Evidence of meeting #11 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was transformation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
So, in a nutshell, if they were to have another investigation by the Auditor General in a year from now, would you expect that the satisfaction survey number would be much better?
4:50 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
We are very seriously aiming to have it better. Our target for this year is to move it up a quarter of a point. That's not good enough. I would like it to be, on a scale of five, at five. Realistically, I think that will take a little more time to do, but that's the objective, I think, the organization needs to aim for.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
I'm just wondering whether you think that government departments on the whole are happy with Shared Services. How would they compare it to their previous in-house IT arrangements?
4:50 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
I can't speak to how they would compare it to their previous in-house services. I'm not sure they actually measured that.
As part of the follow-up to the Auditor General's report, we were already launching the customer satisfaction survey. We did that towards the end of last year and early this year. The results showed, on a scale of five, 2.79, so not as high as I would like, but it definitely pointed to the areas where we can improve. Timeliness, in particular, is something that we are very weak on, but this is the start of growing the organization. It's being able to say, where do we need to target our efforts, and where are there areas that we need to double down on our efforts to move ahead with the customers?
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay. But there was no opportunity in that survey to compare the current arrangement with what had been going on before.
4:50 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
No. I think as well they didn't have defined service levels in most cases, so that was one of the things that we inherited that was very difficult.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
I guess I also just wanted to provide an opportunity to maybe elaborate a bit more on that VoIP answer. It seems like an important point, and I think you were keen to talk about it a bit.
4:50 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Shared Services Canada
No, I thought I'd nailed, it, actually—sorry.
If you like, I can certainly go on for 10 minutes about it.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Well, no, I guess what I wonder is, if you're starting from scratch, maybe VoIP would be the way to go, but if you have existing phone lines installed, presumably the marginal cost of maintaining them, once the network's there, is pretty small. Are the advantages of VoIP such that it's worth bringing in a whole new system?
4:50 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Shared Services Canada
The short answer is yes, but what I'd also like to address is doing business cases on all these situations, and that's a discipline we're trying to instill not only in ourselves but among the community, to not walk into situations and simply assume. Very large assumptions can really take you sideways. In the case of VoIP that you're bringing up, yes, the savings, both qualitative and quantitative, are enough to go in that direction because, inevitably, everything wears out. At some point you have to replace cable, people will move among buildings, and in those cases you have this three-dimensional chess game going on, parts always in motion. The idea that you're getting ready to move 300 people from this building to that building, and they're otherwise doing a retrofit, and now we have an opportunity to support the blueprint 2020 objectives of the government, so instead of putting in an old-style telephone line and a new-style digital line, you put in one cable that supports both. There are advantages.
Then there's also security, management opportunities, flexibility.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
You were talking about qualitative savings. My own personal experience or sense, anecdotally, would be that VoIP is typically lower quality than the traditional phone line, but perhaps you're going to enlighten me on this.
4:50 p.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Shared Services Canada
I would say a good part of the world is operating on VoIP and doesn't realize it. The telcos have had to go in this direction already because they recognize the massive benefits.
You also get more features and functionality than you had before, one number following, all those kinds of things you see advertised on TV for consumers. It's those and then some for business purposes.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Fair enough.
I was also going to ask if there is any comment at all on Shared Services' role in biometric screening.
4:55 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
Shared Services would acquire the infrastructure, the technology, computer servers, the storage that is necessary to support the biometrics screening, the data storage that goes with that. That's the kind of role we would play, and that's why it shows up in the main estimates.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay, but basically the policy decisions about whether or not to use biometric screening would be in the hands of other agencies and departments.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay. Fair enough.
Do you work at all with the Communications Security Establishment?
4:55 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
We work very closely with the Communications Security Establishment. I'd say there's lots of contact every day.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay. Could you maybe shed a little more light on what you do with them?
4:55 p.m.
President, Shared Services Canada
They work with us in terms of the design of the security that's being built into the system. They work with us in terms of some of the monitoring of what's going on in the networks. They're very aware. They have classified tools that they employ to help us monitor the Government of Canada network as well.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
