April 7, 2014
Banff, Alberta
Check against delivery
Thank you. I am pleased to be here with you today in Banff.
This event is a testament to what your industry can achieve by working collaboratively.
Collaboration between government and industry is an approach we value. In fact, we are leveraging it to make us more efficient, and help cloud computing grow in this country.
Today we are in what I like to refer to as the ‘sweet spot' of technology adoption.
We've entered a brave new era where we no longer have to choose between the latest cutting edge technology and saving money.
We no longer have to choose between quality service and cutting costs.
For the first time, we can have the best of both worlds. And in fact, one begets the other.
Developments in cloud computing, mobile devices and Web platforms are transforming the way individuals and organizations communicate, collaborate, and share information.
More and more, it is becoming possible for organizations, like the Government of Canada, to adopt new technologies that consolidate common platforms and deliver better services in a more efficient manner.
We have witnessed this change happen in private sector organizations that most closely mirror our size and complexity.
The opportunities in the Government of Canada to roll out more of these transformation plans are nearly endless.
Almost every day I hear about a new application that is used and licensed by multiple departments that could be better managed by an enterprise solution.
Before we can capitalize on this potential, we must recognize that organizations within the government must become more outward looking and work together to adopt an enterprise focus.
The Government must begin to think like one organization instead of small fiefdoms, and use our collective size to save money and ultimately provide Canadians with better services.
Clearly, in this new world of technology-enabled transformations, government Chief Information Officers play an increasingly important role.
It used to be that keeping IT infrastructure services, such as data centres and email systems, up and running in organizations was a main focus.
Now, with the advances we are seeing in technology, “keeping the lights on” is second nature.
A CIO's primary challenge is identifying new ways to deliver IT services both to their employees and to Canadians as a whole.
CIOs are working more and more with CFOs.
It's happening because when a department gets squeezed at one end to find efficiencies and deliver better services, CIOs often look at the “people power” it takes to manage and deliver the legacy systems that hold many departments together.
These are often the richest opportunities to find efficiencies and, ultimately, where I see the Chief Information Officer positioning to be a key player in departmental transformation and modernization.
There needs to be a realization and an understanding that we don't need to constantly reinvent the wheel.
Constant customization is not necessary. Common solutions are available and the government is capable of standardizing to common IT solutions.
As the President of Treasury Board, I am the federal minister tasked with working with all departments to deliver the best services in the most cost-effective way.
One of the challenges I have is to push government departments and agencies to stay on top of current trends and to take advantage of systems that can be adapted to enhance the government's way of doing business.
So I am a great advocate of adopting technological improvements to better the systems, while offering cost savings.
I get it. I understand technology. I understand the fast-paced nature of advancement and I understand the importance of being on the leading edge.
Our continued focus on finding savings for taxpayers can be supported by the move to cloud-based services.
A Cloud First strategy will allow departments and agencies to deploy an application's capabilities more quickly, to leverage the investments, capacity and expertise that these commercial solutions make available.
And while it is important that we move in this direction, it is critical that the services provided meet security, privacy and service level requirements of the Government of Canada.
Our citizens expect no less.
With your help, I'd like to see if we can work to move now to adopt a Cloud First strategy to give our Government the tools it needs today to deal with the issues of tomorrow.
Once implemented, Government departments will be directed to consider cloud options during the IT procurement process. The wider public sector will be strongly encouraged to take the same approach.
In practice this means that when considering procurement of new or existing services, public organizations must have considered and evaluated potential cloud solutions before they consider any other option.
And to support our efforts moving forward, I want to hear from you and I welcome your ideas, your initiatives and your thoughts that together will help our Government as we move to implement a cloud first strategy.
Dave Adamson, Deputy CIO and Chief Information Officer for the Treasury Board Secretariat, is here today and he will be reaching out to hear from many of you. I want your expertise and common sense to build our system and embrace our implementation plans.
I don't want to sugar coat it, the system has a number of impediments that need to be dealt with as part of the implementation process.
Unfortunately I can't just flip a switch and say that we now have a functional Cloud First strategy.
But, I can work with your expertise and ideas to move our functional systems to a cloud system, thereby offering enhanced services and significant cost savings for Canadians.
My department will jointly develop a strategy for US-based cloud providers, something that must be addressed in order to face the reality of our global economy.
Treasury Board will prepare data classification assessments for applications and review and revise their IT portfolios to fully take advantage of cloud computing services.
The time is right to join our peers in the UK, Australia and the US with a Canadian Cloud First strategy. This will help stimulate innovation, small businesses, and entrepreneurs and create jobs based on the digital economy.
The benefits of implementing a Cloud First strategy within the federal government are countless.
The first example, of which you are certainly aware, is the creation of Shared Services Canada in 2011, which consolidated three key internal services: email systems, data centers and information networks.
I don't need to remind you that there are plenty of opportunities for us to drive transformational change in this area, given the size of the systems portfolio in the government, which includes roughly 16,000 applications.
What is even more shocking than the total number of applications we run is the fact that nearly 75% of these applications are dedicated to the management of “back office” systems.
This means there are 12,000 back office applications in the Government of Canada that manage internal services such as HR and Finance.
This area is ripe for finding cloud solutions.
Solutions can be found through software to deliver our applications, or through infrastructure as a service to host the government's services provided.
We need to find ways to be more strategic and redirect our funds to those areas that need it most.
This means redirecting funds to front office applications that help Canadians receive services from the Government, creating a better and more enjoyable experience.
Building on lessons learned so far, we must continue driving this transformation across the government, which is significantly changing the way public servants manage information.
All future government IT spending must be judged on the tangible benefits it will bring to Canadians. This is the new expectation for governments and Canadians will gauge success only by personally experiencing better service delivery.
Our efforts will lead to a user-driven experience that empowers citizens and businesses to conduct their affairs – whether that's applying for permits or completing their income taxes – more easily and quickly.
Other governments in Canada and around the world have already moved in this direction. And I'm confident that we can achieve the same efficiencies that they have.
Now, more than ever, the public service needs to be innovative, think outside the box and challenge the accepted and expected ways of doing business.
I plan to be bold.
Today, even the smallest company can afford a communications and computational infrastructure that would have been the envy of any large corporation 15 years ago.
Businesses are able to draw on email, chat, social networks, and cloud computing, which are now all available over the internet.
And yet, many governments, including Canada, have yet to adopt many of these advances due to out-of-date thinking on how their IT infrastructure should be used.
The best for business can be used for government. The argument that we are different, and therefore need special solutions, no longer holds water.
Our primary objective is to ensure value for money and better service delivery for Canadians who expect a 21st century public service.
So we'll be establishing strategic partnerships with private enterprises that are open, transparent and support a fair environment.
I look forward to continuing to work with you to modernize Canada's public service and help renew our economic prospects for the 21st century.
Thank you.
