NEC launches digital government centre of excellence in Perth

Perth has welcomed a new centre of excellence for digital government established by global technology firm NEC.

Technology services and advisory firm NEC has officially opened the doors to its new Digital Government Centre of Excellence in Perth, which will seek to build public sector solutions in areas such as healthcare, transport, safety and smart city development with the support of more than 100 locally-based professionals.

Prior to launch, A/NZ chief executive Jason Price noted the firm’s more than three-decade presence in the state.

“A key factor in our decision to select Perth was the significant resources and experience we have working alongside the WA Government on a range of critical projects, and a shared appetite to improve outcomes and interactions between their citizens and agencies,” Price stated. “NEC has has deep knowledge of our customers’ issues and recognition of the maturity of many government agencies in their digital transformation journey.”

A major feature of the new hub will be NEC’s proprietary offering WorkZone, a public-sector productivity platform and workflow solution developed in Denmark by NEC subsidiary KMD and used by more than five million people across the country – with over 70 percent of the Danish government’s processes now run on the platform. NEC said WorkZone will help meet changing demands in service expectations, accessibility and data compliance.

“Governments and businesses are facing increasing and complex operating environments and they require effective and efficient operations to perform,” said Technology & Innovation vice president Ayala Domani, who noted the challenges of Australia’s growing and wide-spanning population. “Our Digital Government Centre of Excellence will play a key role in supporting citizens and communities to be on the front foot of these challenges.”

In promoting the WorkZone platform, NEC pointed to Denmark’s ongoing status as the world’s leading digital public services provider according to the UN’s e-Government development index (Australia is currently ranked seventh globally), with WorkZone having been integrated into the majority of its back-end services. The company said that in addition to productivity gains, the platform can enhance sentiment toward government and its services.

“Working closely with our global Centre of Excellence in Denmark, Perth is perfectly placed to drive expansion across the nation and demonstrate NEC’s digital government capabilities at scale,” Price said, stating his opinion that Western Australia was at the forefront of the country’s digital transformation.

“If we look at adoption here in Australia compared to other parts of the world, across IT and technology in general, Australia often leads the way. Western Australia is leading that pack.”