Showcase Ontario 2006 is about what's next in service delivery excellence for the Government of Ontario.
"It's about creating the government of the future, and that's more than just a tagline," said Ontario's corporate CIO Ron McKerlie at Tuesday morning's keynote address in downtown Toronto.
Networking also plays a vital role at an event like this, he said. Showcase is about meeting and talking to people you might not see everyday.
"This is Canada's premier I&IT conference," said McKerlie. "Take advantage of these opportunities to learn from each other and make public service delivery more effective and innovative."
Reflecting on this year's theme for Showcase 2006 "Government of the Future", McKerlie said that concept is about anticipating and facilitating the needs of the people, and delivering excellent public service.
He said there are several keys to ensuring success, and one of those keys is people.
"It's all about people, it's you and people like you who make it all happen," McKerlie said. "The government of the future is about delivering services that work for the people. It's a future where we can be responsive to the individual needs of each client, with the result being better services for everyone."
He added it's all about adopting a service culture, and referenced the improvements made in the birth certificate issuing service.
"This (service) proves that different levels of government can work together to deliver public services," he said.
With the 15 day service guarantee for online applications for birth certificates, 65 per cent are now requested online, and 99 per cent are delivered on time, according to McKerlie.
"We will be offering more service guarantees in the future and Service Ontario will be the face of government services," he said.
McKerlie also stressed the importance of making better use of information.
"Information Technology will continue to be an indispensable tool," he said, "but it's about becoming better managers of information, by itself information it useless."
"All of our jobs rely on our ability to assess and access information b it's the bedrock to building effective services and programs."
And his office is clearly on target for building those effective services, McKerlie said.
"We are now on track to meet or exceed our targeted $100 million cost reduction by next year," he said. "We need to look forward and lead the way in a new era of government services."
"The government of the future starts with a vision and a passion for service excellence."
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