Strenuous, not intuitive enough, not consistent enough – this is how the use of online services for dealing with public authorities is largely experienced. The eGovernment MONITOR, published by Initiative D21, measures the progress of the digital transformation of public administration every year. The study once again sets out in black and white the current areas where action is needed and provides important impetus for improving digital public services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The focus is on user satisfaction, the ease of finding services and offerings, as well as the demand for and actual use of individual services.
We can see that Germany has seen an increase in the use of e-government services compared with the previous year and has achieved its highest usage rate to date. Mobile usage is also on the rise and is increasingly in demand. The online channels were most frequently used for filing income tax returns, booking appointments, reporting faults, and applying for social benefits such as the energy allowance for students, unemployment benefit and parental allowance. Here, the high usage rate shows that efficient and easily accessible digital services are, in themselves, well received. Furthermore, amongst citizens who have already used online services, there is a very high willingness to do so again.
The ‘offline group’ – which recently comprised around half of the population in Germany – now accounts for just one third. The discrepancy between the demand for online services and their actual use – in other words, the ‘digital usage gap’ – has therefore narrowed encouragingly, but at 35 per cent it remains too high. Further work is needed to address the underlying causes.
On the one hand, online services are not used simply out of habit. The skills required to use e-government services are usually acquired through ‘learning by doing’ or via advice from family and friends. Support tools such as live chats and explanatory videos can help here and, according to the study, are also readily accepted.
On the other hand, online processes are abandoned because they are too complicated or because of technical problems. Confusing websites, a process that is not very intuitive or not consistent, issues with identification, or a lack of mobile compatibility are reasons for the comparatively high level of dissatisfaction with e-government services in Germany, at 42 per cent.
Another reason for non-use is that not all services or procedures can be carried out online, and it is often not made clear which services are actually available online. (In the end, you have to sort it out offline anyway.) There is a need for comprehensive, user-friendly and seamless services. Furthermore, awareness of and the ability to find online services and administrative portals still leave room for improvement, and accessing them via search engines is becoming increasingly important.
The expectation of a 21st-century public administration is that it should provide its services just as straightforwardly as the private sector. Given the low level of trust in digital technologies and also in state institutions, both politicians and technology providers have a duty to ensure user-centred, secure and transparent solutions. The issue of sovereignty also plays a major role here.
The majority of citizens are open to the use of artificial intelligence in public administration, provided certain conditions are met and fundamental decisions continue to be made by humans. Above all, they hope this will lead to shorter processing times. Half of the population in Germany could envisage communicating with public administration via chatbots in future. Many people are already familiar with AI-powered digital assistants.
According to a statement by Nancy Faeser, Federal Minister of the Interior and for Home Affairs, increased public relations efforts are to be launched in future to boost acceptance of the long-standing issue of the ‘online ID’. So far, the online ID has failed to gain traction even among digitally savvy sections of the population because its benefits are not recognised. There are too few services that can be used with the online ID function, or the services do not integrate the online ID function consistently enough – this vicious circle must be broken to create a wide range of applications in business and public administration.
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