Digital transformation in the government
Today, the world economy is entering a new stage of digital development, which is characterized, among other things, by an active transformation of institutions and mechanisms of public administration.
Currently, the scientific substantiation and development of approaches to the digital transformation of public administration institutions are based on a change in the fundamental understanding of the essence of the state. In the last two decades, the problems of increasing the efficiency of public administration have been the most important area of research, the results of which determine the principles of forming new management models.
First of all, it is the paradigm of the New Public Management, which considers the state as a system of service functions (respectively, the activity of civil servants is reduced to the provision of services). And the later one is Good Governance, which proposes a transition from understanding governance as the performance of functions to governance as a network of relationships between the state and citizens: citizens participate in making managerial decisions; their organizations and associations are represented in the system management.
In accordance with the principles of the New Public Management, the development of market principles within the public sector is stimulated, and management technologies from private business are introduced. As a result of privatization and the delegation of a number of state powers to market structures, the scale of public administration is reduced, the principle of payment for public services is introduced, and most importantly, the state’s obligations are revised and some of them are rejected, primarily related to social security.
In turn, the concept of Good Governance was first proposed in the 90s of the last century in the documents of the UN Development Program. The main principles of GG are: participation; transparency; responsibility; efficiency; equality and the rule of law. Good Governance is the exercise of economic, political, and administrative power while maximizing the scope of public participation in governance.
This concept focuses on democratic partnerships and involves the development of various institutional forms of partnership between the state, business and civil society. It is obvious that the use of new digital platform solutions will create conditions for achieving greater transparency and efficiency of partnerships.
However, it is necessary to decide what is the main goal of the ongoing government digital transformation and the corresponding digital transformation of public administration institutions? When speaking about the digital economy, we must clearly understand that in fact we are not talking about the creation of a new economy, it is already digital, but about the transfer of the economy to a new technological base, which, in turn, opens up new opportunities. In fact, we are talking about replacing tools, including the system of public administration, and the transition to new technologies for organizing public administration and the economy.
The transformation of public administration institutions should not be viewed solely as a reform of institutions and management functions based on the creation of new information platforms and electronic systems. The mission of introducing digital technologies into the sphere of public administration is to significantly improve its quality to ensure breakthrough economic growth. At the same time, the quality of management is understood as the achievement of goals in a timely manner with a minimum expenditure of public resources based on a combination of efficiency and democracy, ensuring the compliance of the activities of civil servants with the key values of public administration.
The most authoritative international indicator assessing the level and quality of e-government development is the United Nations Global E-Government Development Index, which is issued every two years by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs for 193 UN member states. It is a comprehensive indicator that assesses the readiness and capabilities of national government agencies to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to provide public services to citizens.
The study covers UN member states and contains data on the level of e-government development in the studied states, as well as a systematic assessment of trends in the use of ICT by government agencies. All countries covered by this study are ranked in the ranking based on a weighted index of assessments in three main components:
- Coverage and quality of Internet services.
- ICT infrastructure development level.
- Human capital.
Rating of TOP-10 countries in the world by the level of e-government development; the current data is presented as of 2019 (published in July 2020):
- Denmark 0.9758
- South Korea 0.9560
- Estonia 0.9473
- Finland 0.9452
- Australia 0.9432
- Sweden 0.9365
- UK 0.9358
- New Zealand 0.9339
- United States 0.9297
- Netherlands 0.9228
Digital Transformation Trends in Government
Currently, we can talk about the transition to the next stage of digital transformation of governance model: the formation and development of “digital government”.
The digital transformations made during the creation of e-government are becoming the basis for translating public services into digital format at all stages – from service request to execution. The UK Government’s Digital Ruler Performance Report – Public Administration in a Digital Economy shows that digital transactions are 20 times cheaper than phone transactions, 30 times cheaper than postal transactions, and 50 times cheaper than face-to-face transactions. These savings are seen as opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of public services in the UK. This can eliminate the need to fulfill the tasks of reducing budget expenditures by reducing or limiting the availability of these services for the population.
Experts highlight the following key principles and key elements of digital government architecture:
Principles of digital government service delivery
- Digital by default.
- Platform independence and focus on mobile devices.
- User-centered service design.
- Digital from start to finish.
- Government as a platform.
Key elements of digital government
- Single portal.
- Single data for public sector sharing.
- Inter-agency services for sharing.
- Government sharing infrastructure.
- Enhanced sensor networks and analytics.
- Cybersecurity and privacy.
One of the main principles for the development of digital government is a policy aimed at integrating data, information and services into one digital portal. Most digital government strategies involve creating a single government service portal that allows transactions without being redirected to other government sites.
For example, the ecitizen.gov.sg portal in Singapore is an integrated portal with search capabilities for online transactional services, including payment for a wide range of services and some important identification functions such as applying for passports and IDs. In countries with a federal structure, such databases should be available not only for state bodies at the national level, but also for bodies at the regional and municipal levels.
According to experts from the World Bank, digital governments will develop the basis of the principle of public administration based on digital data. Legally relevant data stored in databases, as well as legally relevant electronic transactions and notifications will be considered as basic sources.
In this regard, the ownership of documents will cease to be legally enforceable, and authorization of transactions will be based on electronic records, not documents. Such a system provides access to national databases not only for a state body or organization, but also for all interested public and private structures.
It should be emphasized that in the digital economy the risks of material and moral damage from the misuse of information are sharply increasing, and data protection should be ensured, especially the protection of personal data of citizens. Experts warn about technological risks associated with standardization processes and information dissemination throughout the country, and emerging cybersecurity problems. In this regard, personal data of citizens, for example, biometric and financial data, require special regulatory and technological protection.
New risks and threats arising from the transition to new management mechanisms based on the widespread introduction of modern digital technologies require fundamental comprehensive research aimed at identifying and developing emerging risks, developing mechanisms for hedging them. With a high degree of certainty, it can be argued that the transition to the digital economy makes fundamental changes in the sphere of public administration and the system of relations between the state, society and business.
Modern institutions of public administration are transforming in the wake of the changing world. In 2017, the global digital revolution crossed a significant milestone – every second inhabitant of the Earth was connected to the Internet. Governments around the world are under double pressure. On the one hand, the requirements of citizens for the quality of services are constantly growing, and they want to interact with government agencies via the Internet just as easy as with banks and online shopping. On the other hand, governments need to reduce administrative costs and improve the efficiency of implemented programs. Digitalization today is a mechanism for solving such problems. The creation of a modern digital system of public administration will allow online monitoring of emerging problems and participation in their solution.
Digital approaches and technologies in the field of public administration are at the stage of active development and comprehension of the first practical experience of application. The organization of unified digital information platforms, the use of end-to-end digital technologies form the conditions for achieving a new quality of public administration based on horizontal integration and effective interaction of government bodies.