BuddeBlog

I have been thinking recently about those spectacular frescoes in Sienna. Painted in 1340, they portray government, both good and bad. 

And I have found myself wondering if anything has really changed during the past 670 years. 

All around the world there is a great deal of dissatisfaction regarding healthcare, education, energy and many other services provided by governments; over the last 10-15 years the quality of these services has deteriorated sharply. While these services have in general seen much innovation and improvement the quality delivered to the average person has declined. The problem, therefore, is in the distribution rather than the core quality of these services. 

In my view, none of the major social and economic problems we are now facing can be solved by trying to optimise broken or faltering distribution systems. 

Furthermore, governments seem to be trapped in a silo mentality. What is needed is a trans-sectoral approach, where administrations function across departments and ministers perform a coordinating and facilitating role, for example in the distribution of these services. This concept is also known as ‘systems thinking’. 

In Australia we are trying, with the support of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, to make use of the multiplier effect that digital infrastructure has to offer in areas such as healthcare, education, climate change and energy. The same broadband infrastructure can be used simultaneously for all those sectors. This would allow a massive increase in the quality of these services and, for a country such as Australia, savings in the region of tens of billions of dollars per sector. 

Trans-sectoral thinking also applies to the infrastructure industry – for example, combining electricity and broadband, using road, sewerage and gas pipe constructions as a conduit for future utilities, etc. 

Minister Stephen Conroy recognises the advantages of this trans-sectoral approach and is keen for his ministerial colleagues and their departments to become involved. 

BuddeComm believes it would be relatively easy to obtain funding for fibre-to-the-home networks under a trans-sectoral government policy; multiple use of this infrastructure would guarantee more than enough business to make investors confident of a good return (especially from these essential services). 

A silo approach, however, makes such investment an uphill battle. 

In 2007 we established the Digital Economy Industry Workgroup in Australia, comprising 200 people from 140 companies, working together to develop a trans-sectoral framework. Initially we found it extremely difficult to capture the attention of the so-called ‘silo’ ministers. Their initial response was generally along the lines of: ‘This is not my core business so why should I be involved?’

Or in some cases the ministers were receptive to the concept but their advisors and/or departments were reluctant to ‘think trans-sectorally’. 

But after a year we are finally making some progress. Minister Conroy’s support for our activities has been a great catalyst. We have been able to establish meetings in early 2009 with all the key ministers (or are at least well advanced in the process). This is a huge move forward; however the next step will be to change interest into real action. 

Interestingly, Australia is leading many other countries here. At least in this country we have been able to get the ministers interested. When I made suggestions to my colleagues in the USA on the subject of trans-sectoral government thinking their response was that even to discuss the concept would be a daunting task. 

Observers in several countries are watching developments in Australia with great interest. 

This is the most important way our industry can show leadership into the future. ICT is one of the few sectors that can facilitate trans-sectoral thinking. I believe that we are in a prime position to assist governments in building these new platforms – the systems that will enable us to obtain the economic benefits of maximising the use of digital infrastructure. 

Paul Budde 

See also:

• Global – Broadband – FttH Overview & Statistics
• Global – Broadband – Regulating Fibre Access
• Global – Investing in the Communications Revolution
• Global – Smart Grids – Grid IT – where energy meet comms
• Global – Smart Grids and the communications revolution
• Global – Digital Media – E-education & E-science
• Global – Digital Media – E-Government
• Global – Digital Media – E-health

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 2:55 pm and is filed under From Paul's Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.