Essential services and the need for change
Every government worldwide is tasked with providing essential services to its citizens – including public healthcare, education, transportation, infrastructure and welfare support. As citizens and societies evolve, work expands and needs change, and traditional models fall short of both expectations and capacity.
Governments thus seek to reshape public service delivery by reconceptualizing practices, and deploying emerging technologies to power digital transformation initiatives to step-up efficiency and inclusiveness.
The need for change is also necessitated by the public demand for overcoming governmental hierarchical sluggishness, the increased demand for diverse services, the imperative of managing with less resources – and the promise and potential of digital technologies for streamlining processes, improving speed and enhancing accessibility.
The promise of digital transformation
Governments across the globe are therefore widely adopting digital platforms for public service delivery. E-platforms permit access to government services 24×7, preclude the need for physically visiting government offices or waiting in queues. It avoids human interventions unless necessary, reducing bureaucratic delays and undesirable practices like illegal gratification. In essence, costs go down and transparency goes up.
Such platforms help the government handle huge volumes of work with greater accuracy and speed. The use of big data analytics and AI enables cross referencing and the capture of patterns, which in turn helps spot trends, anomalies and frauds. It can also help predict demand and aid pre-emptive preparation. At the heart are digital identification systems that form the basis for the seamless rendering of services and the cogent aggregation of monitoring information. Such systems also help in expanding services to targeted groups or vulnerable communities. Multilingual options have widened the spread of public service delivery (PSD). Far more thought is also going into catering to the needs of people with disabilities. Digital PSD can serve citizens across all strata of society, irrespective of economic status, background or geographical location.
Governments are also relying on partnerships with private entities, called public-private partnerships (PPPs), to share investments and improve reach and efficiency. Community participation is being encouraged to fulfill local needs.
Of course, increased digital adoption raises concerns about data privacy and security, which governments are seeking to address in a more robust way.
The digital divide
It follows that those who don’t have digital access will be denied digital public services and will be disadvantaged because of that. Once upon a time, that meant that those on the wrong side of the digital divide were those without telephone access. Then it expanded to include those without televisions and personal computers. After the late 1990s, it has implied those without internet access. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 33% of the world’s population still has no internet access. Shouldn’t that definition now include those with low-performance computers, mobile phones that aren’t smart, and low-speed wireless connections, all of which come in the way of effective content consumption? The United Nations has established an Information and Communication Technologies Taskforce to bridge the digital divide.
State of play across countries
India has been a stand-out in this respect, having made remarkable progress over the last decade. At one level, it was a natural thing to do, considering India’s huge population, thas is extremely diverse in terms of language, location, spread, education, needs, and incomes.
Aadhar is the world’s largest unique identification system, with over 1.3bn registered users. A unique 12-digit number identifies each individual, and facilitates access to various public services including banking, welfare programs, direct transfer of subsidies and more. Aadhar verification also enables access to a cloud-based document storage service called DigiLocker; and Jan Dhan Yojna, that leverages mobile connectivity to promote financial inclusion.
Sector specific public initiatives include the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that provides a comprehensive health infrastructure; an online trading platform for agricultural products called eNAM, enabling real-time price discovery, cutting out middlemen; SWAYAM, an online education platform that provides free courses for higher education, upskilling and exam preparation; GeM, a government e-marketplace for government departments to procure goods and services directly, speedily and transparently; e-Sign for digital signatures; BHIM & UPI, digital payments interfaces that enables instant money transfer between bank accounts via smartphones; and a National Scholarship Portal for managing financial support to deserving students seamlessly.
The emphasis is on social inclusion, security and consent for sharing. Supporting new technologies (like AI, ML, blockchain), bridging the digital divide and safeguarding privacy will be the key challenges of the future. That said, the architecture and infrastructure deployed are setting the stage for India’s leap to becoming a digitally empowered society.
Estonia, considered a digitally advanced country, allows foreigners to establish and run a business within its jurisdiction, without any physical presence, has a secure data exchange platform for the seamless exchange of information between any two entities, accelerating transactions, and offers its citizens worldwide the option of online voting in national elections.
Singapore, a smart nation, has been at the forefront of using technology for urban services, like their SingPass digital identity system, Myinfo, to enable citizens to store and share their personal information across government agencies to avail services, and their Smart Nation Sensor Platform which analyzes information from sensors placed in public spaces that helps the government respond, often preemptively, to incidents or issues.
Other interesting and utilitarian initiatives include Denmark’s Digital Post, South Korea’s Government 24 integrated portal that gives citizens access to over 5,000 services, Dubai’s efforts at becoming the first city to implement blockchain for all government documents, and New Zealand’s SmartStart, an online platform for new parents, that helps them avail services pertaining to childbirth, childcare and early education.
The road ahead
All governments realize that their continuance in office depends substantially on how public services are delivered. They aspire to leverage new and emerging technologies to make public service delivery increasingly autonomous, efficient, cost-effective and accessible 24×7. Approaches and priorities differ, but those in office know this digital age represents a great opportunity to create a better governed, digitally empowered society.
Anil Nair is a Senior Fellow at the Portulans Institute. He was the former Managing Director, Country Digitization for APJC at Cisco Systems. In his role at Cisco, he was involved with government, industry leaders, and academia in accelerating national digitization strategies to drive economic growth, create jobs, and build innovative ecosystems across India, China/Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, and Thailand.
Prior to that, he was MD/CEO at AGC Networks Ltd, Securitas India, Aegis Consulting and Avaya GlobalConnect Ltd. During his career he has led 4 successful turnarounds and 2 start-ups. Anil has been the recipient of an Award for Professional Excellence by the Indian Institution of Industrial Engineers and has won the Udyog Rattan Award. He did his Advanced Management Program from ISB-Kellogg Business School in Chicago.