Digital interactions between the federal government and citizens have doubled in three years’ time
The number of digital interactions between citizens and the government has more than doubled since the start of this legislature. This is evident from the new Digital Transformation Dashboard launched by Alexander De Croo, the Digital Agenda Minister. MyBelgium (+240%), Police-On-Web (+173%) and eBirth (+158%) are at a particular all-time high. Annually the digitisation of the government equates to a saving of at least 32 million euro.
“We are only just at the beginning of a digital revolution with the government,” according to Alexander De Croo, the Digital Agenda Minister. “Citizens will be able to follow up all of their digital communication with government authorities from one place starting next spring, as a result of the introduction of the eBox. This will give a definite extra boost to the government’s digitisation and, in particular, its subsequent use.”
The new online Digital Transformation Dashboard clearly shows the progress of the digital transformation the government has gone through, both where its use and the budgetary efficiency are concerned. The data was bundled by the FOD Policy and Support (BOSA)’s Digital Transformation Office. The figures show that virtually all of the federal government’s digital government applications have experienced significant growth over the past three years.
“Real digital transformation is a major challenge, is launched with clear priorities and demands honesty and transparency about where you are today. That’s exactly what we want to achieve with the Digital Dashboard”, according to Ben Smeets, the Digital Transformation Office’s top man.
From online complaints to electronic birth registrations
The number of MyBelgium users between the end of 2014 and the summer of 2017 rose by more than 240%, from 26,488 to 63,707 users. Citizens and companies can obtain an overview of their personal federal government files on the MyBelgium portal with just a few mouse clicks.
Police-on-Web had a total of 6,282 users this summer, compared to the 2,301 users at the end of 2014 (+173%). Citizens can submit complaints, set up absence notifications and register alarm systems online via Police-on-Web. eBirth, for online birth registrations with the Civil Service by healthcare providers, also more than doubled, from 27,363 registrations at the end of 2014 to 41,356 registrations during this year’s summer (+151%). The absolute leader in the number of users is Tax-on-Web, the online tax return service for individuals, with a record 5.8 million users in 2016.
Four times more digital corporation tax returns
The digital interactions between companies and the government rose by more than 50% over the past three years. BizTax is the most widely used online government application for companies. More than three million Belgian companies are now completing their corporation tax returns. This is four times more than three years ago.
An increasing number of companies are now also using digital invoicing (+48%), or will be electronically depositing their company’s Memorandum of Associations via eGriffie (+43%).
Important cost savings
Digitising the government will result in greater ease of use. Digital counters are open 24/7 and citizens and companies can acquire a complete overview. Additionally, the continued digitisation of the government will also result in important cost savings. The Administrative Simplification Service calculated that the digitisation of the government represented a cost saving of 32.4 million euro for citizens and companies in 2016. This cost saving only amounted to 9.6 million euro in 2014.
