CAPSTONE PRJT

Reflection Paper 4
Haolun Li
Future Public Service

In their article The Public Service of the Future, Perry and Buckwalter (2010)

attempted a prediction of what public service might look like in 2020. However, they

fail to predict because at the beginning of the New Year in 2020, a sudden outbreak of

novel coronavirus pneumonia not only threatened the health and life safety of the

people, but also caused an inevitable impact on the public services of various

countries.

Traditional public services often follow a unified pattern: the government

provides the same public services for everyone through standardized resource

allocation methods. However, under this unified model, it is not feasible to improve

the service level by simply increasing the input of resources. Data from OECD

countries, for example, show that even large additional spending on standardized

education services will not necessarily lead to further improvements in areas such as

reading.

This standardized service model contrasts with the development of "personalized

markets" in the private sector, which enable businesses to provide better services for

their customers at a lower cost. Over the years, the personal computer industry has

popularized the concept of "mass customization," a personalized marketplace that

offers customers a variety of products and services. To increase productivity,

governments must shift to personalized services. That means governments should

work with citizens to design services and deliver them to customers in the best way, at

the right time.

1
CAPSTONE PRJT
Reflection Paper 4
Haolun Li
To facilitate collaboration with service providers, governments can provide

personalized services with fewer resources through new technologies and

organizational designs. Italy's National Social Security Agency is the country's main

welfare agency responsible for providing services to its citizens. Users only have to

submit a request, and no matter how many affiliates are involved, the security bureau

can work with local authorities to meet the user's needs. In addition, personalized

services can also reduce the cost of services through a more targeted and preventive

approach.

In the near future, governments will dispense with passive responses and

prejudge citizens' needs for public services. Because the pace of global change is

accelerating, and becoming dramatic and disruptive, the passive response cannot

adapt to future trends. A perception-driven public service strategy will help

governments forecast future service demand and provide the resources needed to meet

it at a lower cost.

To achieve the transition to insights-driven management, governments should

focus on the following.

To achieve effective interdepartmental cooperation, it is often necessary to

develop strategic information sharing schemes. In the area of public security, for

example, Europol, the European Union's law-enforcement agency, has set up a central

processing capacity for data-matching to identify crimes that have a significant impact

on multiple countries. More importantly, Europol's Secure Information Exchange

Network Application (SIENA) is one of the few secure international police

2
CAPSTONE PRJT
Reflection Paper 4
Haolun Li
information systems that links all major police departments in Europe on the same

platform. The key feature of the application is that it complies with all legal data

protection and confidentiality requirements to ensure that member states can securely

exchange sensitive information.

Whether police, social workers, border agents or citizens, they need to provide

decision-makers with the right information and support them where appropriate;

Privacy protection is also an important part of insight-driven strategy. Mobile devices

coupled with efficient information-sharing solutions can help organize complex

activities from the bottom up without the need for large budgets -- especially for the

police and defence sectors.

With identity theft and fraud on the rise around the world, governments need to

adopt more reliable ways to identify their citizens. In 2012, Amsterdam's Schiphol

airport piloted an automated border control system that used facial recognition

technology to identify passengers by comparing passport photos. The system can also

identify forged passports and people on the authorities' "wanted list".

Reference:

Bourgon, J. . (2008). The future of public service: a search for a new balance.

Australian Journal of Public Administration, 67(4), 390-404.

Perry, J. L. , & Buckwalter, N. D. . (2010). The public service of the future. Public

Administration Review, 70(Supplement s1), s238-s245.

Pedersen, L. H. , & Andersen, L. B. . (2010). Does private provision jeopardize the

3
CAPSTONE PRJT
Reflection Paper 4
Haolun Li
future of public service?. British Journal of Addiction to Alcohol & Other Drugs,

65(4), 317–323.