Government digitisation: The Digital Transition from In-Person to Online services
Governments are increasingly shifting from traditional paper-based and in-person services to digital platforms, enhancing efficiency and speed. This transition not only benefits millions of users weekly but also improves data precision and governmental system management. The digital realm facilitates seamless interaction between various government systems, leading to quicker and more precise decision-making. Statistics reveal a significant shift towards digitalization in governments, progressing from less than 15% of services in 2014 to over 50% by 2022. Explore the (link above) for insights into diverse sectors like health, education, employment, and justice. Noteworthy examples include virtual court sessions, online school registration, hospital appointments, and ownership transfers.
The increase in the adoption of technology within low firms is caused by the (COVID-19) pandemic in 2019. Due to the fact that people were not able to attend courts, so they had to find a solution. The utilization of digital tools in legal proceedings not only proved to be time and cost-efficient but also fostered seamless communication and file-sharing among legal teams, overcoming geographical barriers. This enables private note-taking and prevent the errors that could happen with hard copies. Additionally, it facilitates searching between documents, making it faster and more effective for lawyers in courts.
To fully realize the benefits of virtual hearings, its success depends on seamless technology deployment. Challenges can arise from audio or video tools; organizational missteps and insufficient participant training can disrupt instead of support proceedings. Pre-pandemic and continuing now, lawyers and clients must shift their focus from the virtual process to substantive aspects of the hearing. It is crucial to select appropriate technology, as providers need expertise tailored to legal challenges, flexibility and robust security measures effective virtualization requires a well-integrated, user-friendly solution to combine evidence, documents, and transcripts in a single interface with familiar legal tools.
Online school registration started long before (COVID-19) pandemic addressing the inefficiencies of time-consuming, costly lines for families and school staff. The pandemic accelerated technology adoption in education. Technology in education sector is applied by offering convenient payment management through school websites, and minimizing errors associated with manual recording. It also provides Faster access to grades and improved communication of school news enhances student performance by reducing the likelihood of missing important events. Beyond pandemic-driven necessity, the sustained integration of technology in education makes administrative tasks more efficient, ultimately benefiting both educational institutions and the families they serve.
Implementing technology into schools comes with challenges. An important drawback is the limited access for some parents due to their financial state or age. A solution involves providing school computer time for such parents. Furthermore, initial system setup demands staff training and troubleshooting which consumes time and effort. Another challenge arise due to computer outages. An incident like this happened to me in 2020, during the AP online exam, the College Board website crashed. Their solution was to require a retake, causing additional time and financial expenses. Additionally, the risk of cyberattacks like what happened to University of Manchester in 2023, requires robust security measures to protect sensitive data.
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) interconnects the medical devices with the internet to share and evaluate patients’ data. Establishing a data base for the health care patients, it is now possible to share these data between healthcare providers and provide the necessary care for patients anywhere anytime. Digital platforms facilitate communication between healthcare providers and patients as well. This enables appointment scheduling, prescription management, and information dissemination through a unified system, thereby accelerating patient recovery. Additionally, these databases contribute to gathering statistical data for research studies aimed at enhancing public health outcomes.
The challenges encountered in digitizing the health sector pose significant risks to public well-being. One of these challenges is cyber-attacks, were hackers have unauthorized access to steal or manipulate the patients’ medical information, which Undermines the fundamental goal of digitizing healthcare. Another challenge is the substantial energy consumption associated with digitizing what used to be paper. Although all sectors will face this, but its impact is more pronounced in healthcare, due to the medical machines that already consumes a huge amount of energy. These will rise the cost of medical bill on the government or the individual.
The public anticipates government services to mirror the advanced customer experiences in the private sector. Digitizing the public sector offers many benefits to the public and the government including 24/7 availability, which enables citizens to complete tasks efficiently and saves time. This approach can lead to a nearly 60% reduction in case-handling effort, freeing up time for offices and employees to work on other priorities. But most importantly it will reduce costs by 50% for the government as finishing someone’s service only requires few buttons instead of having few employees do the job.
Although the benefits of digitization are manifest, achieving progress is more challenging. The major challenge is the complicated path individuals need to navigate to complete their work, as you will have to understand what each service provides, and what website pages you have to visit. This poses a considerable barrier in the way of elderly people due to their low knowledge in technology. The language used in these services further complicates matters, especially for first-time users. The public wants accessing the public services to be as easy as online shopping but this is not an easy task to do for the government.
Across sectors, universal challenges emerge, notably in workforce dynamics as automation displaces certain jobs and be replaced with computers and technicians, emphasizing the crucial role of upskilling. another very important risk is that criminals exploits individuals’ online security ignorance, posing a threat to personal information. the dangers of personal information theft can vary from stealing your money to framing you in fraud and money laundering. The federal trade commission provides tips to avoid getting scammed. These include not sharing money or personal information with anyone imposing as a government employee, or click links from unexpected emails and texts.
