A blueprint for lasting change
Tailoring digital EU public services to meet citizens’ needs
From apps to chatbots, European public services are going digital. Throughout the European Union (EU), services like healthcare and social benefits can improve people’s lives. But for millions, accessing them can mean dealing with complex processes and long waiting times.
To address the challenge, the European Commission funded and launched inGOV, a three-year research initiative to rethink how public services can be more tailored to citizens’ needs, taking account of diversity and accessibility.
"Involving local people in the design and delivery of public services can increase quality and legitimacy and bring significant benefits, including increased citizen trust."
Anita Cioffi, Senior Manager at Deloitte Italy
While the Commission set the direction and provided funding, the work took place on the ground with national and local governments and a consortium of universities, tech companies and firms including Deloitte. The focus was on empowering local communities to shape and deliver the digital public services they needed rather than leaving decisions solely to the government.
To understand citizens’ needs and design meaningful solutions, the consortium engaged directly with community members from diverse social, economic and demographic backgrounds through workshops and interviews.
An effective, inclusive and sustainable framework
Between 2021 and 2023, our team designed a practical framework to build better digital experiences for people accessing public services across Europe. We worked hand in hand with citizens and local communities to really understand their needs.
The framework has clear recommendations and key performance indicators (KPIs). It’s a step-by-step guide to help public bodies create new digital public services – with the citizens and local communities they serve.
How did we do it? To build the framework, our team investigated best practices across European member states. Through extensive research and interviews, we uncovered valuable insights to review and improve existing European policies on how digital public services are harmonised and developed.
Our work included crafting recommendations for designing and developing digital public services in collaboration with relevant public stakeholders. We then tested these recommendations during the project's second phase.
The outcome? Fifty-nine specific KPIs to empower public bodies to easily monitor and assess the success of their collaboration with their stakeholders. These metrics track crucial indicators like how many stakeholders participate, the level of collaboration involved and by how much trust has grown.
Bringing all the insights together, we created an agile roadmap to ensure public bodies could put the framework into practice smoothly and easily.
“Our innovative framework fosters co-creation, citizen trust and efficiency,” says Anita Cioffi, Senior Manager at Deloitte Italy. “It influences positive change among European public administrations and societies and reflects our expertise in technology and innovation.”
Putting the framework to the test
Pilots in Austria, Croatia, Greece and Malta tested the framework with solutions tailored to local needs.
Concluding in December 2023, all four pilots met their objectives – our work has helped to create simpler, more effective and more inclusive digital public services.
Austria: An easier way to collect tourism tax
Filing tourism tax payments for overnight stays in Austria was a slow and error-prone process. Instead of submitting detailed forms to local councils, a new mobile app is simplifying tax reporting through automation. It has reduced paperwork, mistakes and delays for 3,200 accommodation providers.
Croatia: A chatbot guide to government services
The city of Bjelovar’s 32,000 residents, especially older people, struggled to navigate government websites. But access to digital services matters. Now, an AI-driven virtual assistant is helping people to quickly find what they’re looking for.
The chatbot is significantly improving how residents interact with government websites and access services, and it could soon be introduced in other Croatian cities.
Greece: Simpler disability card renewals
In the Thessaly region, more than 11,500 people with disabilities on low incomes are eligible for free or discounted public transport. However, renewing their disability cards required annual in-person visits – a challenge for those who are older, have health issues or live far away.
A new accessible mobile platform has simplified the process, allowing applications to be submitted and approved remotely and with less paperwork.
Malta: Centralising government data
To reduce delays for households accessing social security benefits, Malta’s government needed a straightforward system to identify family units. This pilot brought together multiple government databases into one accurate, up-to-date registry. As a result, this pilot ensured more effective services for 200,000 households.
Empowering people, embracing change
The inGOV project is informing EU policy and how future public services will be delivered across member states.
And while the framework was designed for digital transformation in the public sector, it can also guide private sector innovation, smart city initiatives and large-scale organisational transformations.
“We got great feedback. The added value was tangible because citizens were involved from the start,” says Anita. “We worked with older people, people with disabilities, students, professionals and more to get a wide range of perspectives and ensure the solutions met all needs.
“Through the framework, we have created an encompassing guide for embracing change and revamping democracies by asking the people who are impacted the most.”
Deloitte’s work provides a step-by-step guide that helps administrations:
- Engage local people to provide better public services
- Adopt new technologies to make services more accessible
- Simplify governance models to support digital transformation
- Ensure policies meet real-world needs
This project has been recognised through the Deloitte NSE Impact Awards, an internal recognition programme which celebrates the impact our people and teams make on clients, people and society.
