The pressure on governments to make better choices, deliver results and demonstrate accountability is intensifying. There are new dynamics in the relationships among citizens, organizations and their governments long in the making. “Open” principles such as accessibility, transparency, collaboration and participation lie at the heart of these expectations.

At the same time, leaders tell us that they continue to struggle with the information explosion and use different approaches and technologies to manage all of it. They acknowledge both a perpetual information explosion and persistent “data paradoxes” – the management dilemma associated with having too much data and too little insight.

Government leaders must make increasingly difficult choices to promote improved standards of living, economic health and new growth, social progress, security and public safety. Many jurisdictions are experimenting with open initiatives. Others are already well along their open government journey and some have borne fruit. To realize and sustain the potential benefits of open government, four focus areas require strategic integration, execution and measurement:

  • Information. Start or continue to define and provide information relevant to economic development outcomes that makes sense to citizens.
  • Engagement model. Put a flexible and sustainable business model in place that is both flexible and sustainable.
  • Digital platform. Construct and use a technical infrastructure digital platform to catalyze collaboration and responsible information sharing.
  • Analytics competency. Build and apply analytics competency skill to leverage the power of information.

Open government is a historic global and societal megatrend. Many societies have already made the shift from open paradigm to open in practice – now they expect public sector to do the same and more. More important, all are seeking new ways to stem uncertainty and spur new job creation and smarter economic growth – outcomes shared by citizens, businesses and governments.

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