Build once, build right; reuse; continuously improve: in support of driving down the cost of digital in Government

A vision and a wero have been set by Judith Collins, Minister for Digitising Government and the Public Service, to drive down the cost of digital in government and to accelerate a citizen-focused, digital-first public service for all New Zealanders. A ‘north star’ in the form of a cabinet paper, it represents an exciting shift and a strong direction for public sector digital investment, procurement, and delivery - in short, a better way for agencies to determine what to buy, and how to buy it. The rallying call: build once, reuse, and continuously improve. 

Having been granted a decisive, strengthened mandate, the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) will now centralise and direct the way agencies buy digital services. It will develop a Digital Government target state for procurement and investment to facilitate a coordinated approach which, it’s estimated, could save up to $3.9 billion in the next five years, and enable easier, faster, safer online interactions with essential public services. 

Here at Silverstripe, this is music to our ears. We tautoko the strong leadership in systems thinking it signals. It advocates for meaningful collaboration, and for a proactive strategic, long-term approach to digital investment that just makes sense. Sharing resources and reducing wasteful duplication of systems, and of time, are key to more unified, more cost-effective, more citizen-centric online experiences for all New Zealanders. It’s what we need to help realise our collective end-goal of true digital transformation in Aotearoa. 

It provides a powerful opportunity to scale the proven benefits of open-source and co-investment models that we’ve been proud proponents of with our government partners. It creates a system-wide framework to move from isolated pockets of excellence, to a national standard of digital delivery. 

For over a decade, we’ve partnered with agencies to co-invest in solutions that scale across government, and with the Department of Internal Affairs to advocate for a unified, rationalised cross-government approach. From CMS to infrastructure, security to search, we’ve seen, and we’ve proved that building for reuse so often drives better outcomes, for the long-term, at lower cost. 

Silverstripe CMS has helped the New Zealand government deliver websites that meet accessibility, security, and user-centric requirements without having to reinvent the wheel each time. A major benefit of our open source CMS is its modularity: its shared, reusable, extensible components—or digital system assets—that scale as needs evolve. It’s an exemplar of the open source methodology:  based on collaboration, on pooling resources, and on reuse and continuous improvement. So, what the GCDO is championing, is at the very heart of Silverstripe’s M.O. Our kaupapa is, and has always been: build once, build right; reuse; continuously improve. 

For some agencies, websites are often the first—and sometimes only—touchpoint they may have with those they serve. It’s mission critical that they’re robust, reliable, scalable and easy to use, both by the audience(s) they’re made for, and for the people maintaining them. Selecting the right CMS then, is imperative. It’s the connector; the determinant of a performant, efficient web presence that enables joined-up services, built for the optimal citizen experience. It’s not just a digital front door: like the foundations and frame of a house, a CMS is what holds the very structure together. A CMS is core digital infrastructure.  

Our deep expertise in Silverstripe CMS—from implementation, through to managed hosting with our ISO-27001-certified Silverstripe Cloud platform—offers a secure, proven foundation for government. As the only content management system certified to a Tier 1 security standard on the Pae Hokohoko Marketplace, we’ve been accredited by DIA as providing the greatest level of support to Purchasing Agencies’ security risk and assurance processes and decisions. 

What does all this mean? For our customers, it means they can feel confident that in partnering with us, they’re already on this aligned, efficient, future-focused waka—we’re already doing what the GCDO is wanting. But we’re keen to do more. Heaps more. Knowing our work improves everyday online experiences for New Zealanders is what drives us. We want our clients to thrive, not least because the mahi they do is mahi for all of us: providing the essential public services on which we rely, and that through our taxes, we fund. 

We commend the vision inherent in this kaupapa. We’re looking forward to flying the flag even higher for core digital infrastructure that’s sharable, reusable, and scalable, that enables fully-connected citizen-centric systems. We want to continue to co-design and collaborate: to join forces with agencies and partners alike, to unlock opportunities to innovate, and to shape our nation’s digital future for the better, for the long-term, and for all.

Align your digital services with this new mandate and deliver real impact to the people you serve. Let’s talk today.