The world is getting more complex. Societal problems have multiple root causes that cross domains and one-size-fits-all solutions are not enough. Public sector organizations face additional challenges related to performance and accountability, increasing fiscal pressure, and meeting rising public expectations for results and responsiveness.
Advances in analytical methods and tools have created opportunities to enhance decision-making, better allocate resources, and improve client experience. The public sector manages massive amounts of data. However, the full potential of this data to inform decision-making and improve operations cannot be realized until Canadian governments makes better use of analytics.
By embracing analytics, public sector organizations can transform data into information and insights that can be integrated across domains and disciplines to stimulate new approaches and present viable solutions to some of the toughest policy and management challenges. Analytics will help close the service gap between the consumer and citizen experience in the public versus private sector, which has expanded in recent years as the private sector has invested heavily in analytics to inform and improve consumer interactions, leaving citizen’s experiences with government services falling short of expectations.
This Analytics Playbook is intended to help get public sector organizations started on their analytics journey. It articulates why public sector organizations need to use analytics, and highlights the success factors that differentiate those organizations that use analytics to meet their goals from those that are falling behind.
The Playbook recognizes where progress is being made, and includes case studies and lessons learned from across the country, including all levels of government. These examples show how organizations are unleashing the power of analytics to improve organizational decision-making and service delivery to citizens. The case studies demonstrate powerful and impressive results, and show that Canadian public sector organizations are taking important steps on the data analytics journey.