Digital: AGI-Censis, PA improves but simplification needed
Capri - The digitalization of the Public Administration is on the right path, but there is still a long way to go: in short, we can say that things are going slightly better, but not really well. Today, the gap has been bridged thanks to the initiatives implemented in recent years by the Agency for Digital Italy, but things must speed up now and "simplification" has to become a priority: online services will not be used if they are complicated. It is time to go ahead with implementing streamlined procedures. This is the picture that emerges from the second AGI-Censis report "The digital dilemma, Italians, innovation and digital PA", presented at the EY Digital Summit 2017 currently held in Capri, by the Director of AGI, Riccardo Luna, and the Secretary General of Censis, Giorgio De Rita. This work is the result of two surveys carried out on a representative sample of 2,000 Italians aged 18 to 80 years with a statistical error of +/- 2.2%.The report also shows that almost one third of the population feels at a disadvantage due to the difficulties in using digital technologies: a process of "intergenerational solidarity" is underway between those who are able to use digital services and those who cannot keep up with innovations. If some public services were to be made accessible exclusively via the Web in the future, 23.5% of the sample would not know how to solve the problem. In general, a prejudice towards the PA is deeply rooted in all sections of the population: more than half of citizens have a negative opinion about its activities, claiming that services are slow and hardly ever meet their needs. 18% of the population believes its performance is actually "very poor", while 24% consider it acceptable. Only a residual 3% of the total says it is satisfied. This is why "it is essential for services, especially those provided on the Web, to have simplification as their main goal. In fact, online services that add further levels, procedures and fulfillments are the ones that end users use the least," the report states. It is no coincidence that simplification, understood as a reduction in red tape, is one of the two priorities pointed out by almost half of the population in order to make public administration as a whole more efficient. The other element regarded as crucial is the fight against inefficiencies caused by corruption and 'slackers', "which are still considered one of the scourges of the PA".