New Service Delivery Platform Aims to Fix E-governance Lag Exposed by Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced countries around the globe to adopt digital solutions. However, even the seemingly well-functioning systems have failed when it comes to ensuring a smooth e-service provision. GxP, an innovative and customer-centric e-service platform developed by NRD Companies, addresses these issues.

The pandemic exposed the shortcomings in e-governance systems. For example, in Lithuania, a country that has developed one of the sturdiest IT infrastructures in the world, the national development institution INVEGA announced in May that it is ready to issue loans to the tourism sector, but the actual process began only in mid-July. In Japan, most administrative procedures are done manually and require paper documents with stamps, which contributed to e-systems lag.

Mindaugas Glodas, CEO at NRD Companies, a global consulting group specializing in e-governance, said that such situations are caused by the lack of integrity of e-systems. According to him, the exchange of data between two e-service providers will remain problematic unless an automated system is implemented. Smoother cooperation between institutions would help to manage the processes more efficiently and provide the citizens with e-services that match their expectations.

“If one state institution is about to provide a digital service and requires additional data from another institution that is not linked to it, there will be a significant delay, said Glodas. “In such a case, the citizen has to provide the necessary information himself or herself. We believe the citizens should not carry the bureaucratic burden and GxP can help with that,” he added.

GxP can work both as a standalone platform for the institution and as an integral part of an inter-institutional system. “The citizens will no longer need to submit documents to each institution as they will collect all the necessary data themselves. This gives flexibility, speed, and security when choosing and receiving e-services,” said Glodas.

GxP is also low-code: the simplified system management enables employees to launch new e-services themselves, while the existing ones can be easily adapted to match the current needs. This allows for a fast response to changes in both the market and legislation, as it eliminates the need to find partners who can set up ad-hoc systems in a short timeframe, which is usually labor-intensive and costly.

“The staff usually lacks the skills to make the necessary software changes to the existing systems to provide the new services,” explained Mr Glodas. “The employees do the work manually, which is stressful and requires working long hours. In the end, important resources are used up and precious time is wasted, but e-services still roll out late.”

“The new possibilities that GxP brings to the table will help to modernize the internal processes of institutions and streamline the e-services,” he said, adding that in the long run this would positively contribute to the economy, optimization of the institutions, and help with the purposeful allocation of state resources. “Let the citizens contribute to the economy and in return get modern services from the government.