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According the seventh yearly web-based survey conducted by Capgemini for the European Commission, Europe continues to make sound progress on the supply of online public services; a key enabler to deliver the i2010 eGovernment action plan and Lisbon goals. The survey however outlines today’s challenge; to fulfill citizen needs, efficiently, consistently, and economically – the “Gov 2.0” experience.
Published on 20 September, the survey covers online public service delivery across 31 countries - the 27 EU Member States, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey (EU27+). This year, the measurement methodology has been modernised in order to take into account new technological possibilities and insights.
The two traditional core indicators of “sophistication” and “fully-online availability” have indeed been complemented with: a new “user centricity” indicator; the introduction of a 5th level of sophistication entitled “personalisation” in reference to proactive and automated services; and the assessment of national portals.
The report shows an overall advancement compared with 2006: While last year services were classified on average as “two-way interactive”, online sophistication of public service delivery in 2007 reached an overall score of 76 % at the level classified as “transactional”. Moreover, 58 % of the measured public services are fully available online, against 50 % only in 2006.
Even though services for businesses still score well above those of citizens on both counts, the past year gap has reduced considerably. In the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway and Slovenia, citizens are now served just as well as businesses. Furthermore, the report found that European Governments have invested in delivering good national portals, with an average score of 75 %.
In terms of individual country results, Austria remains the leader of the EU27+ with regard to the two core indices, with very impressive ratings near 100 %. Malta and Slovenia respectively get the 2nd and 3rd rank, standing out among the newer Member States that have embraced eGovernment and achieved continued high levels of online service delivery – well above the average. Malta gets the 2nd place for both indices.
It is worth noting that according to the survey, Portugal achieved remarkable progress by moving from 11th to 3rd position on the fully-online availability index, and getting an overall 4th position, one rank ahead of the United Kingdom. Despite a drop from 2nd to 9th place, Estonia still demonstrates very sound performance.
In spite of this continuous global progress, the measurement of the new ‘user-centricity’ indice revealed modest results. Indeed, the assessment of sub-indicators “Data security - services with legally binding eID”, “Reducing Data entry”, “Multi-channel access to services” and “Compliance with international accessibility standards – WAI” showed overall result of 19 %. Three countries only scored more than 30 % user centricity; Austria, Norway and Bulgaria. Therefore, much still needs to be done for the more experienced citizens who are increasingly exposed to and versed in web services.
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