Service NSW to get $97.5m for tech in state budget

The NSW government will set aside nearly $100 million worth of capital funding to be spent on IT enhancements within its flagship customer service entity Service NSW.

Service NSW has consolidated the customer-facing transactions previously operated by agencies like Roads and Maritime Services and the births, deaths and marriages registry.

It is working to inject a level of digital functionality and customer service innovation seen in industries like banking into public sector service delivery.

NSW Finance and Services Minister Dominic Perrottet today said tomorrow’s 2015-16 state budget would include a total of $362 million to expand Service NSW, with 27 new Service NSW shopfronts - as well as lighter-touch “digital stores” - planned across the state.

The funding allocation also includes $97.5 million to pay for “technology enhancements”, such as a new central payments back-end that will allow NSW residents to use PayPal and Apple Pay to pay for government services like licence renewals.

“Everyone across this state will welcome the fact that we can progress this revolutionary customer-service journey with further capital investments,” Perrottet said in a statement.

Sydney business Azuron has been contracted to build the payments services platform, which will link up all the agency-operated payments systems that currently process these transactions, and in the future will enable interoperability with third party payments gateways.

Stay tuned for iTnews' coverage of the NSW state budget tomorrow.