Dubai: A good government is one that meets the needs of citizens and other people by continuously trying to improve its services, said Hans-Paul Burkner, Chair of BCG Centre for Public Impact.
He added that a good government is one that knows the needs of citizens and caters to those needs. He added that a government that delivers to those needs is a government with legitimacy.
“In places like India, education and funding are fundamental needs but the government does not deliver,” he said. “What I would like to emphasise is for governments to understand these needs.”
Burkner mentioned the example of India because there cannot be just one government of the future since different countries have different needs depending on age and demographics. Similarly, Paul MacMillan, Global Public Sector Industry Leader in Deloitte, said he does not know the criteria of a future government because of the rapid changes of the world.
“What caught my attention was the Watson concept, a cognitive system that adapts and learn,” said MacMillan. “And that made me think, ‘Shouldn’t governments be an adaptive system?’”
He listed three crucial characteristics governments must possess to be classified as adaptive: “Open functionality which requires moving from open government and open data into crowd sourcing; applied learning, which is the ability to look at these innovations and figure out how to apply them and, lastly, adaptive rule-making which requires a government to be better at adapting rules to accommodate these innovations,” he said.
Burkner also spoke about the importance of having governments that challenges their citizens. For instance, if the citizens demand better education, the government should demand citizens put in enough effort into the education they are receiving.
He added that governments must be focused and must segment their approach to monitor spending. Governments, he said, should aim at achieving more while spending less.
“The real concern is having the same mess for less,” said Sean Shine, managing director of Health and Public Service EALA, Accenture. “The difference between the vision and the ability to execute it successfully is a big difference.”
MacMillan advised governments to take advantage of citizens in modern-day society known as ‘wave-makers’.
“A government’s ability to engage with the marketplace is important,” said MacMillan. “We’re looking for governments to embrace these innovations sooner.”
Maria Botros is a trainee with Gulf News
