Digital Public Services

INDIA GOES OFFLINE, DIGITALLY! The Reserve Bank of India has launched the Offline Digital Rupee, a Central Bank Digital Currency that can move from one wallet to another even without internet or mobile network. Imagine paying for a cup of tea in the Himalayas or for groceries in a rural market where connectivity is zero and still completing the transaction in seconds. ✅ Digital trust has reached a new level. Money that works without the internet is not a product of convenience. It is the evolution of trust. When the value can move offline yet remain verified and authentic, we are witnessing the future of financial inclusion, not just technology. ✅ It solves the last-mile problem. For years, digital payments depended on networks, servers, and gateways. Rural India, remote areas, and even disaster zones were often left behind. The Offline Digital Rupee removes that dependency and gives digital money a physical character. This changes how we think of accessibility forever. ✅ It is faster, cheaper, and smarter. No third-party switches. No failed connections. No dependency on payment gateways. The value moves directly from one device to another, just like cash, but secured by blockchain-based architecture and backed by the central bank. The power of digital efficiency now exists without digital dependence. ✅ Programmable money means purposeful money. The RBI’s Programmable Central Bank Digital Currency model means money can be coded for a reason. Subsidies can be released only for their intended use. Corporate payouts can have specific validity. Social benefits can be tracked transparently. It adds responsibility to the currency itself. ✅ It redefines how economies will interact. Offline CBDC is not just a domestic innovation. It opens the door for new models of cross-border settlements, disaster-resilient financial systems, and new layers of fintech innovation. The world will look at this model as a live example of how technology can merge with human need, not just convenience. ✅ It reminds us what innovation truly means. The right innovation is not when a feature gets smarter, but when it becomes more inclusive. When a person in a no-network zone can transact as easily as someone in a metro city, that is when digital transformation turns into social transformation.

One year ago, I shared a screenshot of a CEO fraud attempt targeting one of my colleagues. A fraudster had used my name and photo in an attempt to gain his trust. Fortunately, he became suspicious and reported it. Unfortunately, cases like this are becoming increasingly common. Across the Nordics, fraud attempts against both individuals and businesses continue to rise. New technologies such as artificial intelligence and deepfakes are making scams more convincing and harder to detect. What concerns me most is that fraud is no longer just an attack on our money. Increasingly, it is an attack on trust. Trust in our digital interactions. Trust in the messages we receive. Trust in the organisations we engage with every day. At Danske Bank, we see this development firsthand. Last year, we prevented fraud worth approximately DKK 0.5 billion — the highest amount we have ever stopped. We also helped shut down more than 34,000 fake investment websites and strengthened our ability to detect and prevent fraud in real time. Encouragingly, the number of customers affected by fraud fell by around 7%, despite fraud attempts reaching record levels. But this is not a challenge that banks can solve alone. We will continue to invest in protecting our customers and strengthening our defences. But just as importantly, we will continue to share knowledge, raise awareness and work with partners across society, playing our part in enabling stronger cooperation between banks, technology companies, authorities and policymakers. Because as our societies become more digital, trust becomes even more valuable. Protecting that trust is a responsibility we all share. 

Australia ❤️ is good at digital govt. But in a world of rapid change, good isn’t good enough 🤷♂️ When people think of world-leading digital nations, they point to Singapore, Estonia, and increasingly, the UAE. Yes - they’re small, agile, and highly coordinated. But size is no excuse. 🇺🇦 Ukraine (pop. ~40 million) is racing toward Gov 3.0 maturity via its Diia platform - even during a war. 🇮🇳 India (pop. 1.5 billion 🤯) is delivering digital transformation at national scale. The India Stack, anchored by Aadhaar, is enabling inclusion, innovation, and economic uplift for over a billion people. ✳️ Why does this matter? One word: Productivity As population growth and participation rates flatten, productivity becomes the key to prosperity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is right ✅ to put it front and centre - he’s convening a national productivity roundtable on 25 August to build consensus for reform. Last year, I co-led a productivity roadshow across Australia and New Zealand, asking: Which govt services would deliver the biggest productivity dividend if digitised at scale? The result? The GX5 : Five digital initiatives with the biggest productivity upside We assessed 24 govt digitalisation opportunities and filtered them through three lenses: 1. Citizen-facing – high visibility and public benefit 2. Deployment-ready – proven globally, good to go 3. High productivity impact – across govt, business, and individuals The top five: 🟦 Digital ID – secure, streamlined identity verification 🟦 Digital Skills Wallet – verified, portable credentials 🟦 Digital Front Door – one-stop access to govt services 🟦 Digital Health Record – accessible, coordinated medical data 🟦 Digital Licences & Permits – instantly verifiable credentials 📊 According to the attached GX5 report, Digital ID alone could unlock $19–32 billion per year in economic benefits - up to 1.2% of GDP - based on results from Singpass (Singapore) and Aadhaar (India) . Importantly, the Federal Govt passed legislation last year 🙏 to enable an opt-in digital ID system - a critical reform that will boost security, privacy, and service delivery across the country. This attached report was a collaboration between Ember Advisors and ServiceGen, with support from Amazon Web Services (AWS). If we want to stay globally competitive, we must build and embrace public digital infrastructure. It’s how we move from good to great 🙏🏼

In much of the world, digital financial tools are a daily reality—used to process paychecks, pay for dinner, buy groceries, and more. But 1.4 billion adults in low- and middle-income countries still lack access to these tools.    This isn’t just an inconvenience for them; it's a barrier to economic growth and empowerment. According to a 2023 UN analysis, digital public infrastructure—including digital ID, payments, and data exchange—could accelerate GDP growth in these countries by 20 to 33 percent.    That’s where Mojaloop Foundation comes in: Their open-source software makes it possible for countries to build inclusive digital payment systems that allow anyone with a mobile phone to send and receive money securely, instantly, and affordably. This has the potential to drive economic inclusion—and open the doors to financial freedom—for billions.

“𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞?” 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬. Not because technology is slow. But because trust is missing. The numbers are clear: 👉 37% of people have never used a digital assistant. 👉 74% prefer a human - even for simple questions. 👉 Only 27% trust digital systems when advice or judgment is needed. That is not an adoption problem. It is a confidence problem. A simple example. You ask a system: “𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞?” It answers instantly. Sounds confident. Uses perfect language. But it cannot explain why. It cannot say where it might be wrong. And 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. That is the moment people pull back. Most digital systems work well for: ✅ status checks ✅ simple questions ✅ saving time But they struggle when: ❌ context changes ❌ emotions matter ❌ consequences are real And this is where leadership matters. For years, automation was built to reduce cost. Users experience it as a risk. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐟𝐞𝐞��𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞. Correct answers without empathy feel cold. Decisions without escalation feel dangerous. The next generation of digital systems will not win because they are smarter. They will win because they know: ✔️ when to answer ✔️ when to explain ✔️ and when to bring in a human This is not about replacing people. It is about building systems people can rely on. So here is the real question for leaders: 𝐈𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲? What builds trust faster today: better answers - or clearer ownership? 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴. 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬. 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦. 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘈𝘳𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳.

Identity fraud is undergoing a structural shift. AI is breaking the trust model financial institutions have relied on for decades. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗬𝗖 was designed for a world where documents were difficult to fake and identity fraud was manual. • Fraud relied on forged or altered physical documents. • Visual inspection was the primary way to establish trust. • The document itself was the foundation of identity. 𝗔𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲, fraud shifted from fake documents to compromised digital identities. • Stolen credentials and account takeover became widespread. • Biometrics verification added another layer of trust. • Trust moved from the document to the person behind it. 𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 the economics of identity fraud by making fake identities easy to scale. • Deepfakes and synthetic identities bypass visual checks. • Manual verification is no longer sufficient. • Trust is shifting from visual inspection to cryptographically verifiable digital identities. The result is growing pressure on financial institutions to strengthen digital trust: • Higher fraud losses and financial risk. • Increased operational costs for verification and investigations. • More friction in customer onboarding and account recovery. • Rising regulatory expectations for stronger identity verification. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿? Definitely not keep adding more checks to a trust model that was designed for a different era. The answer is to replace the trust model altogether. And this is where digital identity comes in: • Traditional verification asks whether a document looks genuine and whether the person presenting it matches the photo. • Digital identity is different: instead of relying on images it relies on secure digital credentials issued by trusted authorities and verified electronically. The shift is from checking documents to verifying the identity. 𝗛𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲: There is no single digital identity model. • Governments, regulators and private organizations are building different digital identity schemes, each with its own standards, credentials, interfaces, etc. • Which means that financial institutions face an integration problem: connecting to a rapidly growing and fragmented digital identity ecosystem and maintaining dozens of separate integrations. This is clearly unrealistic and it is the problem that Hopae solves: • A single integration that connects financial institutions to multiple digital identity providers through a common interface. • As new digital identity schemes emerge, institutions can access them without additional technical integrations. AI is not just changing fraud. It is changing how trust is established in the digital economy. And digital identity is emerging as the new foundation of that trust. For more info check the link in the comments. Opinions and graphics: my own

Three important reports came out today, each aiming to influence the future of disability, accessibility, and inclusion. Here’s why they matter. The Royal Society’s Disability Technology Report calls for a radical shift in how we design and deploy digital assistive technologies The Mayfield Report (focused on inclusive growth) underscores how systemic barriers in education, employment, and infrastructure continue to marginalize disabled communities. It pushes for structural reform and cross-sector accountability to ensure disabled people are not left behind in the UK’s economic future. And the Financial Inclusion Report exposes the persistent gaps in access to banking, credit, and financial services for disabled people. It demands urgent action from regulators and fintech innovators to make financial systems truly accessible, from digital onboarding to fraud protection. Links to the reports in the comments. Reports are important, but only if we leverage them, advocate for inclusion and hold our political leaders responsible for their findings. All of the answers are out there - from amazing assistive tech, to government ambition, from accessibility pros to industries seeing the need to make progress. Use these in your arguments to do more. #accessibility.

The Cabinet Office publishes brilliant digital standards. So why do so many programmes struggle to follow them? I've worked on enough Whitehall programmes to see the pattern. Teams start with the best intentions, armed with the Service Manual, Technology Code of Practice, and Data Standards. Then reality hits. Departmental politics. Legacy constraints. Procurement timelines that don't align with agile principles. The standards aren't wrong. They're excellent frameworks built on hard-won lessons from GOV.UK and digital pioneers. But they were written for ideal conditions.  Most departments don't operate in ideal conditions. The gap between what the playbook says and what actually works in your specific department kills momentum. Teams either ignore the standards entirely or follow them so rigidly they miss the point. There's a better path. Understanding when to adapt the standards without abandoning their core principles. This carousel breaks down where theory meets delivery reality and how to bridge that gap pragmatically. Swipe to see how to follow the spirit of the standards, not just the letter. #GovTech #DigitalTransformation #PublicSector #ProgrammeDelivery

There is growing ambition to adopt AI across public services. That ambition is understandable. What tends to block progress is less glamorous: legacy systems, data quality, data sharing and governance. This is where transformation either becomes real or remains a slide deck. AI for public good depends on foundations. If those foundations are weak, no amount of sophistication on top will compensate. Progress here looks like discipline. It looks like boring things getting better, consistently, over time. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e3EAJ2wp

Every time I support organizations in their digital transformation path, I see the same pattern repeating. The problem is rarely about the tools. It is more often about the strategy—or the lack of it. The biggest challenges are not technological. “Lack of change management strategy,” “driving adoption,” and “culture mindset” are at the top of the list. Even “complex software” or “IT skills gaps” only become real obstacles when there is no clear vision guiding the transition. It confirms something I have been thinking for years: transformation starts from people, not from platforms. The success of digital initiatives depends on aligning leadership, mindset, and long-term planning. Without that alignment, even the best tools won't deliver impact. Let’s stop treating digital transformation like a tech upgrade and start treating it like the cultural shift it really is. #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #ChangeManagement #BusinessStrategy #Innovation #Culture #Mindset