Transforming Government
Transforming Government, conducted by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), is the first authoritative study of public sector transformation in the region. It looks at best practice across Europe, in particular current projects and the views of over 180 public servants and senior policy makers in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands and Finland.
What different governments are doing
A radical reduction in spend while improving public services is the primary focus of all the government staff we surveyed. Every European government has a strategy for change but the programmes have a different emphasis:
- France is deploying Chorus, a major programme, which is a government-wide financial management system based on SAP.
- The Netherlands has an e-government strategy which seeks a stronger role for citizen rights.
- Finland is committed to shared services and focused on economic growth strategies.
- Germany has many projects focused on simplifying processes.
- UK has a pragmatic approach and has many examples of outsourcing to the private sector.
- Sweden is trying to increase its competitiveness through digital skills and jobs.
Approaches to change
Getting more for less
Every European government needs to cut public debt but needs to preserve public services as far as possible. There are five key strategies being followed:
- higher levels of automation in the back office and citizen facing processes
- improving efficiency through shared services and private sector involvement
- streamlined processes across different layers of government
- innovative use of technology to reduce cost
- centralised procurement of goods and services as well as IT
Innovative service delivery
Governments have made promises of better services to citizens and now they must deliver. They need to find new ways to make public services cheaper, better and faster. The key approaches are:
- simplifying and integrating new channels of interaction with government services
- stimulating the creation of new services
- investment in key private sector initiatives to enhance public services
- linking government agencies so they can share responsibilities and avoid duplication
Policy initiatives
Governments are attempting to come up with a framework that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship to stimulate growth, nurture new services and improve country competitiveness. These initiatives will make innovative ideas and services available to governments from the private sector. The key approaches are:
- enabling easier transfer of work to the private sector
- opening up government data to allow the private sector to create new, value-added and cheaper services for citizens
- digital inclusion programmes to ensure wider access to IT-based services
- facilitating the use of cloud-based services
Improving citizen engagement
This is the age of direct democracy. Empowering citizens with the right tools is a great way of tackling several challenges at once. Higher levels of citizen engagement can improve public satisfaction levels, enhance democracy and reduce cost through self-service and involvement of voluntary agencies. The key approaches are:
- using Internet-based approaches to allow citizens to vote in referenda, report problems and find information
- allowing access to previously closed/on-premise systems
- using social media technology to reach out to sections of the public who don’t engage easily with government
- implementing cloud-based services that are accessible 24/7 from any location through multiple devices
The future of public service delivery
Involving the private sector
About 80% of the survey respondents thought using the private sector would bring increased efficiency and almost as many expected higher quality of services and better citizen engagement. There was some scepticism though that “Private companies look to maximise their profits… and that in-house could still be cheaper…” Of those surveyed, 86% said that when they had worked with the private sector it had been a success but felt that more openness and better communication would be good.
Improving citizen engagement
Higher levels of citizen engagement can improve public satisfaction levels, enhance democracy and reduce cost through self-service and involvement of voluntary agencies. The senior policy makers interviewed made it clear that better citizen engagement was a core aim, but only 60% of those surveyed thought that government was trying to encourage citizen involvement.
They felt the main barriers were that the public did not have the relevant skills and were also reluctant to participate. Regulation and a lack of resources were also seen as significant issues.
New modes of delivery
New, IT-enabled channels are of increasing importance, both for the government’s convenience, for the citizens and because of their ability to facilitate self-service. Of those surveyed, 29% felt that online self-service would be the primary channel for interaction with citizens in five years.
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