Operating context
The increasing digitisation of economies has highlighted the importance of digital transformation for government and how it can help improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of government services.
Digital services are the face of modern government, and great digital services can build trust with citizens. Citizens and businesses now expect government information and services to be readily available online, easy to find and understand, and at low or no cost.
Cost of living challenges are also seeing more people engage with services offered by the department. For example, Consumer Affairs Victoria is providing more support to more people to help them understand and enforce their consumer rights.
Following the local government elections in 2024, there have been increased requests for support for councillor induction and training, and support for statutory council documents that are required to be delivered in the first year of new council terms.
Increasing productivity within government remains a strong driver for the department, with improvements to corporate services a priority.
Key challenges and risks
Our operating context gives rise to challenges and strategic risks that must be managed effectively to achieve our objectives.
We adhere to the Victorian Government Risk Management Framework which requires all departments to have formal risk management processes. Our framework supports activities including the management of strategic and shared risks, engagement in state significant risk activities, risk mitigation plans and risk appetite initiatives.
Accelerating customer expectations and technology change
Leading product and services businesses succeed because they give their customers fast, frictionless service across every channel. They use data, analytics and insights to see where things break down, what customers value and what drives unnecessary cost. This helps them to fix pain points and streamline operations.
Advances in technology and GenAI are rapidly accelerating the effectiveness of customer insights and performance of products, systems and service channels leading to fewer surprises, faster responses, and better use of limited resources.
DGS must meet these rapidly evolving service expectations to ensure the continued adoption of services and digital technologies.
Increasing cyber security threats
The rapid advancement of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing has implications for privacy and cybersecurity.
The evolving nature of cyber threats and several wide-spread IT and telecommunications outages have highlighted risks to the resilience of government services in the digital age. Further work is happening with the Federal Government and other jurisdictions to enhance our national digital resilience.
DGS also needs smart policy responses, as well as expertise to develop and implement enabling technology to deliver high quality digital services and mitigate the risk of service delivery disruptions or breaches of privacy, security or integrity.
Barriers to digital inclusion
The social challenges faced by the most vulnerable in our society – such as accessing services and obtaining higher value jobs – are magnified by the increasing use of digital.
We need to identify and address common challenges and inhibitors to service access to ensure government services are accessible to everyone.
Organisational capacity and capability
DGS was established in January 2023, through the transfer of functions from other departments. As the DGS operating model evolves, continued organisational development is needed to create the capabilities and capacity required to deliver our objectives and ensure that we fulfil our legal, policy and regulatory obligations.
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