Two thirds of public sector services now available online

In its 15th edition, the eGovernment Benchmark sheds light on the status of Europe’s digital government transformation and reviews to what extent public sector organizations are taking the steps necessary to achieve shared eGovernment goals. The 2018 report encompasses details on the availability and quality of digital services measured in 2017 and 2016, such as public services related to moving, owning and driving a car, business start-ups, and losing and finding a job.^[1] By assessing over 10,000 websites across the EU28+ countries, the study reveals that the European public sector continues to bring more services online (matured 13 percent point over the course of four years). Nevertheless, the building of more personalized services is desired to secure seamless eGovernment for all types of citizens and businesses.

High levels of user centricity serve a diverse group of users

Overall, Europe’s eGovernment performance is steadily progressing. User centricity now stands at 82%. Further improvements are visible on the mobile friendliness indicator, with six out of ten of the services (62%) accessible via mobile devices. This enables users to use public services anytime, anywhere. Official government forms and application documents are also more often fully digital. As measured with the eDocuments indicator (63%), a larger proportion of services allows citizens and businesses to send and receive public service related documents in an online format, saving traditional paperwork. Moreover, the maturity score for user support (88%), shows that public services are putting continuous efforts into offering support channels. Online chats and other support channels ease finding relevant information and the completion of online application forms.

Niels van der Linden, Principal Consultant and Capgemini Invent’s eGovernment Benchmark project lead notes: “The 2018 results underline that European governments increasingly design public services with the needs of citizens and businesses in mind. This accommodates a diverse audience of national and fellow-European users in their digital journeys. By continuously innovating services based on user preferences, governments are creating more inclusive and accessible services.”

Building personally secured services

Further personalization of eGovernment services could help to meet the individual needs of existing users and open up digital public services to a broader range citizens and businesses. Using personal data plays a pivotal role in personalizing public services. Whenever personal information is used to optimize service delivery, the users involved require a certain control over the data processed. In the 2017 Tallinn Declaration^[2] the ministers in charge of eGovernment in the EU and the EFTA countries have reinsured principles such as openness and transparency, stressing the importance of users digitally managing their own personal data held by public administrations. However, this ambition is not yet realized. Currently, the transparency of personal data indicator is at 54%. Boosting services with the use of personal data is also accompanied by additional security vulnerabilities. The newly introduced cyber security assessment of about 3,500 public websites clearly calls for action: public administrations across Europe need to guarantee foundational security levels, as less than 10% of European public websites passed the basic tests performed.

Dinand Tinholt, Vice President and Capgemini Invent’s EU Account Director reflects: “Personal data ownership and cyber security have changed from nice-to-haves to inevitable must-haves. With GDPR and other regulations in place, public administrations should embrace digital security to ensure they step into the next era of personalized and data-driven services.”