In 1918, in an effort to control the Spanish Flu pandemic, the world relied on isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limiting public gatherings. In 2020, despite advances in medicine and technology, we were forced to do the same.
While we have the technological capability to identify, collect, analyse, track and communicate information about the spread of the virus, it was severely hampered by a lack of standards, integration and automation to the point that these advances in technology made little difference.
DB Results therefore welcomes the Australian Government’s 2021 Budget, and the Digital Economy Strategy, which recognises this problem and provides $1.2 billion towards building Australia’s digital future.
Co-CEO Gavin Bunshaw says the world is turning its attention to countries that are demonstrating effective and efficient actions to address their rapidly changing healthcare needs.
“Australia is competing on a global stage and it’s imperative that we continue to demonstrate innovation and leadership in our core trade industries. Most importantly, we should do it in a way that maximises the value of every dollar spent, reduces the risks to adoption and execution and supports flexibility whilst enforcing standards and security.”
Throughout the Budget, there’s a consistent theme of supporting digital modernisation across government departments, industry and business, focusing on:
- Consolidation of siloed information systems to improve transparency and use of data
- Systems integration to enable data sharing and reduce duplication
- Improved connectivity and access to data
- Automation of processes, data analysis and reporting
- The use of artificial intelligence to create solutions and solve problems.
Key lines to support digital modernisation include:
- $301.8m allocated to MyHealthRecord over two years for improvements, including a new API gateway and aged care transfer document
- $120m earmarked for the Department of Veteran Affairs to consolidate its IT systems and create a data sharing analytics solution
- $45.4m allocated to Aged Care for integration to MyHealthRecord, the development of electronic medication charts, and improved data sharing with hospitals
- $15.3 million over three years will be provided to promote and accelerate the adoption of e-invoicing by businesses and across all levels of government.
The 2021 Federal Budget recognises that advancements in technology now allow transformation to be fast, affordable and adaptive to future needs – a trend that is applauded by DB Results.
Managing Partner Chris Pearce says modern application development platforms like OutSystems allow organisations to build solutions fast, build them right and for the future.
“Organisations can make better use of their legacy systems by adding applications over the top, integrating to them and building new solutions to fill the gaps,” says Pearce. “The development of new applications can be achieved in a few days or weeks and implemented across multiple channels simultaneously. This means organisations can quickly reap the benefits of automated workflows, data integration, dashboards, better analytics and reporting and utilise the return on investment to fund further modernisation in a continuous improvement model.”
DB Results has worked with clients across government, health, essential services, legal, human resources and financial industries to lead them through major digital modernisation projects and achieve crucial outcomes in these areas. Whether it's providing strategic advice, developing new applications, delivering integration, partnering to enable enterprise-wide digital transformation, or the beginnings of an agile journey, we’ve helped our clients follow the road to success.
We all have to be ready for another pandemic.
The federal government’s 2021 Budget establishes national frameworks to enable data consistency and interoperability, and focuses funding towards a wide range of initiatives that encourage government departments, industry and business to digitise their operations. As a nation, this direction sets us up to better respond to challenges and is applauded by DB Results.
What does your organisation need to do to set up its digital success?
