How should we to lift the digitization of the welfare sector? A major problem for us in the municipalities is lack of innovation development on the system side, a low degree of competition between systems vendors and clear lock-in effects. We often sit with systems that can be developed in the 80s and 90s and possibly got some varnish on beneath the road.
I can sometimes told colleagues who believe that salvation lies in some large international software company establishes itself. Neither likely nor desirable. It would lead to more incarceration. Instead, we must open up the systems. Require open standards and interfaces. The proportion of open-source software is increasing, although it is still a relatively weak voice so grows the number of projects across the country.
We should learn of Danes initiative. They have a powerful municipal network in Public digitaliseringsfællesskab (OS2) which invests systematically in open source solutions. They have also developed cooperation with suppliers of open systems and the Association of Municipalities architecture and client organization Kombit.
Recently visited we in the West Swedish municipality network Kivos Municipality of Ballerup near Copenhagen to take part of OS2’s work. Around 15 projects presented in document management and enterprise systems. It is worth mentioning that the Danish libraries are planning to move to open source in 2015 and that half of the municipalities’ websites are, with Copenhagen as the flagship, built with the open system Drupal.
Even the Danish state has a completely different effect in digitization. So they have now stopped sending paper mail from the state and municipalities. 90 percent of Danes have a digital mailbox, and digital signatures. Once we reach there in Sweden?
In Sweden are several projects that resulted in open business solutions for the welfare sector. E-service solutions like Nordic Peaks Open ePlattform, pulse Jukebox / My e-services and Malmö’s e-service platform.
Other examples is Sambruks project with an open educational platform IVIS or FixaMinGata – national email service for reporting disturbances in the urban environment. Kammarkollegiet new framework agreement, which open and proprietary code are treated equally, can be seen as a role model, even outside the country.
But it takes a national strategy to drive development forward. We are waiting for the government to formulate a concrete IT policy of openness. Will the Minister of procurement, Ardalan Shekarabi, to use procurement as a way to give us more open solutions? Or will the IT Minister Mehmet Kaplan to follow Britain’s example and propose open document formats in state and local government?
“Transparency instead of gutters and lock” type SKL in its strategy. “Authorities should primarily choose open standards and always consider open source software,” said eGovernment Delegation. Beautiful and true words, but in 2015 it is time to take action. Many communities are taking their own initiatives and cooperating on open solutions – but what happens at the national level?
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