Whitepaper

Invisible government services

When it comes to government services, the citizens, residents, and businesses of a country want fast, intuitive, proactive services. Digitalization has created the perfect environment for that vision – as countries that have already developed versions of a government ‘super app’ have discovered.

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The vision

A unified, comprehensive, and flexible digital experience

The aim of a modern government is to create an environment that allows all its citizens, residents, and businesses to fulfill their own goals and dreams.

In an ideal world, the best government service would be no (obvious) service. This is the future of proactive services – a world where, ideally, services are delivered so unobtrusively that the process is almost invisible. Digitalization has brought that vision within reach.

The essential foundation of this vision is a platform that connects the information system and data of every government department, allowing citizens, businesses, visitors, and others to communicate efficiently with the state.

For citizens and residents, this means they can access what they need and find answers to questions through a single digital environment. For businesses and investors, it means a seamless and efficient business environment. And for governments, it means greater efficiency and productivity and a flexible system that’s fit for the future.

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The evolution of e-services worldwide

While businesses have been at the forefront of the drive to harness the potential of e-services, a small number of countries worldwide are leading the way in digital government. In Malta and Portugal, for example, around 98% of government services are available online. In 2020, the E-Government Development Index ranked the 193 United Nations Member States in terms of digital government. Denmark, the Republic of Korea, and Estonia ranked as the most developed.

The rapid shift from desktop-based internet access to mobile services is taking e-government to the next level. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023, Estonia unveiled a new smartphone app, mRiik, which will allow its citizens to access government services and hold digital versions of their ID card, passport, and other key documents.

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The principles for success

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People-centric

People are the absolute focus of the system. The experience should be intuitive, relevant, and personal, with services based around life event journeys.

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Future facing

The system should be built with the future in mind. If the foundations of the system are robust and everything is digitalized, new services can easily be added, integrated, and managed.

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High standards of data security and privacy

A single, high-security authentication point for the public sector. Citizens, institutions, and companies should only have to provide certain standard information to the authorities and administrations once.

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CASE STUDY

Parental benefits with the click of a button

Estonia, a country widely regarded as a truly digital society, made yet another innovative leap at the end of 2019 by launching proactive family and parental benefits, moving toward a new proactive governance model.

Potential benefits

A unified digital access point that provides seamless, proactive services creates value for a wide range of stakeholders. Let’s look more closely at the potential benefits for each user group. Click the arrows below to explore.

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The proliferation of data and rapid evolution of digital technology has created the perfect environment for governments worldwide to create truly efficient, proactive services for the public – so effectively and subtly that users don’t notice the process. Achieving the ultimate aim of a unified digital access point takes hard work, investment, and commitment, but the benefits are considerable, as several countries around the world have already seen.

The benefits for citizens, residents, businesses, visitors, and investors are clear – an accessible, easy-to-use access point for everything they may need (and perhaps a few things they were unaware they could have). For governments, it creates the opportunity to improve public services cost-effectively and create a flexible and adaptable framework. This is the future of government services – and it is within our reach.

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Read the full whitepaper

Click here to download the PDF

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If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.

Taavi Einaste

CEO, Middle East and Africa

An expert in exporting world’s leading digitalization expertise across borders, Einaste established Nortal in Abu Dhabi in 2017 and Germany in 2018. He has led Nortal’s digital healthcare practice and worked on large-scale projects and reforms in healthcare as well as public and private sectors.

Taavi.Einaste@nortal.com

Tomy Bosco

Partner, Business Area Director

Tomy Bosco has more than ten years of experience in managing high-impact digital government projects and finding solutions to customer problems via cutting-edge technology. He excels in materializing visionary ideas by creating, scaling, and optimizing data-driven solutions.

Tomy.Bosco@nortal.com