Her background allowed her to find both missing pieces and ways in which digitalization could be improved, which was crucial to the enhancement of service delivery. In her current position as an Emerging Technologies Program Manager in a State Agency in the US, she has placed emphasis on the use of advanced technologies such as Intelligent Document Processing IDP and Robotic Process Automation RPA for the purpose of making some processes short and less tedious.
Such initiatives are meant to eliminate problems that are common in most state agencies such as the long queue of applications waiting to be processed and the bureaucracy that many clients and caseworkers often complain.
“The formulation of a roadmap for the technology evolution of the agency and articulating the areas and activities which emerging technologies may be employed to increase the efficiency of the agency”, Rikhi recollects. One of her notable design projects is the automation of mid-certifications and return mail processing, both of which are activities that require a lot of time and human resources. With IDP and RPA on board, there will be faster processing times, fewer mistakes, and less strain on the staff. This particularly addresses the operational problem at hand now but also lays the groundwork for other projects in the pipeline, like workflow for automated applications and re-certifications.
What truly sets her apart is the ability to discern operational problems and address them accordingly. For instance, the problem of applications taking too long to process – appears, at first sight, to be simple. However, it was not as simple. There were several factors and several layers of causes for the delay. It could be because the client made a mistake, or the process as it stands currently has some waste, or systems were down, or even the worker in charge was a bottleneck. To know all of these, she and her team took some scrutiny over all the application processing systems in place.
She interviewed a variety of respondents, frontline staff, and managers, among others, in order to understand the hurdles faced by different groups. This information was then transformed into an elaborate user journey map that depicts the confusion and time taken in the process. So equipped, she identified the improvement areas and explored how new technologies could be utilized to intervene on these pain points.
The investigation into what can be achieved with digital transformation has been a major part of this process. By studying how for example RPA and IDP could help in these processes, she found ways to cut down the procedural time and the chances of making mistakes. This vision is not limited to one state agency. She also conducts research and has papers published on reaching out to other social agencies within the US and beyond.
Nonetheless, the issues associated with defining and understanding digital transformation processes in the public sector have not been devoid of difficulties. The most difficult challenge she experienced was the need to recognize what was causing delays in the processing of applications. And this required not only knowledge of existing systems and their relationships but also the capability to operate within a strict system where politics and technology coexist. It was a challenge that involved not only technical skills to identify the problems and formulate solutions but also built in a lot of public policy in terms of stakeholder relations and interactions.
Her input has also been aligned with trends towards use of new technologies in the public sector. With state agencies operating on limited budgets and facing increasing service delivery pressures, automation of labor intensive activities is one way of achieving more with less. Her work has also taken the form of simplifying people’s procedural responsibilities without compromising on the efficiency of services being rendered to the public, thus helping people to access the resources and support they require in a timely manner.
In a world where digital transformation is becoming increasingly critical, Deepika Rikhi’s expertise in applying emerging technologies to social services stands as an example of how thoughtful analysis and innovation can drive meaningful change. Through her work, state agencies are beginning to see the power of AI and automation to solve real-world problems, offering hope for a more efficient, effective future in public service delivery.
