Suga wants basic policy on new digital agency by year-end

While the government has made "digital transformation" its main policy plank this year, the switch has proved difficult due partly to a vertically structured bureaucracy that hampers efforts to use common platforms for administrative work.

We can't do something new because the system to do so does not allow for new things.

Yeah, sound about right for Japan.

This will only work with a dedicated minister with the authority to bring the ministries together.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday he wanted to compile a basic policy on a new digital agency

Welcome to the year 2000, guys!

The rest of the world in 2020 has so much to tell you about the last 20 years.

And into the dustbin of history goes the fax machine and those self-serving little ink-stamps on all that paperwork. Imagine that!

"Japan needs to raise its potential growth rate by digitalization," said Takuto Murase, senior economist at Japan Research Institute.

Of course it always about domestic growth

vertically structured bureaucracy that hampers efforts to use common platforms

Hmmm.

“Common platform“ sounds good, but coordinating across various organizations to come up with a common platform might be more trouble than it is worth.

Unless the organizations themselves are restructured, I don’t have much hope for the installment of common platforms.

(Based on Conway’s Law.)

Creating an agency to speed up the digitalization of Japan's outdated government administration has been a key pledge of Suga

Go PM Suga! starting to like the dude already.

the switch has proved difficult due partly to a vertically structured bureaucracy that hampers efforts to use common platforms for administrative work.

Go for it Suga. Just imagine a functional and less self serving bureaucracy. Streamlined, tech savvy, back on the actual job at hand. Dare to dream people! Inspirational even! Great Scott!!!

Retire the architects of the lost decades once and for all, do whatever it takes.

Still more digitalization? It’s only a bet and my bet is, you lose it. I know all aspects of IT for some decades and therefore can afford to bet against it....lol

I would miss being ushered from desk to counter back to desk and where would all those bodies go?

You can’t hack, trace, exploit my hanko ink stamp, but you certainly can my My Number...