Why Dominic Perrotet’s announcement is just good business.

Minister Dominic Perrotet’s announcement today that NSW is planning to replace its current car fleet with a new arrangement that sees public servants using temporary car firms is a landmark in the Government’s transition to the Digital Age.

Just like the similar but financially much smaller decision back in 2008, to stop placing hundreds of jobs ads in newspapers in favour of online jobs boards, this audacious move will change the way that the NSW Government does business. It’s a more efficient model on almost every level and of course likely to generate long term sustainable savings.

It’s critical however that this decision be seen first and foremost not as some kind of digital transformation, but instead as a great example of good decision making.

The Digital Age is proving a seductive time for us all to live through. We’re seeing technology driven change impact on our lives on a daily basis and new business models like Uber and Air B’n’B causing turmoil in some of the world’s largest and most established markets.

Many like to call it digital disruption. To me, that’s in danger of missing the point. The principle axis of success isn’t technology, it’s the identification of a potential service improvement (or transformation) from taking a different approach. That’s how we’ve ended up in a situation where some of the world’s most dominant organisations, Google, Amazon, Facebook and AliBaba don’t actually make anything. Each saw a new approach. And each changed the world.

And for the first time in history, thanks to the technology revolution, new approaches are not just better, but actually cheaper than the old models.

But from a Government perspective, holding today’s announcement aloft as an example of applying “digital” to every problem is not the answer. It isn’t, any more than any one size fits all solutions fit across any complex, large organisations. As I heard again last week, many are still talking about “disrupting Government”. Me, I’m still struggling with the notion of a digital police force, prison or hospital. But then I’ve always been a bit slow on the uptake.

The key thing to take out of Perrotet’s message today is that he has found a way to replace an embedded and costly Government service with something better, more sustainable and cheaper. The notion of Government owning their own cars (fleet) comes from an era where better alternatives weren’t available. Their trial has shown that now there are.

It’s different sure. Disruptive, maybe? But importantly it’s better.