Artis Group welcomes new SAP digital govt institute

Software vendor SAP, along with five partner organisations, yesterday launched The SAP Institute for Digital Government.

The new Canberra institution was announced at a lunch at the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) conference in Brisbane. The vendor said that it hope to "to spur public sector innovation" with the initiative.

"In collaboration with government agencies, universities and partner organisations, the institute will facilitate innovation through digital technology for deeper policy insight and improved service delivery," SAP stated.

The founding partners are NDIA, Australian National University, Australian Catholic University, European Social Network and International Social Security Association.

Chris Greatrex, chief executive of SAP partner Artis Group, said that the new institute is "a green light" for government and the IT industry to "pursue a true digital and cloud first strategy deliver improved services".

"For instance, seven years ago Artis was working on 'private cloud' for the Navy, whereas today it's drones, crisis and emergency services, cloud ERP, and how to use big data," said Greatrex.

"In Australia, access to relevant and actionable information, data security, mobile solutions and a great user experience is all here – now. It’s now up to integrators like us to make this a reality."

The national service provider is collaborating with government organisations to up-skill the workforce on digital capabilities.

"We are seeing increasing demand for SAP skilled resources for both new and existing projects, currently working with government agencies to ramp-up supplement skills and experience to facilitate the push for digital transformation," said Artis Group HR manager Angelika Radevska.

Despite yesterday's launch, the SAP Institute for Digital Government has been operating for the entire year, with director Brian Lee-Archer saying it has been concentrating on "social protection capability".

"Social protection is one of the highest touch points for a government with its citizens and innovation through digital transformation will contribute to improved social and economic outcomes," he said. "[We] will expand to cover other areas of government such as future cities and national security in 2016."