US Ranks #6 For Use of Digital Government

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A new study by Accenture comparing the governments worldwide and their use of digital government ranks the US #6. The study, Digital Government Pathways to Delivering Public Services for the Future, measured 10 countries in Citizen Service Delivery Experience, Citizen Satisfaction and Service Maturity and surveyed 5,000 citizens in each country about their experience with these issues. Surveyed countries included: Brazil, Germany, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Norway the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

The statistics on the US are somewhat interesting with only 45% of domestic respondents saying they would want to interact with the government through online channels like social media. The other 55% responded that they were flat out not interested in interacting with government with social media channels.

Notably, recent work by US government at all levels to clean up and modernize the services that they do have online seems to have paid off. The United States ranked first in the criteria of Service Maturity, with its sophisticated and pervasive Internet presence across federal government services. Oddly, 76% of US respondents say they want more services available online even if they don’t want them to be interactive through social media.

The United States didn’t do as well in the study’s other criteria, focused on citizen service delivery, engagement, and especially, citizen satisfaction.

Countries that hit the top rankings were Singapore, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. The majority of countries that scored best in the study have made a sustained investment in digital government. These countries are focused on implementing a deeply embedded digital strategy with continued long-term investment. Collaboration also exists across silos, agencies and levels of government.

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“New digital technologies emphasizing speed and mobility are not only changing the way we live, work and interact with each other, but they are providing unprecedented opportunities for government to radically transform complex bureaucracies and become more agile, citizen-centric, efficient and innovative,” said Bernard Le Masson, who leads Accenture’s Health & Public Service global management consulting business. “As governments become more digital and work toward ensuring that most citizens have online access, digital skills, and a voice in in the design of public services, they are experiencing higher levels of engagement, accountability and public trust.”