Any organization that takes its sustainability initiatives seriously should be investing in digital transformation. Public sector agencies are no exception.  

Public sector organizations play a crucial role in addressing the effects of climate change. By taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy sources in their communities and pass climate-friendly legislation, the public sector can contribute to global efforts to mitigate and avoid environmental impact. The public sector is responsible for keeping communities safe and this includes precautions linked to the climate.  
 
Undoubtedly, this is a tall order. However, by embracing digital strategies that can help address sustainability challenges, public sector agencies will be more enabled to rise to the occasion.  
 
The world at large is going digital, mostly in response to mounting pressures to increase efficiency and improve sustainability outcomes. Consider that roughly 75% of C-suite leaders surveyed by Deloitte said their organizations have increased their sustainability investments over the past year, with nearly 20% reporting their investments were significant.  
 
The public sector paints a different picture. While sustainability is a key priority for many governments and public sector agencies, sustainability efforts are all too often thwarted by outdated work processes and skeletal budgets - to name a few factors. Yet despite sluggish adoption and implementation rates, digital transformation is the engine driving sustainability efforts in the public sector. By promoting efficiency, asset-based performance and transparency, digitalization is clearing the path to a more sustainable public sector. Here's how:  

Digitalization Increases Efficiency 

Digitalization enhances organizational efficiency by streamlining information accessibility for key stakeholders - particularly during periods of internal change. By digitalizing data and processes, organizations can expedite decision-making and ensure seamless connectivity among all relevant parties without manual, paper-based processes getting mixed up in the shuffle.  
 
It’s no secret that manual data entry and searching through physical records are time-consuming tasks. Implementing digital solutions for maintaining records and creating a single source of truth for information saves public sector organizations time and optimizes financial investments and stakeholder engagement in situations where they matter most.  
 
For example, we can look to digital project performance solutions. Consolidating project data enterprise-wide to one management platform empowers public sector organizations with a big-picture view of the dollars spent, staff assigned and resources used across the project lifecycle - driving better, smarter decision making across the workforce. 
 
Surveyed project teams using digital project performance platforms noted they were able to accurately assign dollars, staff and other resources throughout their projects’ lifecycles, resulting in an average 20% reduction in project cost overruns over three years.  

Digitalization Improves Asset-Based Performance and Sustainability Initiatives 

Digital asset management platforms can improve performance for sustainability efforts via several avenues:  

• Data-driven Decision Making: Leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms enables organizations to derive valuable insights from data to inform sustainability strategies. Analyzing historical performance data and using predictive analytics, organizations can identify inefficiencies, anticipate maintenance needs and optimize asset utilization to minimize its environmental footprint.
• Enhanced Service Delivery: Digital asset management platforms improve service delivery by streamlining maintenance workflows, reducing downtime and ensuring optimal performance of critical assets. Armed with these capabilities, organizations can automate work order generation, schedule preventive maintenance tasks and track asset performance metrics in real time.
• Optimized Resource Allocation: Digital solutions enable organizations to optimize resource allocation by prioritizing investments, scheduling maintenance activities and allocating personnel efficiently. Agencies can also leverage digitalization to enhance inventory management by pinpointing which assets are necessary and should remain in inventory to repair, refurbish or replace. Thus, by identifying underperforming assets and optimizing maintenance schedules, organizations can reduce energy consumption, minimize material usage and lower operational costs, contributing to sustainability goals.
• Improved safety and resilience: Digitalization enables remote monitoring and control of assets, reducing the need for on-site inspections and enhancing worker safety. This empowers public sector agencies to create risk-based maintenance strategies, conduct safety inspections and ensure regulatory compliance to mitigate environmental risks. 

Digitalization Elevates Transparency 

Did you know that digitalization streamlines regulatory compliance, removes ambiguous reporting and holds organizations accountable? It does all of this and more by providing an easily accessible platform that acts as a single source of truth, which increases transparency across departments and work processes.

Transparent workflows enable public sector organizations to collect data related to environmental performance metrics such as energy consumption, waste generation and carbon emissions. By tracking these metrics across workflows and departments, organizations can measure progress toward sustainability goals, identify trends and take corrective actions as needed. 

Conclusion

In the face of mounting environmental and regulatory pressures, organizational sustainability efforts across industries show no sign of slowing down. The public sector can use this fact to its advantage and invest in key technologies that will bolster its workflows to achieve sustainability goals more efficiently and cost-effectively. Digitalization offers the public sector opportunities to advance its sustainability efforts by empowering efficiency, asset-based performance and transparency on a previously unattainable scale.  
 
Hexagon’s suite of digital solutions can play a pivotal role in the shift from legacy-based applications to a smart, sustainable public sector. With asset and project performance management solutions, Hexagon is ushering in a new age of performance, efficiency and transparency.  Contact us to learn more.