In February 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission released a report called "Shaping Europe's Digital Future". This report introduces as its vision "The Commission wants a European society powered by digital solutions that are strongly rooted in our common values, and that enrich the lives of all of us" and summarizes a series of actions to be taken at the policy, technology, and operational levels to pursue such goals. However, at the center of these ambitions is the concept of a government-managed digital identity. As the report states:

"A universally accepted public electronic identity (eID) is necessary for consumers to have access to their data and securely use the products and services they want without having to use unrelated platforms to do so and unnecessarily sharing personal data with them."

Reimagining digital services

As governments reimagine digital services, Microsoft Consulting Services has already been working with many governments in the creation of authenticated, verifiable, secure, and trusted digital identity for its citizens, residents, and businesses. We see a theme, whereby governments are pursuing new digital strategies for their digital services, which requires new models and digital platforms for citizen authentication.

First, governments must have a digital transformation (DT) strategy, that includes their own "north star" visions and goals for pursuing investments in digital technology. Without such vision, a DT program may develop into a collection of technology modernization projects that do not achieve the expected outcomes.

We have seen many government customers who have modernized their technology and tools very rapidly in response to new working conditions caused by COVID-19. Governments have urgently deployed Teams, quickly migrated systems and data to the cloud, and found new ways to use cloud-based tools like Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to facilitate employee collaboration from home. However, many are now pivoting to re-examine how they can provideand even improvepublic-facing services within this new environment. These governments are re-creating their DT strategies with a sharp focus on digital services, and defining north-star ambitions around digital benefits administration, accessibility to government for disadvantaged populations, and fully enabled digital workflows that no longer depend on physical offices and face-to-face conversations.

These goals require a new method for authenticating citizens and business methods that are not dependent on presenting documents or appearing in person. Existing government online services often require citizens to create a login account with the government website, however these accounts are rarely validated against the "real world" individual. This limits the ability for such a login credential to be used for secure services such as health or social benefit management, financial claims, tax payments, court interactions, or filing of official documents.

Our on-going work with government

In our work with governments, we have helped them define tiered models for citizen identities. These may begin with a basic login that can be used for unsecured services and general communications. However, such a model also creates tiered levels of validated identity. A common model involves a second level of validation whereby the individual digitally presents official documents (like a bank statement) showing their address and thus proving their residence. Finally they must complete a third level validation that requires the resident to provide physical evidence of identity (often a passport) that therefore fully authenticates their identity and citizenship.

We have helped many governments implement this platform solution, serving millions of citizens. Take a look at this video which demonstrates how we have implemented citizen digital identity for governments:

Working with governments, we have used proven technology to create the platform required to manage digital identities. Using the foundation of Azure Active Directorya system that worldwide supports billions of transactions per day. We have designed systems where individual governments can host identities for millions of residents, interacting with hundreds of digital services. While the security credential is managed by Azure AD, the citizen's profile and permissions can be managed within a government's CRM system, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365. This can also provide the administrative tools necessary to qualify and validate citizens for various services and deliver robust reporting to assess the quality and use of these digital services.

As a final component of a DT strategy and digital identities, governments are now exploring their role and responsibility as a digital credential agency for their citizens. Governments are the citizen identity authority in the physical world. As indicated by the European Commission, it is time for governments to assume a similar responsibility in the digital world, explicitly to improve the online/digital lives of their citizens. Progressing into this sort of identity modelsuch as creating a digital identity that citizens can take with them as they move from country to country and "own" their identity just like they hold their passport may be a secondary consideration for governments now. Furthermore, Microsoft is actively working with government customers to define their digital platforms for future digital identity models.

Learn more about digital identity

For Microsoft, this conversation about government digital identity is not new, nor theoretical. We have helped many governments implement this platform solution, serving millions of citizens. If you want to learn more about this topic, you may want to review Microsoft's thought leadership on portable digital identities and download the distributed identity management document. Finally, if you want to learn more contact your Microsoft account representative for further details.

Learn more about Microsoft in Government.

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As we enter a new decade, cities at all levels understand that "digital transformation" is not about replacing legacy systems. Digital transformation is about leveraging technology to decrease the cost of operations, improve citizen services, and enable economic growth.

Cities that fail to pursue digital transformation strategies may realize unforeseen negative outcomes to their communities and citizens in the form of economic challenges that impact transportation system experiences, public health and social services programs, and at-risk communities.

City officials often prioritize public-facing services for digital investment, like online and mobile services, social service case management, and overall access to information. However, improvements in the management of infrastructure may have a greater impact. In fact, when the United Nations Economic Commission defined 90 performance indicators for "smart and sustainable cities," 46 of them were related to government infrastructure (telecommunications, water and power utilities, transportation, or sanitation/pollution).

What is a smart city?

The term smart city has perhaps become a catch-all phrase for smart city infrastructure. There is no smart city platform, or a single city that could claim to be "smart". What we see is that key infrastructure within a citysustainable lighting, traffic, safety, water management, waste management, social housing, and care can all be made smarter, more efficient, and responsive through the use of cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

"Smart infrastructure" is a great opportunity for cities to improve the quality of life for their residents. In addressing this opportunity, Microsoft sees six key elements that help drive successful outcomes for city digital transformation.

1. Start with outcomes

As with many technology initiatives, it is tempting to rapidly implement new technology before there is a goal for how to use it. Microsoft has seen customers deploy IoT sensors before knowing how they will manage the resulting data, or what they really want to learn from the data.

For example, we came across a city that had a great project in having cyclists record the location of potholes as they rode around the city. The cyclists within weeks dutifully had logged every pothole in key districts. However, they were very disappointed to find that the potholes were not repaired within days of being reported. Most cities cannot allocate road repair in short order, there are fixed annual budgets for repairs.

Cities must first identify their goals and outcomes for their smart infrastructure initiatives. These goals should be in the form of measurable public results, aligned to the local and regional priorities of the government. As stated previously, a good source for sample metrics is the United Nations Economic Commission for smart and sustainable cities. Once goals are clear, there must be clarity on how to deliver the outcomes that are produced by the smart infrastructure insights.

2. Design for security, privacy

Cybersecurity and data privacy cannot be protective measures added to a digital transformation initiative. They must be core principles designed into every solution from the get-go. When a government begins collecting data from thousands of previously disconnected pieces of infrastructure, the security of how that data is collected, transmitted, stored, and usedand how that data may reflect public activities that require privacymust be understood and safeguarded.

Microsoft spends over $1 billion a year in cybersecurity infrastructure and data privacy practices within Azure alone. Tools and services within Azure can extend that security to edge devices, connected workstations, and the networks in between. Going a step further, solutions like Microsoft 365 Security Center, Microsoft 365 Compliance Center, Microsoft System Center, and Windows Defender, along with a strong identity management capability built on Active Directory, can give cities a level of data security and privacy/access control needed in today's connected world. The Microsoft Azure cloud provides a great deal of control in data residency and compliance.

3. Right thing, right time

For most growing urban centers, city infrastructure is ever-changing. It is very difficult to simultaneously upgrade a complex system like a regional wastewater treatment network or public power grid when the needs and uses of that system are evolving. Microsoft has seen a need for government customers to include in their digital transformation plans tools like digital twins and geospatial mapping to ensure effective management of their digital transformation plan.

For example, when Tel Aviv, Israel wanted to implement their smart city services for citizens, they integrated everything into their government geolocation system. Every service, therefore, exists in a specific place, and citizens interacting with the city through a mobile app are referenced in perspective to those services. In this way, the system can intelligently understand transportation requests and infrastructure issue reports within the context of location.

4. Remove data silos

Many cities function with autonomy between various departments and agencies. However, meaningful insights that can improve government operations often exist in the area between these resulting data silos. When it comes to managing infrastructure, this may require integrating data from completely independent operations, such as financial procurement that manages the acquisition of equipment, a customer service group that receives complaints from citizens about failing services, and a public works or maintenance department that uses equipment to fix failing services.

The city of Lafayette, Louisiana removed data silos across the city as part of its effort to create a unified capability to improve citizen services. By integrating data through a unified citizen engagement service, they improved services ranging from transportation to education, to energy and water management.

5. Think tactical and iterate

In many cases, managing infrastructure will involve the use of IoT sensors to monitor systems, seeking to sense performance anomalies before they become major problems. Before deploying IoT everywhere, however, it is best to define tactical prioritiesmaybe one service or one functionto learn how IoT will impact operations, data management, and service costs.

For example, when Miami-Dade County, Florida, started their digital transformation journey, they chose to begin with their sewage pump stations. They deployed IoT sensors along over 6,000 miles of sewer pipes, and at 1,000 pump stations. Then they brought that data into a managed environment using Azure IoT Hub as their collection and communications environment, and Power BI as their dashboard monitoring tool. By proactively managing water pressure, flow rate, and rainwater runoff, they reduced issue detection times from days to seconds and complied with a federal government mandate to improve sewage management practices.

6. Get predictive

Investing in digital infrastructure pays off when cities move beyond the ability to simply monitor and respond to issues. Cities can use IoT to get real-time information about the state of their infrastructure, such as water and energy usage. Further leveraging external data sources, they can then use predictive analytics to create "infrastructure forecasts" to identify potential performance issues before they happen. From weather trends to social media and traffic patterns to event calendars, they can begin to model shifting infrastructure demands and predict estimates for time and severity of disruptions.

Recently, Microsoft helped Kaga City, Japan, address challenges with seasonal snow events. By using GPS to pinpoint snowplow location and progress, integrating data reporting about snow-related issues, and leveraging mobile terminals to deploy snowplows, all communicating with Azure IoT Hub, Kaga City is able to optimize snow removal and keep the city functioning during their worst winter storms.

Learn more

Microsoft has been serving government customers for over four decades and has technology, partner solutions, and consulting services aligned to government public works and infrastructure management. You can also download this e-book, which dives deeper into these six key elements of smart infrastructure.

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Urban residents and businesses are embracing technology and innovation at a faster pace than many cities can react. Leaders need to act now to bridge the widening technology gap and create the digital and technical infrastructure to support efficient and effective services to keep citizens engaged and connected.

In 2019, Microsoft partnered with ESI Thoughtlab to conduct a comprehensive study into leading cities' use of advance technology to interconnect systems to create new services, efficiencies, and lifestyle choices for their residents. These "hyperconnected" cities were found to have four characteristics in common, which other cities can also pursue and adopt to accelerate their smart city journey.

Digital technology adoption

First, these cities have digital technology adoption programs. Four technologies that are adopted by over 90 percent of the hyperconnected cities are public wifi, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, cloud, and mobile applications. By using these technologies, cities are driving high performance across their urban ecosystems and facilitating real-time interaction among residents, businesses, and government entities and services.

When adopting such technologies, it is often important for governments to manage costs by leveraging a defined strategy and architecture related to which technologies they will use. These types of technologies can depend heavily on each other. For example, IoT sensors generate substantial data, which can be economically stored in the cloud, but requires a complementary set of software, analytics, and reporting tools to be able to analyze and use the data. By leveraging a tool suite like Azure, Power BI, and Dynamics 365, governments can quickly create a common technology framework to drive new citizen-facing services.

Advanced use of data

Second, and closely related to the use of certain technologies, hyperconnected cities are generating more value and optimizing services through the advanced use of data. These include implementing artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and integrating the results synergistically with other solutions. Over half of the hyperconnected cities partner with local stakeholders, like businesses or educational institutions, to harness the learning from the data to improve services ranging from public utility throughput, to public health and wellbeing, to waste management.

Most progressive governments use cloud services to manage their data, leveraging tools and services available in the cloud for data analytics. For example, Azure offers services like IoT Hub, Azure Sphere, IoT Edge, cognitive services, machine learning, bot services, data bricks all services available to expedite the collection, management, control, and value-added use of data.

Investments in cybersecurity

Third, these cities have committed significant investments in cybersecurity, both within their government and across their communications and data networks. This is often out of necessity, as hyperconnected cities have greater exposure to the digital world, and thus experienced increased cyberattacks. Despite significant investments in tools, personnel, and training, less than half of these cities feel well-prepared for cyber incidents.

In 2019, Gartner published five different reports related to cybersecurity capabilities, tools, and solutions: 2019 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers , 2019 Magic Quadrant for Access Management , 2019 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving , 2019 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms , 2019 Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management Tools. Microsoft was named a "leader" in all five categories.

The City of Oulu in Finland bolstered their security stance by implementing a layered security approach in a non-intrusive way, allowing employees to work freely and maintain productivity and reducing the number of phishing attacks by 30 percent.

Connected citizens

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, hyperconnected cities have established the vision of connected citizens as a strategic goal of every agency, department, and service, in their city. These cities communicate effectively with citizens through multiple channels and consider digital connectivity to be a right of their citizens. To stay connected to citizens, cities are starting to appoint chief citizen experience officers (CCXOs), responsible for the end-to-end experience of citizens, ensuring that city websites, call centers, social media accounts, and mobile apps are designed with the citizens' needs and values in mind. In some cities, this entails responsibility for the citizen experience across the entire breadth of the urban landscape and all regional services, from transportation, education, and healthcare, to community events, housing, and parks and recreation.

Establishing a unified and comprehensive approach to citizen services is more than implementing a single solution. It involves an interconnected program with many elements. As cities become more interlinked, their return on investment grows as they capture more of the benefit such as societal, reduced crime and improved health and well-being

Microsoft and our partners have been working with governments around the world for over 40 years and have deep industry knowledge, expertise helping to implement such programs, which often include the ability for a citizen to both establish and control their own digital identity for accessing government services.

Learn more

If you are starting out or are already on your journey towards becoming more "hyperconnected", the good news is that best practices are available for you to learn from others to accelerate your smart city journey.

In 2020, we will delve deeper into these four common characteristics of the leading hyperconnected cities. In the meantime, learn how Microsoft can help you achieve your smart city vision.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management Tools, Chris Silva | Manjunath Bhat | Rich Doheny | Rob Smith, 6 August 2019

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Peter Firstbrook | Dionisio Zumerle | Prateek Bhajanka | Lawrence Pingree | Paul Webber, 20 August 2019

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving, Julian Tirsu | Michael Hoeck, 20 November 2019

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers, Steve Riley, Craig Lawson, 22 October 2019

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management, Michael Kelley, Abhyuday Data, Henrique Teixeira, 12 August 2019

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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The term "smart city" is a simple phrase that encompasses a broad and complex set of digital transformation initiatives and programs. Such programs need to include modern citizen services, operational automation, intelligent management of infrastructure and utilities, and new capabilities to improve transportation and communication. Microsoft is helping to lead the way at this year’s Smart City Expo World Congress 2019.

That said, immediate action is needed to prepare for the smart city of the future. According to the United Nations, 68 percent of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2050. This worldwide "urban shift" is creating the pressure for governments to improve the way cities serve residents, either by optimizing the physical environment or improving the virtual capabilities of government.

As a former government Chief Information Officer with almost two decades of public sector leadership experience, I have learned that one of the most difficult parts of your transformation journey is developing the trust needed to sustain a long-term effort, especially when there are multiple projects that all compete for limited resources and funding. To be sustainable over the long-term, your smart city program needs to garner this trust from citizens, policymakers, government leaders, and community stakeholders.

This trust is earned by delivering early success with proven results. Therefore, initial projects must demonstrate true value. For this reason, I strongly advise creating a plan that starts with a limited number of targeted, tactical, high-value projects. These projects should advance the long-term architecture, but also create immediate visible success. Succeeding at valuable tactical projects is the "make-it-real" approach you need to realize your digital transformation vision.

While decisions about which projects to pursue depend on local priorities and goals, I would confidently recommend considering opportunities that align with these three categories:

1) Improve accessibility for citizen services. Studies performed by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that 19 percent of all people have some kind of permanent physical or cognitive disability, over 46 percent of people over 60 years of age have a disability, and up to 68 percent of people may be experiencing a temporary disability at any given time. Public healthcare, child welfare, housing assistance, mental health counseling, or criminal justice interactions are services explicitly designed to serve disadvantaged or at-risk populations who by definition may have short-term or permanent challenges associated with physical abilities, mental capabilities, emotional stress, or communication barriers. Undertaking a comprehensive citizen service initiative focused on digital accessibility provides an immediate positive outcome that can revolutionize the quality of life afforded to citizens.

2) Improve traditional operations through data analytics. Even after implementing a "digital" service, many government functions remain tethered to operating models that require people to read data, reports, forms, or documents. While governments have a massive amount of data, 47 percent of that data is not machine-readable and cannot leverage digital transformation platforms like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Traditional government operations should be re-examined, seeking opportunities to improve data management practices. Smart cities will digitize operations that involve manual intervention and decisions, especially focused on those operations that impact citizen interactions. Common targets could be permit or license processing, basic issue reporting, infrastructure monitoring, and routine customer service inquiries. In addition, new opportunities that allow complex data to be analyzed and acted upon to improve quality of life could also be considered, like real-time optimization of traffic flow, maintenance work, city parking, and public lighting.

3) Target a community stakeholder opportunity. The great thing about a smart city is that other stakeholders want you to succeed! According to several recent studies, an urban shift will put stress on existing systems that serve local economic development, job creation, waste management, power and water delivery systems, housing quality, health, and transportation networks. As a result, regional partners that will want to engage and help include major businesses, private shipping and transportation companies, utility districts, other regional governments, large hospitals, and special interest groups. A smart city should embrace other stakeholders that have an interest in collaborating to solve challenges and improve the quality of life for city residents. These partners may have funds to invest, or be willing to promote and champion a solution, and seek nothing more than the chance to participate and collaborate on ways to transform city living. Improvements to functions like business tax management, urban sustainability, transportation coordination, and elderly care are outcomes that are key to a smart city vision, and for which there are likely community partners willing to engage, collaboration, champion, and support your initial efforts.

"Smart cities" represent a global initiative, with benefits to be learned by everyone. Let's continue to engage in these conversations! Stop by the Microsoft Booth at Smart City Expo World Congress 2019, in Barcelona, Spain Nov 19 21, to continue the discussion.

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