IPWC 2019 Keynote Q&A – Peter Welling, Managing Director, Serco Citizen Services.
Service re-engineering has transformed the way governments execute policy. International Public Works Conference keynote speaker Peter Welling says positive outcomes not only depend on system design and technology but also on establishing strategic partnerships at the outset.
inspire: What have we gained from decentralised government services?
Welling: Leveraging private sector expertise has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of government services as well as building the internal capability in government that ultimately results in better services for citizens. The expected benefits around risk transfer and value for money have now become the hygiene factors, true benefits are now being realised through contemporary contracting models such as outcome based and gain share mechanisms to create win-win decentralised government service scenarios.
inspire: How is success measured?
Welling: The hygiene factors around contract deliverables are the starting point but the real magic comes from what is not written in any contract. The value created through success can be as simple as seamless transition, no issues, dealing with and resolving unexpected issues and delivering ‘safe hands’. It’s about letting a successful service transformation speak for itself.
inspire: What works to establish a strategic alignment environment?
Welling: Start with the customer at the centre and treat them as customers despite any regulatory constraints that bind them to your service delivery. This creates a customer service mindset. Design services around their needs, not the structure of the public sector, remembering that your customers are why you exist.
inspire: How is sustainability achieved in a re-engineered service?
Welling: Keep working hard to stay relevant and add value otherwise, it’s like a clock winding down.
inspire: In 10 years, how might technology change public sector services?
Welling: Citizens tend to benchmark their government service experience against other commercial digital experiences now, which is creating a gap between expectations and delivery. As citizen identity silo structures are progressively broken down by government, and ubiquitous identity is enabled, greater access to services will open. If we can liberate the customer experience around natural service pathways through a no-wrong-door citizen-centric approach to service design, things will change. Otherwise, we may still be in a bespoke service delivery environment albeit with newer technology.
inspire: What’s milestone is ahead in your field or role?
Welling: The business I lead for Serco is the fastest growing service transformation business globally because we have taken new approaches to strategic partnering and service transformation. My next milestone is to continue to stay relevant and at the front, and to find the next generation of service transformation that hasn’t been imagined yet, but we know is out there. I am driven by being better and different to others and comfortable in ambiguity as we ideate and experiment on finding new ways to move forward.
inspire: What keeps you inspired about the work you do?
Welling: Governments trust Serco to deliver a broad and sometimes difficult range of important services, so working at Serco energises me every day. When I was younger I dreamed about being a leader and having the ability to make a real difference, but I never dreamed this big. Having personally led the growth of Serco into the NDIS and Centrelink, I know today that there are now hundreds of people with jobs when nobody else gave them opportunities, including 15 per cent of my NDIS workforce, as people with disabilities. This means in a small way we have made a difference and I feel inspired and proud when telling this story to my wife and children.
Peter Welling, keynote speaker will present Improving service and reducing costs using a “service transformation approach” through technology, data analysis and service re-engineering at the 2019 Hobart IPWC.
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