Bringing back trust in democracy through a next generation of strong, transparent and efficient government institutions. Democracy is the foundation of our Society. It is therefore alarming to realize how democracy is under pressure across the world.
Both in the western world as well as in the developing countries, citizen dissatisfaction with democracy has been rising significantly over recent decades and has reached an all-time high. The decline in global democracy is to a large extent led by the large and most populous democracies, while only citizens in a few small and high-income democracies, like Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg and The Netherlands, report higher trust in their governments.
In the western world, dissatisfaction with Democracy is fueled by factors such as economic frustration combined with political uncertainty and polarization and in developing countries the evolution of Democracy is in many places harmed by political crises and corruption scandals.
We believe that trust comes with delivery. To protect and develop Democracy, government has to deliver efficient, fair and transparent services. But many government institutions seem to be at a crossroad, often under pressure both economically and politically, unable to deliver and lacking popular support. The strategy to counter this crisis in democracy is to rethink and build a next generation of more efficient, transparent and accountable institutions. Strong and stable government institutions are the way to fight the erosion and regain trust through highly efficient, transparent and fair service delivery.
This is possible by use of digitization and it is possible because all government organizations fundamentally work in the same manner. Based on the organization and production model called “Bureaucracy”, as described by German philosopher Max Weber. Digitization, if used correctly and with care, offers enormous power. It offers government institutions the opportunity to rethink and transform themselves into a next generation of digitally based institutions, highly efficient and transparent.
Unfortunately, government digitization often fails due to a generally accepted “technology first” approach. For decades governments has applied the latest technology and technology based strategies such as advanced analytics, blockchain, cloud first, robotics, artificial intelligence and open source. Yet, as new technologies have come and gone, government is still struggling to convert ambitious digitization plans into deliverable and measurable results.
Now the Technology First approach is challenged. A new public-private partnership which originated in Denmark and underpinned by extensive research has fostered a groundbreaking approach to government digitization based on formalized methods and standards. Digitizing all types of work processes and services, from internal ministerial work to citizen facing processes, end-to-end, the new approach to digitization offers government fast track digitization and strong measurable effects.
While technology continues to change, government roles and duties remain. The basis for the new approach was therefore applying a “processes first, technology second” approach, studying and understanding the processes and resources enabling government service delivery.
By understanding the nature of bureaucracy and government work. This has led to a generic model for government work, based on best practices and independent of technology, entitled “Digital Bureaucracy”.
Globally, most government institutions still struggle to digitize based on the classic technology first approach and custom build solutions. In contrast, more than 50 Danish government institutions, including 13 out of 19 ministries, now base their work on the Digital Bureaucracy model. All running on the exact same standard software, built to support the Digital Bureaucracy model, which has been configured to support each institution’s individual work processes.
In Denmark, several ministries have implemented the Digital Bureaucracy model and standard software within a few months, enabling a paperless working environment supporting everyone from most junior employee to the minister, running meetings and approvals on their iPad. This has significantly improved productivity, data and process control.
Likewise, many different Danish citizen facing processes are now digitally supported, end-to-end, based on the digital bureaucracy model and standard software. This includes processes like national citizenship, immigration permits, divorce, reclaiming tax dividends, and fraud management. Solutions typically have been delivered within 3-6 months from start to finish, from analyzing work processes to configuring the standard software and going live.
Enabling government institutions to digitize in months rather than years and delivered at significantly lower cost compared to traditional government IT projects, not only eliminate risk but fundamentally offers a new way of transformation and provides a fast track to build
next generation government institutions, digitally based. Strong, transparent and highly efficient government institutions which can help regain trust in democracy through delivery.
In close collaboration with government as well as private companies, we at cBrain continue to further develop the Digital Bureaucracy model and related implementation methods, in Denmark as well as internationally.
International projects, based on the Digital Bureaucracy model and Danish experiences, have successfully been applied in a number of European countries, North America as well as in the United Arab Emirates. These projects demonstrate, that governments across the world all work the same way and that government can re-use standards and best practices as a fast track to transformation and to support the development of next generation institutions for the benefit of our future society.
Working together, across the world, with government as well as private partners. We want to play our role, helping to regain trust in Democracy through digitization. Enabling a new generation of strong, transparent, and efficient government institutions.
Welcome to our CSR report 2019!
I hereby renew our commitment to The UN Global Compact meaning that we continue to act ethically, transparently and with integrity, in line with the Ten Principles of The UN Global Compact, and contribute towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).
Per Tejs Knudsen, CEO