For the fifth consecutive year, Sopra Steria Next has published its barometer* on the digitalisation of public services and its perception among European citizens, in partnership with IPSOS:

• While 75% of Europeans surveyed believe that public services are increasingly digitalised, only 62% of them believe that they are increasingly easy to use.
• The French confirm their confidence in the Government’s ability to develop digital public services (44%). This is much more optimistic than their neighbours in Germany (10%), UK (19%), Norway (29%), or even Spain (38%).
• As part of this digitalisation, European citizens favour local support provided by a universal agent (71% in France, 78% in the United Kingdom, 64% in Spain) rather than having to travel to meet with a specialist.
• Ultimately, data protection remains a key issue, with 67% of European citizens surveyed fearing that someone else might have access to their personal data.

 The transformation of public services is still very heterogeneous. In Europe, it is necessary to meet the new expectations of citizens while guaranteeing the digital inclusion of all users. The barometer also reveals a disparity in services, between the expectations of citizens and the services they consider to be the most advanced.

The digital relationship has been strengthened between European citizens and public services, and is generally not perceived as lagging behind the private sector. Nevertheless, Europeans have high expectations in terms of simplification of digital uses and of trust, which suggests that European governments should work on education and communication in this digital transformation, around three key areas: removing persistent doubts, facilitating use, and developing local assistance. 

Helen Zeitoun, CEO of Ipsos, France

For the first year, our barometer measures the satisfaction of European citizens with the digitalisation of public services. Therefore, we note that they wish to obtain guarantees on the ethical dimension of the digitalisation of public services in terms of data security and digital inclusion, both for public service agents and users.

Claire Ducos, Head of Business Development at Sopra Steria Next