The Conservative government has created a new agency, dubbed Shared Services Canada, and tasked it with shrinking the number of data centres from more than 300 to less than 20, and bringing more than 100 e-mail servers down to just one.
The timeline and priority on e-mail was outlined by Shared Services Canada president Liseanne Forand during the Government Technology and Exhibition Conference in late October, according to media reports.
The conference also shed light on Public Works's vision for the public-sector offices of the future - and the business opportunities that go along with it for technology companies.
Work spaces will be redesigned to encourage more collaboration and communication between civil servants. An important objective of what the government calls "Workplace 2.0" is to allow bureaucrats to be more mobile by equipping them with digital tablets and notebooks.
Speaking during a panel discussion at GTEC, John Rath-Wilson, chief information officer of Public Works's information technology services branch, said the department would purchase 12,000 laptops and start distributing the new computers to employees this December.
Last month, Public Works awarded Toshiba of Canada Ltd. - located in Ottawa on Rushmore Road - a $20-million standing offer to supply notebooks to the government. Solicitation documents published earlier this summer suggested multiple companies would be qualified.
It's not just hardware providers and system integrators that are seeing new opportunities in the government's technology agenda.
"We are probably engaged in the most fundamental transformation in the industry in 10, 15, 20 years," said Shawn Cruise, country manager for Adobe Systems, in an interview at GTEC.
Governments, he said, are under pressure from their citizens to overhaul the way services are delivered and to substitute a "one-size-fits-all" mentality with customized solutions.
The public sector is already one of Adobe's fastest-growing markets. Its position between government clients and end users makes Ottawa's largest software employer well-placed to profit from the technological transformation underway, said Mr. Cruise.
"Where I think (Adobe) brings new capabilities to the government is being able to extend a lot of the citizen-facing services, things like basic forms," he said.
"Simple applications (such as Acrobat, Reader and Creative Suite) are all about citizen-facing, user-driven services. That's where Adobe is best positioned, it's our history, and it's where our technology enables rapid change."
FEDS' WORKPLACE 2.0
What is it?
A government-wide initiative to create a modern workplace that will attract, retain and enable public servants to work smarter, greener and healthier by modernizing the physical aspects of the workspace, updating policies, processes and systems that support public servants in their work, and providing new technologies that allow them to connect, collaborate and communicate across government and with Canadians. It is defined by three pillars:
The workplace
Renewing the physical workplace means new office designs that are flexible and maximize the use of space and technology. Sustainable design principles including increased daylight and use of green products and finishes. Buildings will need to be "smart" by providing connectivity in the workplace and supporting energy savings through environmental control systems.
The back office
The renewal of policies, processes and systems are aimed at supporting public servants in their work. These include human resources policies and pay, pension and information management systems.
The way government works
Using new technologies, such as wireless connectivity and notebooks, allow civil servants to work from anywhere, hold meetings using high-definition technology and connect to co-workers using social media.
Source: Public Works
