Progress of digitalisation to be monitored from customer perspective

A recent report entitled ‘Digitalisation in government administration – productivity and measurement of benefits’ recommends measures to accelerate digitalisation within government administration and amplify the impact of the actions taken and proposes indicators for measuring the benefits. The recommendations underline the importance of a change of attitude, cooperation and transparency as well as ways of working that support digitalisation.

The indicators proposed in the report released on 10 January 2017 gauge the benefits to be gained by both the government administration and customers. At the same time, it is important to measure the extent to which data is utilised because the greatest potential offered by digitalisation lies in the versatile use of information by and between government agencies as well as the public and private sectors. According to the report, a major challenge to digitalisation within the government administration is the absence of a customer-centred approach. As it is, e-services are being developed for the needs of individual agencies instead of focusing on customer needs transcending the boundaries between administrative sectors and authorities. Accordingly, the report proposes that the progress of digitalisation be monitored in terms of customer service paths. The report also assesses the potential of digitalisation from the standpoint of the economy by making use of the equilibrium state of economy model. The analysis is based on four policy scenarios.

The recommendations and indicators presented in the report are based on a study analysing the procedures and experiences related to the productivity of digitalisation and its measurement within government administration based on existing publications and three reference countries as well as interviews with representatives of select digitalisation projects.  The reference countries selected for the study were Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, all countries very similar to Finland and advanced in digitalisation. In particular, the authors focused on data related to the guidance and management of digitalisation projects and impact assessment.

The report concludes that the measurement and assessment of productivity in the context of e-government services and digitalisation are still under-developed. The publicised indicators primarily monitor digitalisation in terms of the degree of digitalisation and the usage rates of services. More extensive measurement of benefits is not up to the required standard. The greatest benefits are expected in the digitalisation of high-volume services, particularly if the services are not place-time dependent and the technology required for the digitalisation of services is readily available.  The report proposes a concept for assessing the potential of digitalisation that can be used by public-sector players to determine which services would offer most benefits if and when digitised.

A lot of hopes have been pinned down on the digitalisation of government administration over the decades. It is expected to improve productivity and the quality of services, reduce the administrative burden and curb public spending.  However, digitalisation and its objectives have never been precisely defined, nor its social impact assessed or measured.

The report  ‘Digitalisation in government administration – productivity and measurement of benefits’  was prepared as part of the implementation of the Government Plan for Analysis, Assessment and Research for 2016. The objective of the project carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd was to determine the impact of public sector digitalisation on productivity. The key research question was whether the benefits of digitalisation can be measured and assessed.

Digitalisation in government administration – productivity and measurement of benefits (in Finnish)

Further information about the Government’s analysis, assessment and research is available at tietokayttoon.fi.

Inquiries: Principal Scientist Päivi Parviainen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, tel. 040 746 7198, paivi.parviainen(at)vtt.fi