DIGITAL transformation should be on the agenda of every department of government as we welcome a new administration. The next six years are extremely crucial. For years, especially during this pandemic, we have seen the impact and the need for automating processes, especially government transactions and services. Today, we are seeing the impact caused by the absence of digital processes.This week, my post about the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) online passport appointment system has reached more than 3,200 shares after just over a day with over a thousand likes and hundreds of comments. My Messenger is also flooded with pleas for help and stories of experiences by applicants. I have received hundreds of complaints coming for seamen, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), nurses who lost their jobs due to delays, families who needed to travel to other cities to get a passport, senior citizens who were made to wait for half a year or so, and so many applicants claiming to have paid thousands for appointment slots. Thousands are waiting for open appointment slots around the country. I did not realize how critical the situation is.Since last year, I have tried to book an appointment to renew my passport. I wanted to experience the same experience I have with other countries in applying for a visa. Everything is online. From filling out forms and setting appointments or claiming passports that were sent via couriers already with a stickered visa. Sadly, every time I book, there are no available dates. I expected to see later dates open and was decided to book even at later dates, but there is none. This week, I tried again, after already imagining how it would be to travel abroad after more than two years of not even riding a plane. But still, there were no dates, hence the social media outburst.As digital advocates, it pains us to see how digitalization is abused instead of fully utilized. Digitalization and automation – contrary to what unenlightened people say – is aimed at easing load, reducing steps, ensuring safety from physical contact, facilitating processes and increasing productivity. It is a strategy to reduce corruption, bribery and unlawful activities possible through unseen and unregulated human discretion.It is not meant to derail processes or to be used as a reason for exploiting people who are not digitally literate. Digital transformation requires a whole of nation approach, and the government can lead it. Although the business sector has been starting it already – we heavily rely more on government transactions and processes for our daily needs. I and many experts have said repeatedly but digital transformation is not about technology, it is about agility, the ability to adjust to the growing demands of one’s organization, or country.Today, if we do an audit not only of the DFA but of many government agencies – there is a lot to be done. This discussion is not to burden the DFA workers but to call for their safety from physical contact by efficiently migrating to digital steps that are ministerial and manual.I respectfully call on the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to lead the way for digital transformation in this country. I thank Arta for reaching out almost immediately after my social media post became viral. I thank DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin for correcting me also on social media that the DFA is doing its job, that is of approving and renewing passports.Talk is easy but streamlining and automating systems are yet another challenge. More than three years ago, I publicly posted on FB my sad experience about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). How its new online registration has a weak user interface. How dropdowns do not match with instructions. How options to edit are not actually getting through. And the SEC called me. I knew it had something to do with systems builders not understanding the mandates of the office. Soon enough, the SEC system improved. But Bacolod lost a knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company from the US wanting to hire at least a thousand Negrenses for having to wait more than six months for their SEC registration to be approved. We pay a high price for inefficiency. Today, I am happy to observe that the SEC digital system is one of the best in the country.Today, I respectfully call on all our concerned departments to read with open eyes and hearts the comments in this post. Digital advocates like myself are here for UI/UX purposes to improve your systems. Listen to your users. Every organization on this planet gathers and utilizes user feedback to ensure efficiency and excellence.