Digital public sector
Citizens at the centre
Building digital public services in CEE
Governments around Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are under pressure to increase efficiency, comply with regulations and ensure national security, but most of all they need to respond to their citizens’ growing demand for public services that are citizen-centric.
Digital transformation offers CEE governments the opportunity to meet the citizens’ aspirations for open, transparent and responsive governments. If governments in CEE can manage to keep citizens and their needs at the heart of the process, these changes will help to continue delivering on the promise of the revolution that swept through the region beginning in 1989: states that work ever more transparently and efficiently to serve the interests of their people.
Our report explores possible approaches to building citizen-centric services models, providing practical guidance for people engaged in digitalization of public services. To improve the provision of services designed for citizens, we recommend that governments in CEE focus on six steps below.
Listen to the citizens
Understanding a government agency’s customer base is a prerequisite for being able to deliver services to meet their needs in the way they want them delivered.
Governments have at their disposal a number of techniques to understand citizens’ awareness, needs, expectations and preferences, including voice of the customer research, touchpoint journey mapping and drawing citizen insights from existing data.
Design citizen-friendly government interfaces
One of the key aspects of providing citizen-centric services is designing intuitive interfaces for government portals that are relevant, user-friendly, safe and accessible to all users.
The design would naturally start with research and analysis, then the design of the prototype, which is evaluated and upgraded in an iterative way.
Ensure leadership and determination
The efficiency of e-government services is one of the conditions for the stability of the state today – and that takes determination, coordination and participation from the whole government.
Commitment at the top level is a guarantee of achieving the expected results, on time and on budget, without consensus at all levels of the administration.
Connect government agencies and ensure data interoperability:
To build a connected government, officials first need to recognise the current hierarchical and siloed structure of public-sector bodies that are reducing efficiency and effectiveness across all stakeholder groups.
The foundation of a truly citizen-centric one-stop shop for public services lies in the integration of data across numerous government agencies. To ensure adequate benefits, it is necessary to follow a long-term strategy and use short-term targets that address real needs.
Ensure re-use of public data
- The key aspect of data collection is a clearly defined institutional framework consistently allocating responsibilities for each institution involved in the process of data collection, which prevents insufficient or scattered databases.
Build digital skills of public administration and citizens:
- In the current era of technological progress, the continuous improvement of employees’ and citizens’ digital skills is an absolute necessity. Governments need to invest in education and skills in order to familiarise people with technological change throughout their careers.
The wave of digital transformation that is sweeping through the world of business is also transforming the public sector. If governments in CEE can manage to keep citizens and their needs at the heart of the process, these changes will help to continue delivering on the promise of the revolution that swept through the region beginning in 1989: states that work ever more transparently and efficiently to serve the interests of their people.
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