After losing its initial chief customer and digital officer (CCDO) to Canberra, the Queensland government has begun searching for a new CCDO to spearhead its digital economy agenda.
The Department of Communities, Housing, and Digital Economy is looking for an “extraordinary leader to fill the vital job,” which has been empty for much of 2021’s second half.
Chris Fechner, the former CCDO who joined the department from Service NSW in February 2020, left for the federal Digital Transformation Agency in October after taking a lengthy leave of absence. He took over for previous DTA CEO Randall Brugeaud, who resigned in June after three years to lead the federal government’s Simplified Trade System Implementation Taskforce.
DCHDE anticipates that the next Queensland government’s CCDO will assist the state in realizing its “digital economy vision,” including pushing the implementation of the yet-to-be-released digital economy plan. “You will do this by pursuing cross-government digital enhancements to simplify and integrate services, upgrading govt’s approach to finance, procurement, investment, and governance, and promoting current and agile methods of working,” according to the job description.
Following the epidemic, the government has placed a greater emphasis on the state’s digital economy, albeit this has not resulted in considerable investment for government IT initiatives. It has identified connection and skills as priority areas for the state to succeed and “transformed, digitised, networked, and accessible” government services.
The CCDO post, which effectively replaced the government’s chief information officer role when it was created, will also supervise the customer and digital group and its 1800-plus employees. The Queensland government has already admitted that the state’s digital transformation initiatives have lagged behind those of other jurisdictions, especially New South Wales and Victoria. Since then, both governments have forged on, with the epidemic influencing much of its thinking about the next focus areas.
In Victoria, the state established a new digital unit under the Department of Premier and Cabinet, financed by $196 million over four years, and hired former Services Australia CIO Michael McNamara to lead it.