The effectiveness and legitimacy of government today is best demonstrated by its ability to deliver public services and accurate information to citizens when its citizens need it. This is truer than ever today, because we live in an age of unlimited information, when data anywhere can be captured, analyzed and transformed to personal insight in hours and minutes --with visual clarity. Today’s new technologies open doors and opportunities for government to better serve the public good.
The social contract, which is the foundation of government, imposes specific responsibilities for its citizens, such as protecting lives, maintaining liberties, securing property rights and providing access to information. Many of us wonder what more they can do to hold true to the social contract.
Billions of dollars are spent each year by our federal and state governments on technology and services – yet many citizens still cannot access or receive the public services and information they need. This is inexcusable – at a time when thousands of businesses across the world have been effectively using database tools and analytics to personally engage individual customers with relevance every day.
The good news is that, while some government agencies acknowledge their challenges and seek solutions, a number of agencies are moving forward, fighting through the massive web of politics to improve the delivery of information and services to citizens. We can name these state agencies, because they are using Teradata analytics and data integration services to recover mega-millions for their respective economies. At the same time, these agencies are better serving their citizens. The point is – this can be done by government agencies that are on the leading edge.
Now that more powerful tools and services -- to manage data, and provide analytical insight -- have become commonplace, government agencies can acquire them – to quickly deploy and use these to better meet their obligations to the public. With an integrated database, they can see important connections that they have missed in the past, link unique identities of citizens with entitlements, and discover opportunities to operate more efficiently while supporting and benefiting citizens.
Today’s database engines can help establish a direct, accountable connection between citizens and the state. Governments are already developing data-rich repositories based on unique citizen identifiers, or biometrics, which opens a wide range of possibilities for improving service delivery.
So, we are seeing steps taken by government agencies, but they are baby steps – at a time when commercial businesses continue to take steady leaps and realize enormous benefits.
By using database engines to link social services with citizens, governments can cut through the political red tape and optimize public resources for the benefit of citizens.
Data-driven, evidence-based policy
The recent introduction of big data tools changes prospects for the better. Governments can meet the requirements of citizens – and increasingly, with real-time information. Policymakers can now leverage real-time data to help fulfill their responsibilities – and honor the social contract.
In 2009, the discovery and spread of the new H1N1 virus (a combination of bird and swine flu) posed an immediate health risk. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first relied on doctors to manually tabulate and report cases to determine where the vaccine was needed most. Unfortunately, the resulting one- to two-week delay was simply too long for an infected patient to wait.
Enter a Google software program: it identified 45 key search terms that, when combined in a mathematical model, reported a strong correlation between the prediction of spreading and official figures nationwide. This allowed the CDC to report an accurate status in real time, not weeks after the fact. This approach provided a method for the data to speak; and when it did, it made a difference when it truly mattered.
Conversely, data that is improperly managed or ignored can have devastating results. In the case of Pakistan, 1.3 million doses of vaccines donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—costing U.S. $3.7 million—was wasted by health authorities because they didn’t know where it was needed most, or how to properly preserve it. In a country where 1 in 10 children do not survive their fifth birthday, neglecting the use of big data proved costly.
Then, there’s the state of Michigan, which has achieved a benefit of $1 million per business day in financial benefits, mostly in the Medicaid/Health and Human Services area. How? The renowned success of Michigan’s Data Warehouse is about far more than the number of people who use it and the amount of data that is shared – those facts are a means to an end. The true measure of its success is this: No other state in America has achieved such concrete and impressive business results from its innovative use of a Teradata database engine to improve outcomes, reduce costs, streamline operations, and manage programs. Nor has any other state been so ambitious in its attempts to solve as many real-life problems through the innovative sharing and comprehensive analyses of data.
To meet the complex, growing demands of modern citizenship, governments can no longer afford to ignore the potential of big data. Technology offers the promise to not only collect real-time data, but also the power to process huge amounts of it, fast. And choosing between census, statistics and big data is no longer necessary—all three can be used to confirm or reject inference, and help ensure responsive well-informed policymaking. The result can mean real, qualitative improvements in governance—and a measurable boost in the quality of life for its citizens.
TARIQ MALIK is Senior Industry Consultant (Government Systems) Teradata, and former chairman of the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) Pakistan. Before joining Teradata, Malik spearheaded one of the world’s largest multi-biometric system roll outs resulting in registration of more than 100 million citizens. A visionary, Tariq is an IT leader who has used the Teradata Enterprise data warehouse for development, empowering women, strengthening democracy, reforming governance, increasing tax net and reducing poverty in Pakistan.
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