Applying for a planning permission, checking your children’s school timetable, booking a doctor’s appointment: these days, everything is done digitally, whether it’s with the government, in education or in healthcare. The public sphere belongs to us all. Everyone depends on it, which means that, above all, no one should be excluded. We believe that the government, the education sector, the healthcare sector and every other public institution should set a good example when it comes to providing fair, friendly and accessible services.

Although there has been considerable focus on digital accessibility in the public sector in recent years, a great deal still goes wrong. Too often, the focus is on systems and processes rather than on the citizen, leaving many Dutch people struggling with digital services. It turns out to be complicated to navigate the government’s procedures. Sorting out something seemingly simple online can be quite a challenge. For example, because the digital government is fragmented. Anyone who becomes unemployed or loses a loved one has to deal with all sorts of agencies and is sometimes sent from pillar to post. And anyone approaching their eighteenth birthday receives an endless stream of post that is far from easy for everyone to follow. The smooth onboarding process you experience as a customer of some companies is still a long way off in the public sector.

The digital divide is growing – including in the public sector. And what happens in the public sector affects everyone. So if there’s one area where we need to take action, it’s there.

Digitally, there is still a world to be won

The fact that public services are becoming increasingly digital does not mean that everything is always going well. On the contrary: digitalisation in the public sector is driven by large commercial players who dominate the market. The moment such a supplier provides a school or hospital with its system, it gains a position of power. Such a supplier is then primarily driven to solve everything within its own product, and there is no intrinsic incentive to collaborate with other parties who might provide better (sub)solutions. Hospitals and educational institutions do not switch suppliers lightly; it is a major undertaking. As a result, they find themselves in a stranglehold, and innovation is difficult.

Another challenge is fragmentation within the government. A large body comprising small organisations, ministries and implementing bodies – ranging from the Tax and Customs Administration and the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) to the 324 municipalities in the Netherlands. They are all focused on their own services. This makes things complicated for citizens. When major life events occur, there’s no single point of contact. You’ll soon find yourself dealing with four or five implementing bodies. And they all handle their own small part of the ‘customer journey’. The complexity of this government structure is immediately reflected in digital services. The system is cumbersome and data is rarely shared.

We see the same dynamics in healthcare. Often, a hospital cannot automatically see what the GP has recorded, or vice versa. In many cases, they do not have access to each other’s systems. This has major consequences: in life-threatening situations, things can go wrong because information is not available. If you end up in hospital whilst on holiday, or if you’re involved in an accident whilst out and about and need an ambulance, it’s entirely possible that healthcare providers won’t be able to access your medical records.

There is also plenty of room for improvement when it comes to smaller, practical matters. Why, for example, is it still not possible to identify yourself digitally? A sort of digital passport, which you could use to sort out your affairs with various organisations? Many people these days leave the house without a wallet; they just take their phone and keys with them. You’d think that identifying yourself digitally using your phone should be straightforward. Of course, security and privacy play an important role. But our expectations are rising based on our experiences as consumers in other sectors – such as banking.

We need greater awareness and cooperation

To make public services more human, what is needed first and foremost is a sense of urgency and awareness. Organisations in the public sector face no competition: after all, citizens have no choice but to use their services. As a result, there seems to be less need to stand out in terms of user-friendliness. Furthermore, it is important to take a different approach to digitalisation: it must be built around people. A seamless and worry-free experience should be the top priority. If you know exactly how to achieve this, it will save a great deal of time and money in the long run.

Greater collaboration is another key point. Many public sector organisations face more or less the same challenges and share the same interests. It would be desirable to collaborate, in the public interest, on an ultimate education platform or healthcare platform. At present, there are mainly a great many initiatives operating side by side, all doing the same thing. Wouldn’t it be better to pool these resources?

Collaboration isn’t just about developing together, but also about procuring software together. As a procurer, you can join forces and set specific requirements in advance. When it comes to data protection legislation (GDPR), for example, this is already fairly well organised: there are clear checklists that suppliers must comply with and against which they are assessed. A similar checklist could be introduced with regard to accessibility and ease of use. This means developing more critically, but also procuring more critically.

Finally, collaboration also involves breaking down barriers between different government agencies, thinking in context and empathising with the situation of the person who needs help. A member of the public should not have to visit five different digital service points, but just one, to sort out life-changing matters.

The challenges are considerable, but as creators we must, above all, start small. Working on digital products or services in the public sector requires extra focus. If we always prioritise accessibility and ease of use, our public services will, step by step, become a little more human.