Accelerating policy creation and team communication with Gemini at the Philippine DICT

Featured in this video: Miguel Planas, Assistant Secretary for Internal Systems and Emerging Technology and Faye Condez-de Sagon, Undersecretary at DICT Executive summary: The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is the digital leader for the Philippine government. In this role, the department saw opportunities to improve the government’s collaboration and innovation using new tools. Using Google Workspace with Gemini, the department enabled real-time collaboration across 17 regional offices and introduced secure, fast, generative AI solutions to the team. Following a governance-first framework, the department adopted Gemini to help accelerate team work, such as creating policy briefings and automating registration reviews for business licenses. The department has cut document drafting time in half and reduced license processing from months to just five days. Today, DICT’s success is influencing national policy and positioning the Philippines as an AI leader for the ASEAN region. Challenge: The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is a relatively new organization in the Philippines. Its role is to connect the country’s more than 7,100 islands through digitizing government services. To fulfill their role as the government’s technology leader, the department set out to simplify and speed up critical communications and collaboration. They wanted to reduce the time it took to complete policy documents that once took days or weeks to complete due to red tape and disconnected systems. For example, entrepreneurs faced waiting periods of three to five months to secure business operations licences from the government. DICT set out to find new ways to serve as the digital role model for the rest of the country with solutions that supported the speed and transparency required of a world-class, digital economy. Solution: DICT is now using Google Workspace with Gemini to connect its 17 regional offices and thousands of employees. By transitioning from siloed local servers to a cloud-first infrastructure, the department now utilizes the full Workspace suite to enable real-time collaboration and secure communications nationwide. DICT also introduced Gemini gradually, through a governance-first framework that prioritizes responsible use, transparency, and data confidentiality. Generative AI now supports various teams in the department, including the policy team in co-creating position papers and legislative briefings in Google Docs. All of this is contained in a highly-secure system that meets the government’s tight regulatory standards to keep valuable data safe. Result: The department’s newfound agility has directly improved public services, such as a new Gemini-powered registration platform that reduced business license processing times from months down to days. It’s also reduced policy drafting times from several days to just a few hours, while also improving audit trails for security governance. The DICT’s successful digital growth has inspired other departments across the country’s government and even influenced national policy by setting the stage for the Philippines to lead AI for the ASEAN region. Highlights and key takeaways from our interview with Miguel Planas, Assistant Secretary for Internal Systems and Emerging Technology and Faye Condez-de Sagon, Undersecretary at DICT: → “It used to take three to five months for some businesses to get licenses from the department, but now with our Gemini-powered registration platform, it only takes three to five days.” — Miguel Planas, Assistant Secretary for Internal Systems and Emerging Technology → “This ‘cloud first’ shift from siloed local servers to Google Workspace has enabled real-time collaboration across our department and cut policy document turnaround from days to hours. We also have better version control and audit trails for standardization and security.” — Faye Condez-de Sagon, Undersecretary → “We've seen immediate productivity gains — drafting memos, summarizing lengthy documents, generating meeting agendas, even helping with data analysis. For example, Gemini has cut drafting time for initial policy briefings in half.” — Miguel Planas, Assistant Secretary for Internal Systems and Emerging Technology Google Cloud products used: Google Workspace Learn more: Try Google Workspace with Gemini → http://goo.gle/3TNuJl8 What is Google Workspace → https://goo.gle/45BsE1W Set up Google Workspace → https://goo.gle/4q8r3t1 Subscribe to Google Workspace → https://goo.gle/GoogleWorkspace Try Google Workspace with Gemini → https://goo.gle/45FrVNh Follow Google Workspace on X → https://goo.gle/3YpmHS0 Follow Google Workspace on Facebook → https://goo.gle/4q8cZja Follow Google Workspace on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/49Eqjpw Follow Google Workspace on Instagram → https://goo.gle/44Xs4eL Follow Google Workspace on TikTok → https://goo.gle/4qijGio Follow Google Workspace on Threads → https://goo.gle/4so5XYS