Why a coordinated, citizen-centred approach is the only way

Across Canada, a quiet shift is gaining momentum. In government offices from Victoria to St. John's, something remarkable is happening: ministries, departments, and Crown corporations are working together (not apart) to modernize how they serve their citizens.

Why This Approach Matters Now

The opportunity for cross-agency collaboration has never been more promising, and citizens have been guiding us toward this vision for years. They naturally organize their lives around their needs and priorities, not government department structures, and they're ready for us to meet them where they are. When someone moves, they should be able to update their information in one place and trust that it reaches everyone who needs it. When they start a business, they should experience a seamless journey of support across federal, provincial, and municipal systems that feels coordinated and welcoming.

Cross-agency tech upgrades eliminate these artificial boundaries. They reduce duplication and data isolation while providing faster, more reliable digital services. They strengthen security through centralized cybersecurity efforts and boost efficiency by enabling faster decision-making through scalable digital solutions.

Perhaps most importantly, they transform how public servants work. Instead of spending time on manual data entry, duplicate processes, and system workarounds (the kind of administrative overhead that prevents talented people from focusing on their core mission), teams can concentrate on what drew them to public service: directly improving citizens' lives and communities.

What Makes Cross-Agency Tech Upgrades Different

The evidence for streamlining citizen-facing services is everywhere. In 2018, theThe Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada pioneered a "Tell Us Once" model, allowing Canadians to update and share their direct deposit banking information quickly and safely between the two agencies.  Citizens no longer had to make the same update in multiple places, with multiple Ministries, crossing their fingers that the change would take effect.

Traditional government modernization can sometimes happens in silos, with each department upgrading independently, creating a patchwork of systems and inconsistent citizen experiences that leave everyone frustrated with the gaps between digital promise and reality.

Cross-agency tech upgrades flip this approach entirely. Take standardized single sign on processes, for example. Instead of seventeen different password reset processes, citizens get coordinated modernization across multiple agencies designed to actually reduce friction through two essential pillars: integration and adoption. A good example of this is the Canadian Government’s GC Sign in process, which allows use of a single log-in for access to over 270 government services using 60 different sign-in systems. (That’s a lot of passwords to remember!)

Integration forms the technical backbone of this type of work: the essential plumbing that makes everything else possible. It connects disparate systems so they can actually talk to each, leveraging leveraging shared data models, cybersecurity protocols, and IT frameworks across departments. Most critically, it enables real-time data sharing, giving agencies access to up-to-date information regardless of where it originates.

Shared Services Canada took this approach when they created GC Cloud One to centralize how government teams gained access to public cloud services. By acting as an intermediary managing relationships with cloud providers, and allowing multiple government departments to access shared cloud resources in a standardized way, they've enabled departments to use a self-service model for provisioning and managing cloud resources. Doing so creates possibilities for service innovation and reducing duplication of effort to provision services that would inevitably happen in a  siloed environment. Based on feedback to date, users have been very appreciative of Shared Services Canada’s proactive engagement, including co-design sessions, frequent communication, and iterative improvements after launch.

But here's what we've learned from the trenches: integration means absolutely nothing without adoption. It’s this simple and profoundly human and organizational side of transformation that determines whether your thoughtfully designed system becomes a lasting solution or remains underutilized despite everyone's best efforts.

The Human Side of Digital Transformation

In our work at Button, we often discover that small changes and communication patterns can make a big difference - such as making sure that people with different professional backgrounds are using the same terms to describe things. On one project, we  discovered that "user-friendly design" means remarkably different things to policy analysts and IT specialists. We worked with the client to lead weekly drop-in co-design labs with policy and IT staff, creating a space where both groups could speak the same language and build common understanding. By building ongoing feedback into the process, both teams felt they had more ownership and buy-in over the project, and had less frustration over not feeling heard, where they had previously just been speaking different languages - each valid in their own field.

Incremental change helped this team master the art of pacing change by honoring each department's professional autonomy while building buy-in over time, focusing on small wins that build strong relationships over time.

Connecting Vision to Reality

We work with public sector organizations to align systemic modernization with human needs by asking one simple question: Will the changes we are making improve someone’s Monday morning? .

There are a lot of tools in our toolbox to help us answer this question: 

• Journey mapping and blueprinting make invisible service complexity visible. We work with teams to align early around shared understanding around terminology, project scope and desired outcomes.. 
• Co-design workshops bring IT, policy, operations, and frontline staff to the same table to have  real, candid conversations about how their work actually connects.
• Human-centred systems thinking bridges policy and technology by translating needs into actionable design specifications. We help public teams develop transparent change communication, telling clear, cohesive stories both internally and to the public they serve.
• Capacity building ensures that work extends well beyond project completion. We equip internal teams with tools and mindsets to scale change and maintain momentum long after external support ends, because sustainable transformation requires building internal capacity that grows stronger over time.

Evidence of Impact: Where technology and human-centred design meet

Technical capabilities enable new possibilities, but human-centered design ensures those possibilities translate into meaningful improvements in people's lives.

For example, through our work on the CleanBC Industrial Incentives Program, we collaborated with the Climate Action Secretariat to transform a six-month manual reporting process into a streamlined 30-minute automated task, significantly increasing transparency and improving decision-making capabilities.

Another Button project we mentioned earlier was equally demonstrative of human-first integration and adoption. Our work on a secure, scalable single sign-on solution for the Government of British Columbia enhanced security while making citizen access significantly easier and more intuitive, delivering the integrated experience that both staff and citizens have been seeking. 

These are just two of Button’s projects that demonstrate what happens when integration and adoption work together. 

The Path Forward

Canada's most impactful public institutions are proving that transformation is better when it's shared. Cross-agency tech upgrades represent more than individual projects—they signal a mindset shift toward service equity, shared digital infrastructure, and scalable trust.

The opportunity ahead is significant. As digital expectations continue rising and fiscal pressures demand greater efficiency, organizations that thrive will be those that move beyond departmental boundaries to deliver coordinated, citizen-centred services.

Success requires both technical integration and organizational adoption, supported by clear communication, inclusive design processes, and sustained commitment to capability building. It demands patience for relationship-building combined with urgency around service improvements citizens rightfully expect.

The question isn't whether cross-agency transformation will happen, it's how quickly public sector leaders can embrace collaborative approaches that make it successful.

At Button, we're proud to support the people and organizations leading this shift, connecting the dots between vision, systems, and experience. Because when public institutions work together, transformation becomes not just possible, but powerful.