This article is part of a comprehensive report published by the International Foundation for Customer Experience in Government, which aims to enhance the global dialogue on Customer Experience (CX) in the public sector. Drawing on innovative practices from around the world, the report establishes benchmarks for governments to improve their CX initiatives.
CASE STUDY: ESTONIA’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY
INTRODUCTION
Estonia’s digital journey commenced in the late 1990s31 , establishing policy, legal, and technological bedrocks for comprehensive government-wide digital transformation.
Over the subsequent decade and a half, nearly all public transactional services transitioned online, except for marriage and divorce. Simultaneously, the government’s back office underwent a complete digital transformation, operating seamlessly in the digital realm. This strategic evolution, guided by visionary policies, marked Estonia as a global leader in utilizing technology to enhance governance and public services.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INITIATIVE
Estonia’s digital transformation journey is underpinned by a strong digital identity, interoperability, and the X-Road platform for secure data exchange. One of the main goals of the transformation was to build services that were personalized as much as possible.
Using the “once only” principle32, Estonia reuses data across government agencies to prefill users’ personal information during service interactions, enhancing speed and seamlessness. Even if services became available digitally, their design and delivery were reactive – based on users turning to the government with their requests. At the same time, the government holds a lot of data to pre-empt the user’s need and provide a solution or start interaction for better CX (saving people effort, time, and money even more) on its own.
From 2015 onwards, Estonia embarked on an advanced phase of service transformation33 , aiming to shift from application-centric to “invisible” services. This involved proactively utilizing data reuse and process redesign to create services that are predictive and seamlessly integrated. For instance, when a new baby arrives, parents are automatically offered parental benefits based on income data, eliminating the need to wait for an application.
SUCCESS FACTORS
Several key success factors contributed to the effectiveness of the program:
- High Readiness and Even Expectations: High readiness of the population and even expectations for seamless and effortless services, including proactive experience, have created a challenge for the government to match the pace of change with the demand for quicker advancements.
- Technological Maturity and Readiness: With a robust technological foundation, including the X-Road platform and digital identity, the country has embraced forward-looking architectural and tech design principles to facilitate process iteration, data sharing, and personalization.
- Preparedness and Constant Evolution: Estonia’s willingness to adopt new technology and consistently update digital systems has positioned it as a global leader in AI adoption among governments. This ongoing commitment allows for increased possibilities for proactive services by leveraging predictive capabilities and automation.
- Stronger Steering from Government Chief Information Officer’s (GCIO) Office: The GCIO Office has evolved from a soft coordinator to a more assertive entity, ensuring stronger steering. This shift has led to improved government-wide transformation, including the development of life-event services and AI uptake programs. While involving other agencies, the GCIO Office now directly oversees and guides their work with a more robust mandate, expediting uptake.
MAIN CHALLENGES:
While the program achieved significant success, it also encountered some challenges:
- Decentralized Set-Up: The pace and extent of change have varied across agencies, leading to differing levels of progress. This diversity has necessitated the support of upskilling and the enhanced coordination provided by the GCIO Office.
- Service Design and Addressing Legacy Processes: Implementing proactive services goes beyond technology; it’s a multifaceted challenge that involves redesigning processes, instilling a proactive mindset, creatively navigating legal frameworks, and fostering collaborative efforts.
- Legacy Legislation: Traditional government operations and services have historically focused on reacting to people’s requests, creating a challenge during the shift to a proactive approach. While legal amendments have been implemented, an alternative strategy involves interpreting existing regulations to facilitate proactivity. However, navigating these legal hurdles demands time and creative persuasion to secure agreement from all stakeholders.
- Integration Beyond Silos: Collaborative service redesign requires clear direction, as it doesn’t naturally emerge from separate agencies. Thus, Estonia’s top-down life-event services program was pivotal for the ensuing phase of proactive services.
TAKEAWAYS
The program offers valuable takeaways for successful government initiatives:
- Technology is the Easy Part of Proactive Service: Implementing proactive services is technologically straightforward, as suitable technology is widely available; advanced solutions like AI are not necessarily required initially. The real challenge lies in (re)designing processes.
- Proactive Service Delivery is Not Easy for Government Agencies: While proactive service delivery might seem intuitive, achieving it within government agencies is not easy. Vigorous guidance and deep support are essential, especially in decentralized government structures, to initiate the process. Otherwise, change will be too slow, and users can be impatient if they do not get a similar experience across the board.
- Steer Government Agencies and Lawyers to Speed Up Processes: In the presence of legacy legislation and slow legal changes, guide government agencies and legal experts to agree on a unified interpretation of existing regulations that enables proactive services.
- Build or Rebuild the Technology Stack and Government-Wide Platforms: Establishing or re-configuring the technological infrastructure and government-wide platforms is pivotal to facilitating proactive service design and delivery. Prioritize robust data-sharing platforms across the government for seamless implementation.
In conclusion, Estonia’s proactive approach extends beyond digital services, encompassing broader public services aided by digital tools and data. The ongoing focus involves redesigning services into seamless life-event bundles, integrating AI, and utilizing virtual assistants for proactive user communication through the (#Bürokratt program)34 . Spearheaded by the Government Chief Information Officer’s Office, coordination falls under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Service design and delivery are distributed, with combined efforts and top-level support yielding results.
In our next article, explore how Denmark’s digital-first approach has made digital channels mandatory for all government interactions, setting a new global standard for efficiency and accessibility.
References:
31“Story – e-Estonia.” e-Estonia, February 1, 2023. https://e-estonia.com/story/.
32Kattel, Rainer, and Ines Mergel. Estonia’s digital transformation: Mission mystique and the hiding hand, September 2018. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/public-purpose/files/iipp-wp-2018-09_estonias_digital_ transformation.pdf.
33 “Story – e-Estonia.” e-Estonia, February 1, 2023. https://e-estonia.com/story/.
34 “Bürokratt.” Information System Authority, n.d. https://www.ria.ee/en/state-information-system/machine-learning-and-language-technology-solutions/burokratt.