OpenGov Asia achieved another significant milestone and a new industry benchmark with the launch of its first-ever OpenGovLive! Virtual Tech Day on 16 September 2020. The one-of-a-kind hands-on virtual workshop not only enabled a high degree of interaction among remote participants but also let them collaborate virtually in groups on an in-house, dedicated, customised platform.
OpenGov Asia’s innovative gamification model and novel delivery mechanism were one of the highlights of the event. As importantly, the topic of discussion and the problem addressed during the workshop was extremely relevant and timely. This was borne out by the hundred per cent attendance which comprised of delegates from various government agencies in Indonesia.
The innovative OpenGovLive! Virtual Tech Day had delegates address a very real challenge that the Indonesian government currently faces – the issue of appropriate distribution of social benefits to the citizens who are invisible digitally and for whom the government has almost no data.
Jakarta has 56,175 active COVID- 19 cases (data as on 15 September) and cases are constantly on the rise. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the government to act quickly as well as accurately and efficiently.
SAS’s smart data analytics solutions like its data investigator, proactive alerting, etc. can be of great assistance to the Indonesian government in this testing time and can help them in serving citizens far more effectively.
During the OpenGovLive! Virtual Tech Day, SAS was able to practically illustrate the power and effectiveness of its solutions through the simulations and demonstrations in the gamification sessions. Each scenario required intense collaboration and detailed discussion to arrive at possible resolutions of the problems at hand. While delegates thoroughly enjoyed the gamification, they realised how effective the heuristic methodology is for collaborative learning.
An interesting observation was that even though the problems presented were hypothetical, the delegates could not help but think of them in their current context. This allowed them to apply themselves diligently and passionately.
In addressing each of the three scenarios, the delegates had specific questions about SAS solutions. Their engagement the conversations, demonstration and simulations were an indication that they were keen to understand how the solution would suit their current reality. The interactive, real-life scenario approach generated a lot of interest and curiosity among the delegates; it also sparked a desire to learn more about how SAS solutions could help them on their journey.
Challenge for governments to support digitally invisible citizens
The workshop revealed powerful and practical ways to work with data at a country level. The session was opened by Mohit Sagar, Group Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, OpenGov Asia.
Right off the bat, he raised a pressing challenge that governments all over the world are facing while dealing with the pandemic: supporting digitally invisible citizens.
Taking responsibility for the well-being of its citizens, governments earmarked generous amounts of stimulus and support packages. But lack of data on digitally invisible citizens – those who are not reflected in official digital records, that do not do online banking or do not have digital identities – led to misappropriation of resources and the most vulnerable being left out.
This digitally invisible population is unable to receive the benefits as there are no records or data on them making it impossible for governments to ensure that assistance reaches them.
The workshop addressed this problem though OpenGov Asia’s unique gamification model.
Delegates were divided into 5 different teams (Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor) allowing them to collaborate and devise relevant digital options and strategies that could assist governments to resolve these critical issues.
Data is of the essence to governments
After Mohit’s opening, Fauzi Efendi, Sales Director, SAS Indonesia spoke with the delegates. Taking the lead from Mohit, he shared how data is of the essence to governments as they are trying to help citizens through these trying times. He also shared how the SAS solutions have the potential to help governments better serve citizens effectively, efficiently and comprehensively.
Gamification: solving problems while playing
After Fauzi’s address the session geared into a more interactive and practical (and fun) exercise: learning through gamification.
The simulation was played out in three phases/scenarios where each one focused on a specific aspect that needed to be addressed to solve the hypothetical problem. OpenGov Asia’s platform is designed in such a way that contending teams are not privy to the discussions of other teams during the breakout sessions.
Scenario 1 emphasised the very first aspect of consideration in the process: Data Management and Data Preparedness. The teams worked together in a breakout session to chalk out detailed steps of how they would resolve the problem at hand.
After the breakout session, each team disclosed their answers to the moderator to inform a session of rich discussion and exchange among the different groups. Teams shared why they thought of certain options as optimal or non-optimal given the hypothetical problem.
Another attraction of these breakout sessions was the wild card that lets the teams propose a solution outside the given options. This makes the discussion even more insightful as OpenGov accepts the fact that no-one can have ALL the answers. Collaboration and outside-the-box thinking are the ultimate problem-solving methodology.
To give the delegates a better understanding of how exactly SAS can assist them in data management and preparedness, Wibowo Leksono, Senior Consultant, SAS demonstrated how their solution manages data smartly.
After the demonstration, it was time for our delegates to solve for Scenario 2 that highlighted the importance of Data Visualisation and Communication.
The teams again went into a breakout session to chart out their next steps for Scenario 2. After active engagement and participation, the teams came back with their answers to the moderator. The delegates once more engaged in reflections and discussions based on the answers revealed by different teams.
After the intense time of sharing and debate, Wibowo once again stepped up to demonstrate how the SAS’s visualisation solution can help delegates in this scenario.
Finally, it was time for delegates to address Scenario 3 that focused on Data Modeling and Analysis using AI and Advanced Analytics.
Once again, the teams went into discussion sessions to determine their immediate next steps for Scenario 3. After contemplation and discussion, teams shared their answers. This was followed by reflections on the optimal and non-optimal options by delegates representing different teams.
After the three scenarios team Captain America were declared the final winners of the day for their farsightedness and teamwork.
The declaration was followed by a final demonstration to help delegates understand how SAS’s visual investigator tool can help government agencies analyse citizen data better. With search, proactive alerting and analysis of inter-entity relationships, the tool is all-encompassing and powerful.
Wibowo also addressed questions from the audience to clarify and expound on the various solutions demonstrated during the session.
The Virtual Tech Day concluded with closing remarks from Febrianto Siboro, Managing Director, SAS Indonesia.
Febrianto thanked the delegates for joining the session and enthusiastically participating.
He clarified that the demonstrations were designed as slides and not videos intentionally as the concepts are complex and are best understood through interaction. He appreciated his colleagues for easy-to-understand and informative demonstrations.
He encouraged the delegates to believe in the power of data and the potential to derive insights from it. He solicited the participants’ contributions as their genuine information and data would be invaluable to SAS’s research.
Before signing off, Febrianto invited delegates to get in touch with him and the team to explore how best they could deploy any of the SAS solutions. In addition to what had been shared in the Tech Day, Febrianto shared that SAS has an AML solution with unlimited users.
He introduced Gumilar and Fauzi to the delegates as the right people to contact for further information and collaboration on data management strategies and solutions.
OpenGov Asia has a legacy of challenging the norm, constantly pushing boundaries and being ahead of the curve.
Entrenched in its functioning are a remote working culture and a structure that employs a global workforce. While OpenGov Asia could not foresee the scope and depth of the pandemic, it was already well-positioned to rapidly adjust as to the restrictions imposed.
None-the-less, OpenGov Asia knew it had to realign its offerings to suit the new norm. OpenGov Asia takes immense pride in the fact that it was among a select few organisations in the industry that reinvented themselves and were able to pivot from a F2F way of doing business to a virtual one.
Within weeks, the organisation reshaped its business model and invested heavily in infrastructure to transform all its content-platforms into virtual offerings – 100% audio-visually interactive. Over the last few months, OpenGov Asia has pioneered and championed delivery of its unique and powerful OpenGov Breakfast Insights into OpenGovLive! Virtual Breakfast Insights.
Not only did they take the offerings online, but OpenGov Asia was also determined to continue its tradition of service excellence and social responsibility. To truly make the events Virtual Breakfast Insights, they ensured that delegates received a real (not virtual) breakfast. Tying up with local partners in each country that they operate, they had real food delivered to participants in time for the start of each virtual event.
This not only ensured that they retained the integrity of the “breakfast” in their signature virtual offering but also ensured technology partners, food aggregators, restaurants and delivery companies got business in this difficult time.
