The rate of using online public services is still low.

According to the August 2022 report of the National Committee on Digital Transformation, the rate of Vietnamese people using online public services only reached 18% in the first half of 2022. In addition, the survey data on the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) in 2022 showed that only 3.05% of respondents said they had created user profiles on the National Public Service Portal, and just over 1% of respondents had used the public service portal to complete administrative procedures. Part of the reason for this situation is that the implementation of online public services is not yet complete, the service provision functions are not yet complete, the interface is still difficult to use and not user-friendly.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong, Chairman of Vietnam Digital Communications Association spoke at the seminar.

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong, Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association, highly appreciated the selection of online public services as a key priority in the process of building a digital government. Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong emphasized that the National Committee on Digital Transformation needs to focus on two key groups of tasks including perfecting the functions of the 25 most essential public services; improving the experience for service users through improving the interface to be easier to use and more friendly. According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Hong, achieving this will help Vietnam increase its score, achieving the goal of entering the top 50 countries in the United Nations e-government rankings.

Guest speakers.

The IPS and UNDP research team in Vietnam pointed out five main realities regarding the user-friendliness of provincial public service portals, including features for performing full-process online public services that have not been guaranteed; the process of performing administrative procedures in the electronic environment has not been optimized for users; shortcomings in connecting data, accounts and interfaces between the central and local online public service delivery systems; public service portals are still difficult to access for the visually impaired and ethnic minorities; commitments to protect personal data and ensure information security have not received due attention.

Building an online public service portal with 3 focuses

According to Ms. Tong Khanh Linh, IPS researcher, the analysis of 200 comments and recommendations on online public services posted on the National Public Service Portal has shown limitations in all three aspects: technology, human resources and implementation process. In addition to some shortcomings such as the public service portal being faulty; submitting, updating, supplementing, and monitoring the status of online records is still inconvenient; online payment is not possible; the process of receiving records is slow; there are still limitations in terms of human resources such as officers returning records with unsatisfactory reasons; officers not explaining or guiding people when records are incorrect; officers not answering hotlines, not understanding the process, and inappropriate attitudes.

IPS Research Specialist Tong Khanh Linh shared at the seminar.

At the seminar, experts made a number of recommendations to improve the quality of online public services, focusing on three key issues: Professional (synchronized interface, easy-to-understand language), smart (data connection, optimizing implementation processes for users), reliable (ensuring personal data security, technical safety).

In addition, it is necessary to study and build a friendly and accessible online public service portal interface for people with disabilities. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen data connection between the National Public Service Portal and provincial public service portals, and develop regulations on technical standards for connection and interconnection of online public service delivery systems.

News and photos: HOANG CHUNG