Significant structural reforms of public administration are commencing in Finland from 2017. Firstly, municipalities and cities are being combined into larger entities. Secondly, five social-welfare and healthcare regions are to be created, with that level being responsible for arranging services in this field. Thirdly, the City of Helsinki is outsourcing service provision. This study shows that in current thinking on services, the foundations of reform rest with customers and new service models. Little consideration has been given to the needs of clients or the potential that technology offers for the rationalisation of service practices. I consider the key change to involve a transition from closed systems to open ones. Open systems are core elements in the theory of complex adaptive systems, as discussed below. Public organisations are becoming less hierarchical and status-centred; they can be seen as relationships that lead to networks, interaction and understanding. The way public organisations are developing shows they are moving away from hierarchical bureaucracy towards more open, network-based and self-directed practices. Information, its accessibility and interpretation and the organisation's ability to use it have been internal drivers for change within organisations, and these are linked to continuous learning. The lower the predictability of organisational activities and the greater the uncertainty about everything continuing unchanged, the more important it becomes to enhance continuous learning, i.e. lifelong learning as an adaptation.