Consumers expect seamless, high-value digital experiences, including with the public sector.
What does it mean to build digital services that citizens both use and trust? From the local to the national, generating effective digital transformation and getting citizens onboard with digital public services has been a challenge. The promise of digital government has often been muddled by institutional inertia and perceptions of government as slow-moving and bureaucratic. At the same time, positive initiatives, such as the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment, which embrace objectives as wide-ranging as improved service delivery, greater efficiency, increased transparency, interoperability, and citizen satisfaction, have begun to remove entrenched ambivalence about e-government. Modern GovTech is where these barriers collide, creating the opportunity to address newly accelerated consumer demand in the face of private-sector conveniences and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
GovTech, according to public sector entities such as the World Bank, is a technology-based “government approach to public sector modernization.” The same definition emphasizes three core areas for modernization: universal accessibility, citizen-centric services, the delivery of efficient and transparent government systems, and finally, digital transformation, all of which rely on overcoming long-cited barriers to adoption and success, such as citizens’ willingness to use and trust services.
GovTechs, an umbrella term for technology-based solutions (and the companies behind them) that power the technical aspects of digital transformation, can be a bridge between use and trust and learning to see citizens as customers.
Changing User Expectations
In a pure consumer context, choice and convenience rule: you can easily go online and search, comparison shop, and buy a desired product in a few clicks without thinking about any of the complexity of the transaction. Consumers naturally transfer their positive consumer expectations to all of their digital experiences, according to McKinsey, raising the bar for government entities.
But how many consumers have enjoyed the convenience of one-click (or similarly easy) citizen services, such as reviewing and paying utility bills, filing income taxes, or having a streamlined, one-stop car-and-driver licensing experience? Or, for example, registering for unemployment benefits digitally, making the physical queue at the unemployment office shorter and more efficient for those going through the process in person?
Rapid change has led to the expectation that public sector services offer private-sector-rivaling availability, choice, and convenience, which overrides previous consumer doubts about public sector readiness.
Driving GovTech strategy in complex public sector environments demands a delicate balance between overarching strategic questions and the nitty-gritty of implementation. For example, this balance could be examining the underpinnings of transformation strategically, such as public expectations, financial considerations, accessibility, demographics, and sustainability, against the competing operational demands of introducing new technology into hierarchical, political, and often change-resistant environments. Practically, such implementations involve extensive political and stakeholder management and support, consideration of legacy investments and programs, and a well-defined plan for rolling out proposed changes and the downstream effects these may have, whether positive or negative.
Ultimately, the strategy for selecting and implementing GovTech solutions and providers rests with public sector employees who are responsible for the strategic and tactical approaches described and for meeting consumers’ increasingly private-sector-style expectations. This is redefining how governments interact with citizens.
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