Known for its lighthouses, iconic Blue Nose ship, scrumptious seafood and lively Celtic music, Nova Scotia may not be the first province that pops into your head when you think of technology leaders in Canada. But that may soon change.
Not only is the province armed with an ambitious e-channel strategy spearheaded by Service Nova Scotia, an aggressive recruitment campaign has also been launched within all sectors (including IT) to lure former Nova Scotians back home. It appears that this Maritime province is well on its way to becoming a leader in e-government.
Located in the East Coast, picturesque Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, and is almost completely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean with a population of approximately 940,000. While Nova Scotia's strong points have traditionally been resource-based, including the mining and agriculture sectors, its economy has become more diverse as technology and finance add to the mix.
At the Shifting Sands service transformation conference in November presented on behalf of Dalhousie University's School of Public Administration and the Nova Scotia Chapter of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC), Service Nova Scotia's Darlene Joyce spoke about the restructuring of services across multiple channels.
E-channel makeover
"Part of our five-year plan that we've established includes 'One Client, One Vision' as part of achieving client-centric service delivery," said Joyce, Service Nova Scotia's director of e-service.
The One Client, One Vision program essentially provides citizens a one-stop-shopping experience for accessing government services, as opposed to having to go to different departments or branches for different services.
Joyce stressed the importance for government service providers to understand the services they're providing as well as the services that clients expect, as part of a more integrated service delivery vision.
"Performance measurement is key to ensure that we're giving citizens what they need," said Joyce.
Service Nova Scotia is currently providing 50 programs, and has 39 offices across the province with over 1.5 million citizen-based services.
"With our online channel we have over 600,000 information requests with 90,000 transactions, and 10 access centres," said Joyce.
She also outlined the channel strategy guiding principles, which include the consideration of authentication, privacy, security and program compliance requirements, customer needs and preferences, and alignment with government policy. She added that the online channel will be established as a basis for other channels.
"We want to leverage existing systems that we have (i.e. business registration) to enhance service delivery."
In addition to enhancing the province's e-service delivery, Nova Scotia is also looking to beef up its workforce. The province recently launched Opportunities Nova Scotia, the objective of which is to recruit former Nova Scotians and other job-seekers to the province.
"We're expecting an average of nearly 13,000 new job openings annually over the next five years," said Premier Rodney MacDonald in a press statement. "By bringing together some of Nova Scotia's top businesses, which are prepared to win employees in a very competitive climate, we can demonstrate the strength of our economy and show that there are high-quality jobs right now in Nova Scotia."
Continued: Nova Scotia's recruitment campaign
Related content:
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Public service needs 'constant evolution', says Nova Scotia exec
Provinces eye one-stop-shop for service delivery
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