Level of digitalization in public administration considered inadequate

The present level of digitization in public administration will be woefully inadequate in three to five years according to a survey among its employees conducted by CEEC Research. They are calling for faster progress in the field, with greater coordination and interconnectedness of the system.

Photo: Filip Jandourek / Czech Radio

Despite efforts to move with the times and mounting pressure from the public, the present state of digitalization in public administration leaves much to be desired. Today public administration performs 29 percent of its operations electronically, 20 percent on paper and 51 percent in dual mode.

85 percent of public sector employees polled by CEEC Research said they were unhappy with the situation and predicted it would cause increasing problems in the coming years.

"A lot of data is currently being collected within the public administration system, but the data pooled is not sufficiently interconnected, shared, and coordinated. Much needs to be done to amend this, David Sláma, Director of Strategic Development and Public Administration Coordination at the Office of the Government told the CTK news agency.

Civil servants polled pointed out that the information system they administer must be compatible with other systems in order to function effectively, which was not always the case. Furthermore, they consider it important that the given system be tailored to their needs and be amenable to expansion and modification whenever needed. User-friendly systems and simplicity were the main criteria stated.

Unlike employees in central public administration, almost half of the local government bodies polled said their level of digitalization was adequate and no changes would be necessary in the course of the next three to five years.

Local governments are currently performing almost two-fifths of their operations in purely electronic form; less than a third in paper or dual mode.