Beyond the Digital Status Quo

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a crisis that mobilized organizations and economies – one that tested both the operational assumptions and preparedness of every public sector organization in Canada. Given the adage, “never let a good crisis go to waste”, this paper takes the opportunity to consider digital transformation in the time of pandemic and to offer recommendations to organizations as they consider how best to approach digital transformation, security, and workers, post-pandemic.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a test of the value of cloud-based services and digital transformation. This includes various factors that were slowing their adoption, such as legacy processes, practices, policies and, in some instances, financial structures. When considering the spectrum of digital transformation, organizations should create corporate architectures that meet their requirements and constraints. They should also recognize the time needed to do so.

Organizations that had successfully adopted digital transformation were able to better respond to the pandemic, to a degree proportional to the depth of their transformation. The pandemic demonstrated that ensuring an “untethered” workforce allows an organization to change how they work. Mobile-enabled workforces were able to quickly resume operations while organizations that had rearchitected their systems using modern digital approaches, often cloud-based, were able to quickly modify existing services and deploy new ones. Remote work has shown short-term benefits to employees, and many prefer it; however, there appear to be undesirable long-term effects on the culture of organizations and their ability to innovate.

Organizations wanting more technological agility should recognize that digital transformation is not a destination but a journey along a spectrum that moves from simple to complex. Using cloud-based services does not necessarily mean being digitally transformed. The transformation of business processes, allowing change in not only how but also in what an organization does, is not a short process.

Moving to a different post-pandemic environment, especially as organizations consider a hybrid-model of remote and in-office work, will require a greater emphasis placed on security and privacy. Employee training will help but organizations will also need to develop modern, relevant, standard configurations and practices for working remotely, including computing and physical infrastructure. Associated with this is a need to review the streamlined or temporary measures used to implement emergency services and ensure appropriate risk-management decisions are approved and recorded.

Public sector IT leaders have been both responsive and adaptive in navigating the challenges that arose during the pandemic crisis. The challenge will be in taking the digital transformation lessons, learned as they reacted to the pandemic, and applying them as Canada moves into a “post-pandemic” world.

Beyond the Digital Status Quo: Experiences and Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

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About the Authors

Richard McDonald, Michael Power, Aron Feuer, and Julian Botham

Richard McDonald provides consulting services focused on Strategy and Cyber Security, after retiring from the role of Chief Information Officer of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. His 42-year career has included 18 years in government, 17 of which were in the classified Security and Intelligence community, in positions from Director to ADM level and in roles such as Chief Information Officer, strategy, architecture, IT security, information management, and information technology. He has also led innovation programs, mentoring programs, and staff development initiatives. Prior to government, Richard worked for 23 years in the Nortel family of companies, in technology strategy, product management (including a 2-year international assignment in Japan), security, IT management, and software development. Richard holds an MBA, Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science, certificates in Photography and Graphic Design, and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Michael Power is a recognized expert in privacy. He is the author of The Law of Privacy, published by Lexis Nexis as well as Halsbury’s Laws of Canada – Access to Information and Privacy (2005, 2011 and 2016 editions), published by Butterworth’s. Michael has over 15 years’ experience dealing with privacy-related questions. His past experience includes serving as a member of the federal Department of Justice, a partner at a national law firm and as Vice-President, Privacy and Security at an Ontario Crown Agency.

Aron Feuer is a recognized expert in cybersecurity. In 1998, he founded Cygnos Information Security, a national consultancy acquired by a national accounting firm in 2012. Aron has extensive industry experience across all three levels of government, finance, technology, and health care. His project experience includes leading the ITForensics investigation in the Robocall scandal, incident response to attacks by the hacker group Anonymous and the security certification of Canada’s classified networks. Aron is head of Algonquin College’s cybersecurity program advisory board. He is currently co-authoring Privacy Fundamentals for Canadian Practitioners with the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Julian Botham works as a Junior Penetration Tester for Valencia IIP. Prior to working with Valencia, he was apart of the Bell Public Safety Group and helped deliver CAD software systems across Canada and the US to fire, EMS, and law enforcement departments. While with Public Safety Group, Julian provided QA, IT support, and developed a knowledge base for their proprietary software. Julian continues learning through online courses and certification programs after completing his Cyber Security Analysis diploma at Willis College.