The data courier problem

A few weeks ago, the Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology, Jonathan Reid, shared a story that many Barbadians could relate to. While at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with a loved one, he found himself having to repeatedly explain that person’s condition to different caregivers. Each new nurse or doctor required the same information all over again.

For anyone who has interacted with public services, the experience is painfully familiar: the endless repetition of details the government already holds, while not a violation of the Data Protection Act 2019 (since departments may use data internally for the purpose for which it was collected), exposes a systemic failure to leverage lawful, interoperable data-sharing mechanisms across agencies.

That story, however, points to something bigger. The problem isn’t the people at the desks; it’s the system behind them. Government information lives in silos, databases that don’t talk to each other, systems that can’t exchange data, and processes that treat every citizen interaction as if it’s the first.

A system that doesn’t talk to itself

This inefficiency runs through the public sector. Whether renewing a driver’s licence, applying for a business permit, or submitting an NIS claim, citizens are routinely asked to repeat the same details across different agencies.

A friend of mine recently shared a frustrating experience that captures this perfectly. After renewing her motor insurance as usual, she discovered that the Licensing Authority had reassigned her vehicle number plate to another registrant. The problem arose because the Licensing Authority received no confirmation from the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) that her insurance had been paid up. When she contacted her insurer, they confirmed that not only had the policy been paid, but that they had also been notifying the BRA as required. Somewhere between the BRA and the Licensing Authority, the data simply stopped moving.

By the time she finally gathered the documentation to prove she was fully insured, an officer at the Licensing Authority told her it was her responsibility to ensure the BRA forwarded the information, and that she could not reclaim her original number plate. She would have to apply again as if registering a new vehicle.

That single case illustrates what happens when systems don’t talk to each other. A citizen loses time, money, and in this instance, even her assigned registration number, all because of a data coordination failure between government departments.

Poor data quality doesn’t just slow service delivery; it undermines trust. When systems can’t reconcile basic information, decision-making becomes reactive and inconsistent. The public sees it, experiences it, and grows weary of it.

Digitising in silos

Part of the problem is that much of government’s digital transformation has focused inward. Ministries are working hard to digitise their internal operations, automating forms, adopting case-management tools, and moving paper files online, but few are building those systems with the wider public sector or stakeholders in mind.

This is digitisation, not integration. Departments are modernising their own workflows but not designing them so that other agencies can access or reuse the same verified data. Each ministry is solving its own problem without realising that its data could help another ministry work better.

For example, a platform built by the Barbados Revenue Authority to validate tax compliance could easily feed into business licensing, procurement, or grant-funding processes if it were designed with secure, inter-agency access in mind. The same applies across health, education, and social services. Every domain collects data that could make another more efficient, if only the systems were connected and governed by clear data-sharing standards.

Until government starts designing systems that extend their usefulness beyond their own walls, Barbados will keep building digital islands, impressive on their own, but disconnected from each other.

The missing skills and the missing mindset

At the heart of this challenge lies not only fragmented systems but also fragmented thinking. For years, both government and the private sector have viewed digital development through narrow technical lenses. The public service has strengthened its teams of programmers, network administrators, and cybersecurity specialists, but what’s missing are system-integration experts, data architects, and information managers who see how everything connects.

Both the University of the West Indies and the Barbados Community College focus their IT programmes on software, networking, and databases, while giving little attention to systems integration and enterprise design. This helps explain why we produce many programmers and network administrators, but few professionals who make systems talk to each other.

These are the specialists who design frameworks that let data flow securely across agencies and platforms. Without them, departments build applications that work in isolation, forcing staff to bridge gaps manually.

The private sector faces the same problem. Too few local businesses expose data safely through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces, which allow systems to share data securely) or shared platforms. Imagine if American Airlines had never allowed booking data on travel sites, or if Amazon had refused third-party vendors. The modern digital economy wouldn’t exist, and we must do the same if we truly want a modern Barbados.

A thriving digital ecosystem depends on trusted, well-governed data sharing between both sectors. Without openness, innovation stalls and the promise of a digital Barbados remains unrealised.

The way forward: Building a foundation for integration and governance

Fixing this problem isn’t about buying more software; it’s about changing how the country thinks about information. Barbados needs a national data governance framework supported by people who understand how systems, processes, and policy intersect. That means setting clear data standards across ministries and the private sector, mapping where information resides, and defining who is accountable for its accuracy and protection.

Equally important is the role of business process and systems-integration architects who see the full picture of how data moves across government. Their job isn’t to code but to design the pathways that make data usable between agencies. They ensure that systems such as health care, tax, and licensing can communicate securely through shared definitions and common interfaces.

With these roles and a strong governance structure, ministries can design with connection in mind so that information entered once can serve many lawful purposes. That is how modern governments operate: through standards, interoperability, and stewardship.

If Barbados invests in these foundations now, the next phase of digital transformation will move beyond digitising paperwork to integrating national intelligence. True efficiency will come not from adding systems, but from getting them to work together.

Citizens should not have to act as data couriers between ministries. To rebuild confidence, government must show it values quality over quantity, necessity over convenience, and trust over control. Barbados can lead the region by managing the data it already has, responsibly and transparently. In the end, digital maturity is not about how much information a government holds, but how wisely it uses data to serve its citizens.

steven@dataprivacy.bb