Over the past several years, Caribbean governments have been engaged in public sector transformation programmes and initiatives to better leverage ICT. However, in many instances, the effort seems open-ended with few concrete outcomes, and the speed of change appears to lag behind that of the society. An exception appears to be the digital transformation programme of the Government the Bahamas, which has been realising a number of successes and milestone achievements.

Michael Hamilton, the Programme Coordinator of the Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme for the Government the Bahamas discusses: the programme and what it hopes to achieve; some of its successes to date; how the success of the programme will be measured; and what new developments we should expect in the no-too-distant future.

 

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Across the region, and to varying degrees, Caribbean governments are embarking on digital transformation initiatives. Although governments have been implementing digitising and digitalising activities over the past several years, since 2020 and in many instances, those efforts have been ramped up to better accommodate some of the challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.

One of the countries whose digital transformation programme has been receiving a lot of attention is the Bahamas, which was launched publicly in late 2019. To the outsider, it seems not only that the Government of the Bahamas has adopted a comprehensive approach, but also on a fairly regular basis, achievements and milestones are being announced. It thus suggests that the programme may actually be achieving what it set out to do, which is to increase competitiveness through improving government efficiency and the ease of doing business.

The Government of the Bahamas Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme is being funded via a loan facility with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Its overarching objective is “to foster the competitiveness of The Bahamas by reducing the costs of conducting business with the Government”, which it seeks to accomplish by:

Streamlining government procedures and making them available online to reduce the cost of government bureaucracy

Increasing the use of ICTS in the public sector; and

Increasing transparency of government activities and strengthening auditing and control mechanisms

(Source:  IDB)

 

Introducing our guest

Michael Hamilton

Michael Hamilton is the Programme Manager for the Government of the Bahamas Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme.  He is an experienced telecommunications specialist, business strategist, negotiator and project manager, who has worked extensively with high profile corporations and government bodies throughout the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Bahamas, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago just to name a few.

During his 20-plus year career, Michael has directing all aspects of IT and business process re-engineering projects to advance corporate performance, profitability, and efficiency. He builds, trains, and spearheads top-performing teams that drive business success and achieve corporate missions. He is a natural leader, has a ‘can-do’ attitude, and strong people-skills, which are essential ingredients in getting projects completed successfully, on time and within budget.

Michael holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of the West Indies, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Management Studies from the University of Technology Jamaica. He is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Project Manager.

 

Insights into the conversation

From the get-go, you get the sense that Michael is astute, yet engaging, and possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience, which no doubt has held him is good stead in this major initiative by the Government of the Bahamas. Although programme implementation began in earnest just under two years ago, a lot has been accomplished by the digital transformation unit, which Michael leads.

Although the Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme is extensive and multi-layered, it is not the only digital transformation initiative that is occurring within the Bahamas Government. Other ministries, departments and agencies are also implementing their own projects independent of the Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme.

Though it may not currently be a concern, a key outcome of all of these efforts ought to be a more seamless and joined-up government. Processes and workflows ought to cohere and be properly integrated across ministries, departments and agencies, in order to continue to increase efficiencies, transparency and accountability, whilst also reducing costs and government bureaucracy.

However, for this conversation with Michael, the focus is on the Digital Transformation to Strengthen Competitiveness programme. Below are some of the questions posed.

  1. To get started, can you share with us a bit of your background and how you became involved in the project
  2. What does the term ‘digital transformation’ mean to you?
  3. Can you give us an idea of the breadth and depth of the digital transformation the Government of Bahamas in implementing?
  4. Is what the Government of Bahamas wants to do ‘digital transformation’, or just ‘digitalisation’?
  5. What will be some of the metrics through which success will be measured?
  6. What have been the successes that have been realised so far?
  7. In being such a mammoth undertaking, talk to us about managing such a programme that would comprise many projects, and being able to keep them on track and hopefully within budget.
  8. How did the pandemic initially affect programme implementation, and how might the pandemic be affecting the programme currently?
  9. Having also worked in the private sector, how does digital transformation within a business differ from that of a government?
  10. What 3 key pieces of advice would you give an organisation looking to embark upon a digital transformation exercise?
  11. How is payments being handle on the MyGateway platform?

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits: M Hamilton; Gerd Altmann (Pixabay); Wikimedia Commons

Music credit: Ray Holman

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez