Citizen services for the smartphone age

How integrating mobile-based delivery can transform eGovernment services

Public sector organizations worldwide face growing pressure to provide citizens with the intuitive user experience they receive from the private sector. That means applying human-centered design to create digital citizen services that meet users’ needs today. And it means working to deliver a life events approach – services organized around important events in citizens’ lives, rather than around government departments – tomorrow.

But achieving this vision also means meeting citizens where they are – on their mobiles, through single-purpose apps and multi-purpose apps, including super-apps.

By 2030, 91% of the European population will be mobile internet users. Yet currently, citizens in the European Union can complete just 62% of services on mobile devices, compared with 84% on laptops or desktops.

eGovernment Benchmark

Our new point of view looks at how governments can use emerging technologies and sophisticated mobile apps to transform their interactions with citizens. That’s as well as delivering more inclusive, efficient digital public services and vastly improving the user experience.

Super-apps: the next stage in the evolution of digital citizenship in the public sector

In the EU, governments provide 93% of their services on responsive websites designed for desktop use. Along with functional limitations, these could exclude citizens who cannot afford a computer as well as a mobile phone.

Native apps, by contrast, are designed to work on a specific device, such as an Apple or Android phone. So, they are faster and more intuitive than responsive websites. They range from single-purpose apps designed to fulfill a specific function to multi-purpose apps that allow users to carry out several tasks.

Multi-purpose super-apps are the next stage in the evolution of digital citizenship in the public sector. These “one-stop-shop” solutions combine mini apps with core features to offer multiple services all in one place – delivering an intuitive, inclusive experience for the user.

Government super-apps like Dubai Now and LifeSG put popular citizen services in one place, organized around life events. And by combining 100+ interconnected citizen services, the Diia super-app in Ukraine allows citizens to do everything from registering births and marriages to submitting tax returns and renewing passports.