Corona crisis uncovers: Swiss authorities still in the early stages of digitisation

The Corona crisis has also brought weaknesses and omissions of recent years in public administration more clearly to light. The authorities in Switzerland still have a lot of catching up to do, especially in the area of digitisation. In this respect, Switzerland could have Potential to be an international leader in digitisation in public administration. However, it is above all the legal framework conditions that stand in the way of digitisation and an inadequate technical infrastructure that prevent the Swiss authorities from making further progress in digitisation. Deloitte Switzerland conducted a representative survey of 1,500 people, including 500 administrative staff, and asked them about digitisation and e-government.

Lack of digitisation makes home office difficult for public administration

The proportion of administrative staff who were able to work entirely from home during the Corona crisis is, at an average of 25 %, below the Total average of all Swiss employees (30 %). Comparing the home-office capacity of public administrations with other office-based industries in the private sector, such as information and communication technology (65 %) or finance and insurance (50 %), reveals even greater discrepancies. In the federal administration, for example, a good third (33 %) of employees could easily work from home. In the case of the cantons (27 %) and municipalities (15 %) the figure was far lower.

"The general trend towards more home offices has already intensified in the private sector over the last few years with the introduction of flexible workplace models," explains Philipp Roth, Head of Public Sector at Deloitte Switzerland. "However, this trend does not yet seem to have really taken hold with the authorities and public administration".

 Technical requirements and know-how for virtual work are missing

Flexible and efficient work in the home office requires the right resources and technologies. Only 29 % of the surveyed administrative employees were able to work virtually from home immediately without technical obstacles. Nearly three-quarters (71 %) struggled with frustration, having to wait several days or even weeks for technical upgrades or never receiving them at all.

"In public administration, there would already be the possibility of increasingly working virtually from home," explains Roth. "Public authorities should better exploit the potential of existing devices and applications that enable virtual working".

"However, the rapid introduction of simple tools and platforms for virtual collaboration and digital exchange must not be at the expense of data security and data protection," says Roth. "Here, too, there are solutions available today that also enable public authorities to design flexible workplace models," says Roth. However, administrative employees also need to be given further training. "In the age of digital change, the training of employees and managers is particularly important. Only when the administrative staff are familiar with the existing technologies can a meaningful digital renewal be further promoted," says Roth.

Approval for more digital services increases due to Corona crisis

The survey also shows that the Corona crisis has changed the way many citizens relate to digital services. Almost one third (31 %) of the population has changed their opinion about digital services positively due to the corona crisis. Less than one in ten (9 %) has a negative view of new digital services. The pandemic has not triggered any change in the others.

«Studies have shown that even before the pandemic, a majority of the Swiss population was ready for more electronic services from the federal government, cantons and municipalities," explains Rolf Brügger, Director for Government & Public Services at Deloitte Switzerland. "The current crisis has further increased this need. If you take the example of the 1.9 million employees who had to register for short-time work compensation, you can see how many of these services are not sufficiently digitized. The registration processes concealed several so-called media breaks. Applicants were therefore unable to submit forms electronically, but had to print them out on paper and send them by post to the authorities," Brügger says.

Majority of administrative employees are in favour of more e-government

A majority of Swiss administrative staff (56 %) are in favour of more digitisation in administration. However, a relatively high proportion of 39 % see no additional need for digital processes or services. "Often it is due to a lack of IT infrastructure that does not even allow employees to properly use and experience the benefits of digitization," says Brügger

Exploiting momentum, removing hurdles

According to the surveyed administrative staff, the current obstacles to digitisation are the legal framework (37 %), hardware and software (30 %) and the physical infrastructure (14 %). "The creation of appropriate legal foundations is important - e.g. for electronic signatures," says Brügger. "At the same time, the Corona crisis has shown that it is possible to implement changes very quickly. It is now important to use this momentum and to invest sustainably in digitization".

Faster than implementing legal requirements is the purchase of more hardware and the comprehensive provision of laptops for employees. However, this is associated with high costs. "In the short term, it is important to focus on processes and simplify them. This does not require many years of development of completely new IT systems: new electronic forms without paper printouts and postal dispatch and a few smart new software tools could significantly reduce the number of existing media breaks in the process. You don't have to build a new IT landscape, buy hardware or change laws to do this," emphasizes Brügger.