On 2 March 2021, the Bali Provincial Government held a virtual meeting with the Jakarta Smart City Management Unit regarding the development of digital transformation within the scope of government in order to create more efficient and effective public services. As is well known, the Jakarta Province has already implemented the concept of a smart city. From this meeting, it is hoped that the Bali Provincial Government and DKI Jakarta Provincial Government through the Jakarta Smart City can collaborate to turn Bali into a province that prioritises digital transformation.
The meeting was attended by the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster and the Jakarta Smart City team, including Yudhistira Nugraha, as the Head of the JSC Regional Public Service Agency (BLUD). Are you curious about the discussion? Let's read the following article.
Behind Bali Province's Digital Transformation Initiative
Digital science and technology is developing rapidly in Bali, said Wayan, opening the discourse at the time. He realised that digital culture has penetrated into the layers of Balinese society so that it changes the way people behave and communicate between each other. It can be seen from the rise of social media activists in the midst of Bali's relatively small population, to the way they live their lives by utilising digital technology. The Provincial Government of Bali is also trying to manage and develop this potential in order to increase the values of people's lives. For this reason, digital transformation cannot only be applied in the scope of society, but also needs to be applied within the government sector. By implementing digital transformation in government management, it is hoped that public services can be more effective, efficient, and free from fraud. Thus, the community can be more assisted in managing various needs and the values of the community that have been mentioned earlier could become more optimal.
How Far is the Digital Transformation in Bali Today?
Currently, the Bali Provincial Government is gradually designing the acceleration of digital transformation for the public and various economic sectors as well as encouraging Bali as a Smart Island. The system will be completed in 2022 and the implementation is estimated to run in 2023. In order for this vision to run optimally, the Bali Provincial Government has also formed a digital transformation acceleration team that specifically handles this matter. Thus, what innovations have been worked on so far?
Responding to this, Wayan is well aware that digital transformation cannot be started without equitable digital accessibility of the community. Therefore, the Bali Provincial Government is currently improving digital accessibility. "We have installed free WiFi at 1,800 points, covering villages, hospitals, health centres, high schools/vocational schools, and even tourism destinations in Bali," he said.
Not only about accessibility, it turns out that all data and services belonging to the Bali Regional Apparatus Organisation (OPD) have also been integrated through an application developed by the Bali Provincial Communication and Information Office. In developing this application, the Bali Provincial Government has directly collaborated with universities in Bali. “So far, the implementation of electronic-based government systems and public services has gone very well. The community can already enjoy budget planning services, assistance relations, program proposals from the community, and personnel affairs, online" said Wayan.
With this digital transformation that was successfully adapted by the government and accepted by the community, the Bali Provincial Government received a Very Good rating in the Electronic-Based Assessment System. However, this is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of new innovations to respond to various urban challenges in Bali.
Future Plans of Digital Transformation
As mentioned earlier, there are 1,800 free WiFi access points for the Balinese. In the future, this innovation will be developed by increasing access capacity to support faster digital transformation. In addition, the Bali Provincial Government will also map blank spots, namely areas that have no connectivity, to become 100% network-reachable areas, in accordance with the Bali Provincial Government program in 2022.
In fact, digital transformation needs to be applied evenly. Unfortunately, in Bali, the development of digital transformation is still faster downstream than upstream. “This year, we will develop the upstream area more. It could be by developing and increasing the economic value of the product," said Wayan. One of the leading sectors that have the potential to be developed upstream is the creative economy and the digital economy, such as animation production and others. Of course, relevant stakeholders, such as universities, can be involved. Therefore, the Bali Provincial Government invites all activists, actors, communities in the community who have an interest and ability in the creative and digital economy to be able to participate in building Bali's digital acceleration.
Adapting the Digital Transformation of Jakarta
As already stated, the purpose of the virtual visit is to open a space for discussion and collaboration between Bali and Jakarta to create a Bali Smart Island. For this reason, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government conveyed several points related to the implementation of digital transformation which could be used as adaptation materials for the Province of Bali.
The first point that Yudhistira discussed was the approach in implementing digital transformation. To be able to maximise digital services to the community, it is necessary to use 3 approaches, which are business-outcome, technology-future city hub, and experience. The business-outcome approach is oriented to how the government focuses on outcomes, infrastructure, regulations, and so on. The technology-future city hub is oriented to how to build a digital civilization, for example by collaborating with Jakarta to develop an extended future city hub. While the experience approach is concerned with understanding customers and how we can develop cyber-space in Bali so that people can build virtual businesses with Balinese entities. These three approaches can be taken into consideration for the Bali Provincial Government to accelerate digital transformation.
Furthermore, Yudhistira also explained the Smart City concept adopted by Jakarta. Jakarta Smart City has a vision to create an advanced city of Jakarta with IT-based public services that effectively solve various problems of the city and its citizens. Its mission is to become a service institution that creates an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based urban structure. The smart city concept that is carried has the following values:
Improving the quality of life of the people of Jakarta through the use of positive and inclusive technology for all;
Economic growth by triggering creativity in creating new ideas and economic regeneration that leads to the improvement of people's lives;
A sustainable environment where Jakarta is a developed city without forgetting environmental sustainability, pollution-free, and well-managed environmental resources; as well as
The goal is to create a sustainable and collaborative 4.0 smart ecosystem.
Digital transformation in Jakarta is not only a matter of technology. But also aspects of new leadership and digital leadership with a desire to change and collaborate. This is because building a smart city cannot only be done by the government (collaborator), but must involve all stakeholders (co-creators), such as educational institutions, communities, and the citizens.
Jakarta’s Response Regarding Bali’s Digital Transformation
Responding to digital transformation in Bali, Yudhistira revealed that based on internal research, public services still have several obstacles, such as sectoral egos, closed systems, decreased quality, unintegrated services, scattered & non-standard data, Covid-19 pandemic situation, ineffective, efficient, and expensive. All these obstacles make it difficult for the government to integrate public services. Furthermore, Yudhistira revealed that the success of public services in Bali can be obtained by focusing on the customer journey, in this case the Balinese and anyone who has activities in the Bali area. Looking at the 4.3 million population numbers, Jakarta Smart City believes that Bali has a massive opportunity to personalise optimal services to its citizens. In addition, the Jakarta Smart City team also hopes that Bali Province can have its own platform, such as JAKI in Jakarta. Yudhistira also recommended 4 stages of platform implementation, namely information integration, community interaction, transactions, and digital transformation. With this, Bali will provide convenience to the community through integrated services that are effective, efficient, and cheaper.
At the end of the visit, the next plan for the Bali Provincial Government and DKI Jakarta Provincial Government was also conveyed. The Head of the Communication and Information Office and the Bali IT team will hold a meeting regarding the implementation and follow up on the progress of ICT development in Bali Province.
That’s on a review of the Bali Provincial Government's virtual visit to Jakarta Smart City. Having both provinces owning similar goals, it is possible that Bali and Jakarta will work together to create a smart city ecosystem in the future. Let's wait for the good news. If you are interested in taking a look at or using integrated digital public services in Jakarta, try the JAKI application. JAKI can be downloaded via Google Play Store or Apple App Store for free!
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