Bianca Jordaan

Increased access to technology has enabled enterprises to offer better services to customers, so why shouldn’t governments leverage it to better serve its citizens?

That is the ethos behind the New South Wales Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s (DPHI) push to adopt technology and upskill its services.

“In the New South Wales government, there's been an incredible movement of using technology to connect the public servants to citizens,” explains Bianca Jordaan, the Chief Digital and Information Officer of DPHI.

Bianca’s passion for improving people’s lives through technology has seen her return to the public sector after a fruitful time in the private sector. 

It is this experience she uses to help DPHI further its mission to create vibrant communities, increase housing supply, and manage land assets sustainably.

The department has embraced technology across various domains. One example is the Land iQ application, a spatial tool used to inform strategic land use decisions, which is helping to address the state’s housing crisis. Other implementations include systems for managing fishing licences, flood monitoring and the Beach Watch application which provides beach safety information.

Challenges and Solutions

Implementing technology in the NSW Government, serving over eight million people, is challenging. 

“We need to talk to people about what we are trying to achieve and not just about the technology,” Bianca explains.

Through collaboration and consultation the department is committed to ensuring that technological advancements are not just implemented, but truly understood and embraced by staff, stakeholders and citizens alike.

This is critically important given the types of personal data governments collect, including health details, addresses and financial information.

The technological solutions have helped them face challenges, like diverse staff backgrounds, resistance to change, frequent restructures, ageing systems, and sustainable post-COVID investment, head on.

DPHI has therefore developed a digital strategy focusing on people, processes, and technology to deliver key outcomes. 

Initiatives include reimagining services, investing in digital capabilities, ensuring consistent basics, and defining digital service delivery. The goal is to become more citizen-centric, improving information access and departmental operations.

Their partner, Axonius, has aided the rollout of their ambitious, by providing a cybersecurity asset management platform that helped aggregate, normalise and correlate data from various sources, giving visibility over all their assets.

A department prepared for the future

DPHI is committed to leveraging technology for sustainable development and improved state liveability. 

As a result, the department is addressing challenges like housing and environmental sustainability, with plans to streamline housing approvals using technology. 

“A lot will happen in the housing space with the approvals of housing and land development, like how we can more seamlessly do approvals and how we can fast track approvals using technology,” Bianca explains.

By focusing on citizen-centric services, improving workflows, and partnering with Axonius for asset management, DPHI aims to create vibrant communities and ensure NSW's prosperity. 

While people's needs remain unchanged, service delivery methods have evolved. This combination of citizen-centric services and technology aims to create better value for both the department and society.

Read the full report​​​​​​​ HERE

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