How a family bereavement transformed one public servant's outlook on digital public services

Jonathan Finch, acting director of digital experience in the US government’s Office of Management and Budget, is still relatively new to government, having moved into his role after a six-year career at Deloitte. His motivations for making the transition, however, run deep. When Finch lost a loved one, he was forced to navigate complex government procedures which – although Finch and his brother were digitally savvy enough to navigate – left him wondering about the impact such bureaucratic hurdles have across society. As Finch tells Siobhan Benita in this latest edition of the Government Transformed podcast, he had already been considering the switch to government, but this experience provided the final nudge that led him to take up his role to focus on improving government services. In this podcast, Finch and Benita discuss why a seamless digital-first government experience for citizens matters now more than ever. Their conversation also drives home the importance of collaboration between departments to achieving digital transformation, as well as how to ensure such transformation doesn’t leave people behind. Finch says that by establishing cross-functional teams, strong analytic capabilities, smart branding and above all, empathy with end users, governments can take everyone with them on the journey to fit-for-purpose digital public services. FOLLOW US: X: @globegov Linkedin: Global Government Forum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.