ICTworks

What are Digital Government Services?

Governments of many countries are implementing a diverse range of digital government services aiming to improve service delivery, enhance efficiency, and promote transparency. For example, common digital government services include:

• Online Government Portals: Countries are increasingly offering online services such as e-taxation, e-payment, and e-billing through online government portals, which allow citizens to access public services more efficiently and provide governments with prompt feedback on service quality.
• Digital Identity Initiatives: Many  countries are working on digital identity initiatives to improve service delivery, including the introduction of national IDs with biometric data components to generate documents and provide services automatically, reducing paperwork and enhancing efficiency.
• G2G, G2B, and G2C Activities: Digital government services to different groups, like Government-to-Government (G2G), Government-to-Business (G2B), and Government-to-Citizen (G2C) focuses on activities such as electoral processes, staff payroll payments, healthcare management systems, support for small businesses, and transparent procurement procedures.

Digital Government Benefits

Investments in digital government services have the potential to help government become more:

• Coordinated, by providing the systems and tools necessary for government bodies to work together across ministries and levels (e.g., national, provincial, municipal);
• Efficient, by achieving fiscal savings and allowing for innovation by decreasing the time spent on administration;
• Resilient, by supporting response to and recovery from natural disasters or other sudden social and economic changes;
• Responsive, by increasing the ability to anticipate and respond to a range of stakeholder needs, including from individuals, the private sector, and civil society actors;
• Accountable, by reducing opportunities for corruption and providing tools for collaborative, inclusive, accessible, and transparent policy design and service delivery; and
• Participatory, by creating systems and tools that enable citizens and civil society to engage with governments.

The extent to which these outcomes are possible depend largely on the enabling environment, which includes democratic norms and institutional capacity, among other factors. Above all, digital initiatives undertaken by a government are part of the broader political, economic, and social context.

Examples of Digital Government Services