Digital Transformation of Public Services: Introduction, Current Trends and Future Directions

The digital transformation of public services is a key concern for government administrations as it optimizes services delivered to citizens, enhances the job of civil servants and increases the efficiency of government services. This chapter proposes an overview of the opportunities and challenges to consider for the implementation of e-Government. First, the concepts towards e-Government are defined to set common guidelines to the current book. Then, the chapter describes the challenges to implement e-Government that requires implementing an adequate ICT infrastructure, ensure security and privacy, acculturate the senior management and citizens to technology, and communicate on the availability of digitalized services. Afterwards, the authors describe the challenges of implementing cloud computing for government services notably in terms of security, privacy, technology readiness, and reliability. Finally, the authors detail new innovations that will radically transform the domain such as collaboration e-Government, Green IT, digital twin usage, or gamification. Throughout this chapter, the authors underline the importance of adopting a user-centric approach to fulfill the highest priorities of e-Government stakeholders.