A review of the United Nations recently released 2022 E-Government Survey shows progress, surprises, and opportunity for governments across the globe in their shift to the digitization of services. Covid-19 has accelerated the need for governments to become more and more digitally accessible for their citizens as an increasing percentage of people have become more digitally savvy. Meeting your customers (in this case, your citizens) where they are, instead of forcing them to do things your way, is always the wise way to do business. But, moving the enormous bureaucratic icebergs that are governments is complicated, messy, and sometimes near impossible.
As governments worldwide are looking to streamline the delivery of services through mobile, cloud, automation, and digitalization processes, what will the future of person-to-government interaction look like? Will our relationships with our governmental entities become “better”? Or, will the archaic technologies that governments have invested in previously become a hindrance to actual progress?
By embracing the need for digital governance, these countries are poised to continue to lead the world well into the 21st century and beyond. By better serving their citizens, they will have a healthier, more informed, and more engaged citizenry, leading to a stronger society within their borders.
The original article was published at Forbes.
The Boston Global Forum (BGF), in collaboration with the United Nations Centennial Initiative, released a major work entitled Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment. More than twenty distinguished leaders, scholars, analysts, and thinkers put forth unprecedented approaches to the challenges before us. These include President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Governor Michael Dukakis, Father of Internet Vint Cerf, Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Harvard University Professors Joseph Nye and Thomas Patterson, MIT Professors Nazli Choucri and Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland, and Vice President of European Parliament Eva Kaili. The BGF introduced core concepts shaping pathbreaking international initiatives, notably, the Social Contract for the AI Age, an AI International Accord, the Global Alliance for Digital Governance, the AI World Society (AIWS) Ecosystem, and AIWS City.
