By Long Haibo

Research Report Vol.21 No.3, 2019

Big data deriving from all aspects of economic and social development has reshaped the economic structure, organizational form, and governance model in a step-by-step manner. Digital transformation has become the main trend of global changes, making a profound impact on changes of organizations including government departments. Digital government transformation means that we need to digitize main government services to continuously optimize the organizational structure, improve the transparency and administrative efficiency of the government, and transform the government functions so as to build an open, efficient and integrated digital government by facilitating the integration of data, services, and technologies.

I. Important Impacts of Government’s Digital Transformation

1. Distinctive Data-driven Characteristics of the Transformation of Government Functions

In the era of the digital economy, cross-function and cross-sector data flow becomes a normal. Digital means mainly driven by data have far-reaching effects on improving macro-control, creating new regulatory means, and optimizing public services, in a bid to set new requirements for the transformation of government functions. In terms of macro-control, decision making data are no longer limited to government departments. We will also analyze and judge the big data produced by various industries, fields, and consumers to better improve the accuracy of macro-control. With respect to market supervision, traditional supervision methods will face many new challenges. It is necessary to continuously adopt new supervision approaches according to the characteristics of the new digital economy model and new business formats to ensure the effectiveness of market supervision. With regard to public services, the need for using big data to improve and safeguard people’s livelihood is even more pressing. The digital application of public services in areas such as smart social care services, smart education, and smart communities has a broad prospect and provides new opportunities for the government to purchase high-quality public services.

2. The Organizational Structure Becoming Flatter and More Oriented to Intensive Management

Traditional government organizations established based on bureaucracy are obviously featured by hierarchy and departmentalized governance. In the era of the digital economy, information interaction, resource allocation, and market transactions are undergoing changes, which have transformed the model of government organization. Seen from the long-term development trend, the structure of government organizations may be flatter and more oriented to intensive management. For one thing, the new-generation information and communication technology has achieved fast information transfer, with information barriers between departments being broken down gradually. Against the backdrop of deep integration of data and business, cross-level, cross-department and cross-region cooperation featured by intensive management is more efficient. For another, the top-down structure consisting of the central, provincial, municipal, county and township levels will become flat. Especially in the eastern coastal provinces where some counties are directly administered by the provincial government, a breakthrough is likely to be made in the organizational structure.

3. Process Remodeling Reflecting the User-Centered Concept

To some extent, process remodeling is to renew the idea of government services. Whether it is policy decision-making, the government’s own operation or the provision of public goods, we should further enhance our understanding to embrace big data thinking. Therefore, we need to establish an operation process for data-driven analysis, management, and decision-making so as to facilitate the process transformation from being “department-centered” to being “user-centered.” For one thing, the ubiquitous, timely and accurate interaction model established in the digital economy era will help us to better grasp the needs of the public, improve the predictability of information and data, and reduce the negotiation costs between different departments and agencies. For another, the use of digital technology to reshape the government operation process has forced the government departments at all levels to re-engineer the online and offline government service process, data sharing and business collaboration, gradually forming an efficient flexible user-centered operation mode, while allowing the majority of the people to clearly see the whole process of government operation.

4. Open and Transparent Government Data for Better Serving Industry Development

Government data hold great economic and social value, and their openness is closely related to government transparency. On the premise of identifying data ownership and ensuring data security, public sector data related to demographic characteristics, social credit, and financial transactions are widely applied to related fields for greater value, after the data are abstracted and desensitized. First, we need to promote the digital transformation of traditional manufacturing industries and boost the development of emerging industries such as the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence. Second, we need to facilitate the high-quality development of the service industry. For instance, data opening in the fields of people’s livelihood such as education, medical care, and employment will further advance the development of the service industry to make public services more intelligent, customized and targeted. Third, we need to fully tap into market advantages of data mining to conduct more targeted public service inputs and digital applications.

II. Overall Progress in Reforms of Delegating Power, Improving Regulation, and Upgrading Services through Digital Transformation

Digital transformation promotes government reform and meets the needs of deepening institutional reform in the new era. In particular, we focus on data business collaboration and continuously push forward the reforms of delegating power, improving regulation, and upgrading services. In recent years, the government’s functions have gradually changed such that the focus has shifted strict examination and approval to strong supervision and excellent services. The government’s abilities to serve the economy, society and the general public have been significantly enhanced. From the perspective of the central government, the national online approval and supervision platform for investment projects has been connected with 18 departments such as the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, accumulating more than 1.8 million pieces of project information. The online and offline integrated supervision system has gradually taken shape, and the unified sharing and exchange platform for national credit information has been synchronized with enterprise credit information. The facilitation of enterprise registration, electronic registration, and electronic business license will be promoted nationwide. More than 30 departments under the State Council have opened their service platforms. The national government service platform has completed the construction of its main functions featured by “six unified aspects.” From the angle of local governments, they build an integrated government-based big data platform to streamline administration and delegate power to keep releasing reform dividends. Efforts are made to provide more convenience for investment approval and enhance the efficiency of collaborative supervision. The Internet plus government services has achieved in-depth integrated development.

First, the big data management bureau has been set up to further coordinate government data resources. According to the provincial plan for institutional reforms at present, big data has become a highlight of provincial institution reforms. Shandong, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jilin, Guangxi and other provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have set up big data management bureaus to help local governments better collect and aggregate data, better promote business restructuring and process reengineering of government services, and provide a strong underpinning for the government’s digital transformation. In some places the existing institutions have been upgraded. For instance, Guizhou Provincial Big Data Development Administration has been changed from a social undertaking unit to a institution directly under the provincial government. The establishment of big data management bureaus in various regions marks an important starting point for the overall management of data resources of various departments under new circumstances, with more emphasis placed on testing the overall coordination ability of the departments.

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