Governments around the world are working to make digital transformation happen in order to improve services for citizens and support government priorities. This transformation is not just about implementing technology; it requires getting the right skills, culture, policies, and processes in place to capitalise on the benefits of data, AI, and digital tools
Following the AccelerateGOV conference in December, Global Government Forum produced a report focusing on how to scale what works and overcome barriers to digital transformation. It is based on panel sessions, presentations and discussions at Global Government Forum’s AccelerateGOV 2025 conference held in Ottawa in December, as well as a survey of 228 Canadian public servants registered for the event.
The findings show that while digital transformation is advancing across Canadian government and beyond, some areas need to be strengthened and obstacles addressed. While there are clear strengths in areas such as technology infrastructure, data use, and emerging AI adoption, there are also foundational challenges that remain, including legacy technology, procurement and skills.
This chapter of the report looks at the progress that has been made in digital transformation across the Government of Canada.
Digital transformation: a work in progress
Throughout the AccelerateGOV event, participants reflected on the progress that has been made in digital transformation to date – as well as future ambitions and barriers that remain.
Survey respondents described digital transformation efforts in their organisations as largely going in the right direction. The largest proportion of respondents (48%) characterised their organisation’s overall digital capability as ‘moderate’, with 15% saying it is high and 3% saying it is very high. A quarter (25%) characterised their organisation’s digital capability as low and 9% very low.
Denoting the progress that is being made, a majority (53%) said their organisation’s digital capability was stronger this year compared to 12 months ago and 40% said it was about the same, while 7% said capability had weakened.
Enablers and blockers
The area where public servants perceive their organisations as being most mature is technology infrastructure, followed by use of data and analytics, then digital service design and delivery, and digital leadership.
Asked what has been the most effective in enabling their organisation’s digital progress to date, survey respondents ranked the regular use of data and evidence to guide decision-making as the top factor, followed by modern and flexible technology platforms, then clear strategic direction and commitment from senior leaders. The next most effective drivers were collaboration across departments and agencies, partnership with external or academic organisations, and funding and procurement models that enable experimentation.
The biggest barriers to digital transformation are seen as budget and procurement constraints; legacy systems and integration challenges; and lack of clarity in roles or accountability for digital outcomes.
Other barriers include a shortage of skilled staff; organisational culture and resistance to change; and complex or outdated regulations.
Digital transformation in practice
During an international panel session, government leaders discussed how to rewire government to achieve true digital transformation.
As Dr Louise Maynard-Atem, deputy director, data & insight, UK Government Digital Service (GDS), explained, rewiring government means “fundamentally redesigning public services so that they’re joined up, they’re data driven, they’re digital first, but not digital only. They are AI-enabled where it’s appropriate to do so, and they’re secure and they’re user centred.”
This approach deliberately moves away from “an incremental step forward” towards “a seismic structural shift” that reflects how citizens actually experience government, rather than how departments are organised internally, she said.
Practical examples in the UK include making GDS the ‘digital centre of government’ to drive and coordinate digital outcomes; a focus on end-to-end services and service teams; and shared infrastructure such as the One Login service – a single sign-in system for public services online – and a government digital wallet for verifiable credentials.
Maynard-Atem said these are examples of “how we’re closing the gap between how we’ve been structured previously, and how citizens actually think about what we’re doing”.
Yuriy Matsyk, advisor on digital infrastructure development, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukraine, framed transformation around resilience and speed. Even during full-scale war following Russia’s invasion, “we keep the country online”, he said, adding that Ukraine has also continued launching services such as online marriage registration and real-time civilian reporting tools. Ukraine is scaling government technology across sectors and partnering with business to drive innovative digital
products and services. This has included deploying a secure national large language model and using AI-powered education platforms to deliver personalised learning.
“All this became possible because we changed our management model. We moved from KPIs [key performance indicators] to OKRs [objectives and key results],” he said, highlighting the importance of clear goals, measurable outcomes and empowered teams.
Breaking silos
Stéphane Le Bouyonnec, deputy minister, Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital, and chief information officer, Government of Québec, described government not as “a big corporation” but “a bunch of small and medium-sized businesses” that therefore require strong central coordination.
Practical actions Quebec has taken include central management of telecommunications and data centres, as well as cybersecurity and digital transformation budget allocation.
“All the ministries have to come to us before capital expenditure,” explained Le Bouyonnec.
Quebec is reforming its data laws to strengthen cybersecurity and reduce the duplication of citizens’ personal information across multiple systems. It is also shifting to open-source solutions and in-house development to improve value for money and control.
“If we want to break the silos, a central entity has to provide to all the agencies and departments tools to reduce their cost,” Le Bouyonnec said, adding that you “cannot attract flies with vinegar” and that the tools and offering must be attractive to encourage adoption.
Kim Steele, assistant deputy minister and chief transformation officer, human capital management, Public Services and Procurement Canada, emphasised the importance of challenging entrenched assumptions, noting that success depends on “constantly challenging… status quo thinking” and adapting business processes to modern platforms rather than customising technology to fit outdated practices.
Enterprise-wide transformation
Reflecting on the discussions at AccelerateGOV, Dominic Rochon, deputy minister and chief information officer of Canada, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, noted how “the conversation has actually shifted to truly rewiring government, thinking about digital as an enterprise-wide transformation of how we make decisions, how we manage data and how we deliver services”.
“The fact that we’re actually talking about these topics like the workforce of the future, procurement, sovereignty and legacy systems actually shows that digital transformation is increasingly being understood as an organisational and governance challenge, not just a technology one,” he said.
This is the first chapter of Accelerating government transformation: Takeaways from AccelerateGOV 2025. You can read the report in full here, and register for AccelerateGOV 2026 here.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sarah Wray
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: Global Government Forum, 07.04.2026
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