by UN and others. Your digital government can be only the best possible for your citizens and users. That is the measure. And in the book you have now 20 stories of how governments with remarkable digital leaders at helm have moved towards that state of excellence – not always full way, but strongly in the direction.
GovTech: Why is the public sector much slower at adopting new technologies?
Siim Sikkut: It is not true that it is always the case. For example, in Estonia, the public sector has been the frontrunner in tech uptake compared to much of the (traditional) economic sectors. Uptake of artificial intelligence is the latest example of this, where the government has been a pioneer globally, but piloting is only starting in industry-at-large.
However, for times when it is the case – the book provides quite a few illustrative stories in this regard. When you want to change how government operates and make it more digital, there is politics involved. There are many stakeholders involved, and bureaucratic processes. There is legacy. There is also [the] issue of skills of people that need to do the change, as well as sometimes little incentive for them to do so. All this can hinder the change, or at least slows it down.
Mind you, the challenges of transforming any large corporate entity would be similar. But, of course, many companies and especially small and nimble start-ups that are born digital from day 1, are significantly different.
GovTech: How do we overcome the challenges caused by the “digital divide”?
Siim Sikkut: Depends on which kind of digital divide we are talking about here.
If the question is the digital divide within [the] public sector aka the people who should be leading and delivering on digital transformation by making digital services and policies better with digital tools, then the book offers several experiences from various countries. Whether it is by building out central digital teams to kickstart or boost delivery, or involvement and training of [the] public sector at-large, or governance reforms and initiating a culture change in public sector organisations – the list can go on.
If the question is the digital divide within [the] population, then my own answer is threefold. First, many people are already digital, but underserved digitally by their governments. Start or continue building better services for them, while keeping in mind usability also for others, of course. Second, design matters. Services can be designed more and more in [a] way where a divide does not stop people getting the benefits of digitization. For example, with automated or proactive services, digital divide is not a barrier to get the benefits. Third, digital government building has to be accompanied by a wider digital agenda that includes digital skills and connectivity policies to continually reduce the divide that might still exist.
