All government services will be digital from end-to-end by 2023, Vivian Balakrishnan said in his Aug. 28 addendum to the president's address as the minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative in the Prime Minister's Office.
The acceleration of plans for digitalisation is attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, where face-to-face interactions have been greatly disrupted.
Vivian said: "Many agencies have already brought forward their timelines in view of Covid-19. This enables all citizens and businesses to transact with us in a paperless, 'presence-less', and cashless manner, for greater convenience, and at this time, with greater safety."
The foreign affairs minister also acknowledged that Covid-19 presents both a challenge and an opportunity to leverage and build on our gains in digitalisation.
He said: "We must grasp this opportunity and accelerate the transformation of government, economy, and society through technology, to allow us to emerge stronger into a post-Covid-19 world."
TraceTogether and SafeEntry
He also cited the development of TraceTogether and SafeEntry technology to make contact tracing faster and more accurate as examples of the importance of developing deep engineering capabilities that can respond effectively.
Software aside, Vivian also said the government has also started the distribution of TraceTogether tokens to seniors and those who do not own smartphones.
"Our quick response and adaption have been possible because we have been steadily building our digital foundations and capabilities over the past few years," Vivian explained.
In the future, the government will also work on transparency, besides strengthening security measures.
"We will continue to improve on these measures to ensure that data is safeguarded and used securely. For greater transparency, we will also publish and report on past data incidents," Vivian said.
Digitalisation will not leave vulnerable groups behind
Vivian said the plan to push ahead with digitalisation should not leave any group behind.
The Covid-19 pandemic, he said, has shown that vulnerable groups who are unable to access digital technology are at a greater risk of being left behind.
"Even as we push ahead with our digital transformation as a nation, every Singaporean must feel that they are a part of and can benefit from Smart Nation," he said.
"To do so, digital technology must enhance, instead of replace, the human touch."
To prevent any gaps between haves and have-nots, digital services for both public and private sector in Singapore need to be accessible and inclusive.
The government will take the lead to strengthen existing, and start new, digital inclusion efforts, the addendum said.
These include efforts to translate digital services and websites commonly used by seniors into our official languages.
Infrastructure will be upgraded with digitalisation process
On an infrastructure level, technology has also been employed to make towns more livable.
Vivian said Singapore will use technology to build Singapore into a Smart City, and to improve quality of life.
He cited JTC’s Open Digital Platform at Punggol Digital District that enables centralised and more efficient district management as an example.
Public Service to transform too
The Public Service also plans to leverage advancements in science and technology to compensate for a shrinking talent pool.
Minister-in-charge of the public service, Chan Chun Sing, said that the Public Sector Science & Technology Policy and Plans Office has been set up to coordinate the planning of science and technology capabilities, streamline processes and train experts.
Chan added that the Public Service will recruit people from different backgrounds, invest in skills upgrading and rotate officers in different roles to help them gain a wider perspective.
Top photos via Unsplash
Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here