Nine out of ten government organizations in Canada have already started or plan to start their digital transformation soon. The objective: to prioritize digital services valued by taxpayers. The risk: recreating the debacle of the SAAQClic site and adding to the Canadian public digital debt.
“No matter how you turn it, governments are at a point of no return,” says Patrick Drolet, chief operating officer of Portage CyberTech in Gatineau. “New online solutions are available and add to an already enormous technological debt. In addition, when governments adopt new proprietary solutions, their debt grows. »
Portage CyberTech is a company specializing in cybersecurity services for public bodies that has just received an 8 million loan from the Government of Quebec to ensure its growth. Part of its clientele is within the Canadian government apparatus.
“Digital debt” or “technology debt” increases within an organization when software or technology is added to solutions that must continue to be supported, despite their obsolescence. For example, when the Government of Quebec replaces the ClicSequr authentication tool with a new tool, there will be a transition period during which the two systems will coexist.
When several competing systems coexist, it is necessary to continue to maintain them all, which requires the addition of human, financial and technological resources. The result is that instead of making it more efficient and more affordable, this debt always weighs down the system a little more.
“There is an acceleration of digital transformation within governments. It needs to be approached responsibly. Already, complying with current and future laws and standards would raise the bar,” says Patrick Drolet.
Very rare resources
The human aspect of this debt makes Patrick Drolet particularly wince. It has been difficult — since well before the pandemic — to find and hire people who are specialized in technologies, capable of managing and ensuring the security of the systems already existing within public organizations, he says. Not to mention the new systems that will soon replace them.
“New resources are not being added at a sufficient speed to satisfy all the new digital projects that are launched,” adds Mr. Drolet. “We must make sure to carry out lasting digital transformations – look more seriously at how to seek out those who will ensure responsible governance – and that it is more than words”, particularly in terms of respect for laws and privacy.
One way to avoid a possible slippage is to take into account now the addition of constraints related to the management of personal information and digital data imposed by provincial and federal law. In Quebec, Law 25 imposes personal data requirements that require companies to notify the Commission d’accès à l’information (CAI) of Quebec at least 60 days before the creation of a biometric database (fingerprints , etc.).
The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Bill will add its own requirements if it becomes law.
The advantage of online services is that they are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in the country. In principle, they will benefit more people living in localities farther from government offices. Once these services are activated, these counters could see their own service offer reduced.
This strategy is likely to be adopted by several government agencies. A survey released earlier this spring by the firm IDC indicates that one-third of public sector agencies in the country intend to become “digital first” agencies. This is a way to reduce their operating costs.
If these sites were to fail or suffer a security breach, public services would be even less accessible. Here again, the risk is not zero that events like the one that occurred when the SAAQClic site was launched could happen again. The site was supposed to speed up the renewal of documents related to vehicle registration and driving, but a cumbersome registration process and greater-than-expected demand crippled the platform for days, rendering it essentially inoperable for good. users.
However, still according to IDC, 93% of public agency employees surveyed are worried not only that such a failure occurs within their organization, but also of not having the means to deal with it.
Unsurprisingly, according to these same respondents, ensuring the security of computer systems without adding to this famous digital debt is at the top of the list of things to consider when starting the digital transformation of public services.