CIO50 2023 #10 Adam Carthew, Service Victoria

Name: Adam Carthew
Title: Chief information officer
Company: Service Victoria
Commenced role: April 2020
Reporting Line: Chief executive officer
Member of the Executive Team: Yes
Technology Function: 250+ staff, 6 direct reports

Today’s citizens expect to interact with government agencies and access public services in much the same way as they would with any other organisation.

So further evolving its smartphone application, which already boasted millions of users and a 95 percent customer satisfaction rating, was a natural development for Service Victoria.

With chief information officer Adam Carthew at the helm, the Service Victoria technology team has delivered two new innovations in the past year to make it even easier for Victorians to transact with the state government.

Secure, digital credentials – anywhere

With the likes of Google and Apple wallets already widespread, developing such a digital wallet for Service Victoria customers was a natural step for Carthew and his team already renowned for its digital innovation.

While citizens already had access to over 100 government services through the Service Victoria app and website, the addition of a digital wallet for the app in 2022, further established Service Victoria’s role as the front door to government, says Carthew.

“The Service Victoria digital wallet offers customers a marketplace with everything they need to transact with government in one spot – their payment credentials, address and electronic identity credentials. The wallet provides a safe and secure place to store government issued licences and credentials making it easy for customers to access this vital information from anywhere.”

Having all their Victorian government tokens in one place makes is easier for citizens to interact with state service.

For Service Victoria, the wallet has created greater customer retention and stickiness.

“It builds on our service offering as the one place to go for government. Customers can currently add a digital Working with Children Check card, fishing licence and ambulance membership to their digital wallet. Digital driver licences are on the way later in 2023 and there is a road map of many more digital credentials in the next twelve months,” says Carthew.

For partners, the digital wallet offers a secure and proven digital solution that can be delivered by government. It removes the need to contract externally and has financial savings.

Since launch, more than a million identities have been verified through the Service Victoria digital wallet – each of which is valid for 10 years.

Supporting regulatory reform

Since Carthew became CIO in 2020, Service Victoria has moved to native cloud microservices. Over the past year Carthew’s has leveraged this cloud investment to build back-end capability as part of regulatory reform.

This includes developing a consistent regulatory tech platform, called the Business Permit System. “The platform will make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with local government and state government regulators,” says Carthew.

“The platform provides reusable, streamlined capability to support the operations of many councils [and] will make it easier for councils and customers to manage permits, applications and payments, and respond to customer requests.”

The platform also enables automatic online approvals for Victorian councils. Service Victoria worked with the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Municipal Association of Victoria and local councils to develop the automatic approvals system, which it says saves citizens, businesses and council staff time, effort and money.

“These new online transactions can be quickly and easily accessed through Service Victoria. It enables local businesses to get immediate approval for permits for low-risk activities including skip bins, fitness training and footpath trading,” says Carthew.

“Customers can apply, pay for and instantly get these permits at when it’s convenient to them. It reduces waiting time for customers and removes processing time for council staff allow local councils to focus on compliance and enforcement rather than business permitting.”

Building credibility through delivery

Combining retail and financial services experience with government experience has given Carthew a unique perspective on the issues, challenges and opportunities at Service Victoria.

He an important role in educating, influencing and engaging with internal and external stakeholders to enable implementation of best practice technology solutions.

Carthew has been a key influencer in helping the Victorian government to embrace the Service Victoria app, with its strong uptake enabling Carthew to lead the development of other services, such as the business permitting system, to support transformation of the Victorian government’s service delivery.

Carthew’s influence is based on his ability to deliver. He aims to build credibility through delivery.

Says Cassandra Meagher, Executive Director Service reform and Corporate, and Acting Chief Customer officer at Service Victoria: “Adam’s leadership has been critical to maintaining and improving the quality and capability of the Service Victoria technology platform. His decision making, always considers the best service for the customer. He is collaborative, pragmatic and solution oriented.”

Louis van Wyk