Helping the Government Become More Data-Driven

This blog post is an excerpt from our recent e-book created in partnership with SAP, Creating an Intelligent Government With Data. To download the full resource for free, head here.

In this moment, many things are accelerating at a strikingly fast rate – technology, world events, and more. But at the same time, the core mission of the public sector – to protect the community, provide services, and help the economy prosper – remains firmly in place. Agencies must learn to keep up with the changing world around them while still ensuring citizens get the services that help make their lives better.

But how? The answer lies in making data and business intelligence a strategic priority and a valuable asset. Agencies must invest in emerging technology with a focus on open, standards-based technologies and data analytics that support this strategy.

GovLoop sat down with Chris Atkins, Vice President, Digital Government Transformation, SAP Public Sector to learn more. SAP is a leader in supporting public sector organizations to become intelligent agencies through data and technology.

Today, Atkins said, it’s more important than ever for government to realize it has a three-fold purpose: to provide, protect and prosper.

“In order to fully deliver on this purpose, government now has to leverage its own data as an asset – understanding its data could hold the key to solving some of society’s biggest challenges like drug abuse or environmental sustainability,” Atkins said.

SAP can help. “We have four decades of end-to-end experience in business processes with intelligent technologies and platform needed to drive data-driven innovation that can be deployed directly into government processes,” Atkins said. “We also have a breadth of industry knowledge and a public sector portfolio that fits government’s unique needs – and a proven record of success with our government customers across the globe.”

In one use case, Indiana leveraged its data and turned to SAP to tackle a critical crisis – opioid overdoses. Indiana MPH staff are tackling the issue using crime lab drug data from across the state from to see new correlations in drug use over time and find insight into crime. The

MPH uses the SAP® HANA platform together with SAP Predictive Analytics® software to gain a 360-degree view of the problem and approach it in new and innovative ways. By quickly aggregating and analyzing data, the state is able to visualize the problem and influence change that will save lives.

“In leveraging data, our belief at SAP is that government will transform to provide new services, and to meet citizen expectations,” Atkins said.