E-Governance : Effective Citizen Support Model Using Technology

E-governance and digital transformation can help governments across the globe in building an effective citizen-centric delivery model. This can help governments make their various services easily accessible to the citizens while driving citizen convenience and satisfaction.

The world is increasingly getting digitized. From shopping, personal entertainment to work, digital technologies are transforming the way we live and work. As businesses digitally transform with new technologies, citizens are calling on their governments to follow suit. As per a McKinsey report, government digitalization could generate more than $1 trillion annually worldwide.

Governments and government agencies across the globe, are implementing e-governance and digital transformation initiatives for various reasons, of which citizen support and convenience are the primary ones. Realizing the transformative impact of digital technologies in governance, many countries have been quick in implementing digital transformation projects.  In 2015, Australia, set up the Digital Transformation Agency to help the government improve digital services. The agency works with other government agencies to create simple and fast government services. Similarly, in the US, the United States Digital Service was launched with the mission to deliver better government services leveraging technology and design.

Digital transformation and e-governance can help governments to provide a range of services at a big scale and in tight budgets. Digital services can also empower citizens and encourage their engagement with the government.

1. Delivering Services Conveniently and Quickly: Any government provides thousands of services like voter registration, transferring vehicle ownership/ registrations, business registrations, etc., to its citizens. Digital tools and technologies can be leveraged to make these services easier and faster to avail. And many governments have already digitized their key services and are reaping the benefits of faster delivery, cost efficiency and citizen satisfaction. As new technologies evolve, these services can be further improved.
2. Driving Efficiency of Their Processes: Government processes are generally very complex, time-consuming, and involve multiple stakeholders. Digitizing internal processes of any government offers the most potential for efficiency gains. Governments and agencies can unload a lot of their weight by digitizing their processes and making itself leaner and agile. Citizens expect their government to work faster although complex, multi-layered processes are a huge impediment to quick response.
3. Make More Accurate Predictions and Decisions: One of the biggest benefits of e-governance and digital transformation for governments is that every activity through digital tools can be monitored and the resultant data and information generated can be further used. Today, we have AI and Machine Learning (ML) technologies that can process huge volumes of data in real-time and deliver actionable intelligence and insights. Governments can build data capabilities leveraging these data technologies to make accurate forecasting and then making decisions driven by data. Taking data-driven decisions shortens the decision-making cycle and improves the success rate.
4. Improving Collaboration Across the Government Structure: Any government is distributed across geographies, departments, and hierarchy. Governance is a collaborative effort between different parts of the government. Most government projects require collaboration across the departments. Digital transformation implementation can help government agencies build a robust collaboration platform featuring seamless data and information flow across the government structure. In the UK, the tax department launched ‘Connect’ a digital tool to link over 1 billion data items from 30 different sources. The tools have enabled the authority to secure £3 billion of additional taxes with £80 million investments.
5. Driving Engagement with Citizens: Citizen engagement is key to the success of any governance. Over the years, the gap between the government and citizens has widened. E-governance and digital transformation can help governments bridge the gap, involved in a constant engagement cycle with its citizens, and build feedback-driven delivery models. The key to driving citizen engagement is to reach out and interact with people as per their digital preferences. Today, a government has multiple ways to engage with its citizens including social media, mobile apps, chatbots, SMS, and 24/7 customer assistance centers.
6. Save Time and Money: Times have changed and so have the governance procedures. With the help of technology, we are progressing towards a more intelligent and smarter operational era. Today’s governments should be rated based on the quality of their interactions with the citizens and the efficiency of their service delivery mechanism. New innovations like cloud solutions can help governments reach their full potential. Tangible data storage methods such as hardcopies, extensive files, folders and large amounts of documents occupy a lot of physical space. Cloud-based e-governance solutions can play a vital role in eliminating this traditional storage process, thereby, saving money and time. E-governance solutions, thereby, help government departments and agencies to invest more time in strategically important development issues.

E-governance solutions also offer a secure and easy way of managing large amounts of data. One such example is the United States Government that utilizes its website http://www.forms.gov to provide internal government forms to federal employees. Imagine the amount of paper saved! This is not only an eco-friendly process, but it also reduces the time required for documentation by almost 50-60%. No doubt, e-governance leads to the overall improvement in service quality across various government departments.

E-Governance and the digital transformation have huge potential to disrupt the way governments work and deliver its services to its citizens. It is also rewarding for citizens and government employees. The first step to digital transformation in governance is to create a comprehensive vision plan comprising specific areas and goals. The next step is to find a digital transformation partner with deep authority in digital technologies and wide experience in working with governments.

Gemini Consulting & Services has become a driving force in helping governments optimize and transform their citizen services by bringing in innovative digital solutions and ideas. We have dedicated e-governance and digital transformation team to help governments and public institutions build a new-age, digital-enabled governance framework. To know more, click here.