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The change in the way digital services are offered is presented for the first time by the State Ministry of Research and Innovation
The initiative of the State Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, to upgrade the delivery of public digital services through the creation of the Digital Services Factory (DSF) in collaboration with the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS), was presented on Tuesday at the conference "The Digital Services Factory Way: Faster, Smarter, Simpler digital services", in Nicosia.
The project, under the "Digital Cyprus" programme, aims to create a digital platform on the model of the British one (Gov.uk), where citizens will be able to access all public services with ease and security.[IN HIS SPEECH, THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND DIGITAL POLICY, KYRIAKOS KOKKINOS, SAID THAT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT THE DIGITAL SERVICES FACTORY (DSF) IS BEING PRESENTED, WHICH HE SAID IS ONE OF CYPRUS' LANDMARK PROJECTS IN TERMS OF THE COUNTRY'S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.
He said that today is an important date because, it is the first time the Ministry of State is sharing the plans for a consistent, revolutionary approach to a changing environment, using the DSF methodology.[BR]Out of 27 EU member states, Cyprus is 19th in the DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index) he said, expressing confidence that, "with the passion and commitment of our team and working with the private sector and GDS," this will change.
He also said the State Department has a "birthday today" and is celebrating two years of existence, having started operations on March 1, 2020.
Although they had to address many challenges related to the pandemic and provide services to citizens to manage and mitigate its impact, he said, they focused not only on service delivery, but also on two key initiatives, the DSF and the Enterprise Architecture.
Referring to the objectives of DSF, he said that to create a seamless experience, "we need to transform the entire civil service," which is a big challenge, but not impossible, he added.
It's a turnaround initiative, he noted, as it changes the way services are delivered, "in a faster, smarter and more user-friendly way."
Referring to the navigation of public service websites in Cyprus, he said that bureaucratic language dominates which is difficult to understand while users have to visit different websites for each service, applications still have to be printed and signed, while many online forms are just as complicated to complete as paper ones. In addition, he said, many digital accounts are required."
"All of this is at complete odds with the expectations of our citizens and businesses," he said."
[P KOKKINOS SAID THEY ARE COMMITTED TO COMPLETELY TRANSFORMING THIS EXPERIENCE BY PROVIDING FLEXIBLE WAYS OF WORKING AND PROVIDING EASY ACCESS TO QUALITY SERVICES WITH INFORMATION IN CLEAR, CONCISE AND SIMPLE LANGUAGE AND IDEALLY THROUGH A SINGLE DIGITAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE GOV.CY PORTAL.He thanked the UK GDS team for helping with this important mission, he said.
Regarding the Enterprise Architecture initiative, which is about unifying all the processes that businesses need to carry out through a homogeneous and integrated approach, Kokkinos said it will be presented at a later stage.
The UK High Commissioner to Cyprus, Stephen Lillie, referred to the Memorandum of Understanding on digital cooperation between Cyprus and his country, signed in November 2020.
Lillie said the decision to cooperate in this area made "perfect sense" as the UK is a global leader in digital governance. It is ranked second in the OECD's Digital Government Index and consistently in the top 10 countries, Mr Lillie added.
He also said the Gov.uk platform, which brought together around 2,000 different websites into a single platform, "is one of the most trusted and user-friendly government portals in the world" and a vital resource for tens of millions of citizens, with reliable and well-informed information.
"And I say that not as a British High Commissioner, but as a member of the British public - a British taxpayer - a satisfied customer - who uses it on a regular basis," Mr Lillie said.
He said that coming out of the pandemic the focus of countries around the world is on economic recovery, but also an opportunity for governments to take a fresh look at how they deliver services to their citizens and businesses.
[BR]Mr Lillie also said he also very much likes this collaboration in the digital sector because he believes it is the future for UK-Cyprus relations.
In conclusion, he gave the assurance that the UK will continue to support the Government of Cyprus in its efforts for a digital transformation.
The Director General of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Dr. Stelios Chimonas, outlined the vision and strategic objectives of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy and presented the actions being taken for the operation of the platform.
He said that the four main pillars of the Ministry of State are digitisation of the government, creation of modern digital infrastructure, digitisation of the economy and educating the society to be able to operate in this digital environment.
He further said that the Ministry of State wants to provide services and is result oriented and that they will change the way they deliver these services using innovative approaches. He also mentioned security which he said is a very important element of these services.
Source: CNA
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