Government

Increased voter expectations and tighter fiscal imperatives for balanced budgets are pushing governments in all states and nationally to take a more strategic approach to managing assets and services.

Individual departments and services at all levels of government are facing significant challenges as their uniquely designed legacy systems are transformed under whole-of-government strategies, designed to drive fundamental change.

For individual departments and programs, the challenge in moving to a more unified management system across government is to retain and adapt basic data subsystems while integrating with other services not traditionally aligned with its mission.

Standardisation and sharing of resources will, at some stage, be extended to business processes, technology and expertise. But the transition to a universal system causes significant pain and problems in the short term if not designed and managed sensitively and in a phased approach.

In the future, the challenge will not only be in streamlining systems across government but also between governments as consumers seek more accessible platforms for interaction and assistance. Coordination of various services and bureaucratic departments requires clear communications and understanding of sensitivities and needs. Without this understanding, large government projects are easily delayed and costs run out of control.

Increasingly, the government sector is applying lessons from private enterprise in several key areas, such as strategy, performance improvement, organisational effectiveness, change management, IT infrastructure and customer loyalty techniques to drive and affect change, something Oakton has been building particular expertise in for many years.

Oakton’s government consulting experience

For over 20 years Oakton has helped Australia's government and public sector entities on strategic issues, such as performance improvement, operating efficiencies, cost management and reduction and organisational effectiveness to help drive higher levels of services performance, quality and reliability.

In the last 12 months we’ve created tangible value for NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, Australian Customs Service, Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian and the Department of Defence.

To find out more about Oakton’s expertise in this area, please contact Craig Wills or Joe Varrasso.