2023-11-10 09:08:23
Handle all official procedures with apps on your smartphone / Health data such as blood values should be displayed graphically / Austria is a model country when it comes to mobile communications
Vienna (OTS) –
Conversation with Florian Tursky, State Secretary for Digitalization
Florian Tursky, State Secretary for Digitalization, outlines how citizens in Austria can be won over to a “smart government” on smartphones and names a dating platform as a model for usability.
Transcript of the conversation with Florian Tursky
FMK
Around 85% of Austrians conduct their banking transactions online, 64% almost exclusively on their mobile phones. There are increasing signs that even complex, everyday journeys are increasingly being shifted to the smartphone. There is currently a debate regarding ELGA, which was originally developed as a B2B application. Major topics also include the mapping of official channels on mobile phones and applications that are used in transport, for example. What interests us now is what is the current status today?
Tursky:
As mentioned at the beginning, Austrians use digital solutions when they are simple and simplify everyday life. You mentioned e-banking. 20 years ago, when it first appeared, many people said, “No, I won’t do that, I’ll be worried if it takes place online and not at the counter as usual.” We now see – and you have backed this up with figures – that the opposite is the case: you do what is easy and what is convenient. And people now also have confidence in these online solutions when it comes to money. This is a great example of what government digital solutions must look like: They must be simple, transparent and intuitive for people to use!
FMK:
So you mean simple apps?
Tursky:
You may have heard of the app “Tinder,” a dating platform where you swipe left and right. I don’t use it, but it’s a very simple application. And we as a state compete with simple solutions and we want to get there: With the Digital Austria Act, which is a digital strategy of the Austrian federal government, we have set a course for the future. We need simple, digital solutions with which we can handle all official procedures and we need a daily use case for this.
The reason why the banks work is because you often look at your account. However, the average Austrian only has 1.2 official transactions per year. I won’t inspire anyone to download a new app for this one official route, which for most people is tax equalization. Hence the approach of interacting with citizens every day, with digital ID cards, with new digital functions.
FMK:
But how do we manage to spread this success of online banking to the population? How do we do this with other daily things in life that are being digitized?
Tursky:
By showing people the added value! For example, digital ID cards: In the future, no one will have to have their ID cards, driver’s license or ID card in their wallet anymore; everything will be on their cell phone. You can prove your age digitally, have your ticket with you, but in the future your identity, for example at the post office, can also be proven digitally. This means showing a simple use case.
You mentioned ELGA. ELGA is currently a PDF collection. I don’t have any image data in it, I haven’t shown the blood values either. As a citizen, I am interested in my electronic health record to see how my blood values have developed since my position – which was negative over the course of my studies until hopefully a little better now. I would perhaps also like to have this shown in a graphic.
FMK:
As an app on a smartphone, for example?
Tursky:
Yes, absolutely, because that’s just the way the citizens
Citizens today are used to interacting on cell phones. And we as a state have to comply. When it comes to health data, it has to be 100% secure, and we have to guarantee that! But the focus should not only be on security, which must always be guaranteed, but also on usability and that we put the needs of the citizen at the center of our work.
FMK:
Do you see that smartphones and functioning mobile networks are a basic prerequisite for the digitalization of Austria?
Tursky:
Yes! E-government on the computer has shifted to m-government, or “mobile government”. In the future it will be a “smart government”. This means that in the future we will try to reach the citizen. I want to be able to actively offer support, as we already do for entrepreneurs. Or I want to actively communicate, for example, when a child is born, what options there are for going on maternity leave. Of course, for this we need a good digital infrastructure, both mobile and stationary.
When it comes to mobile communications, Austria is an absolute model country. There is hardly any country in Europe that has such good cell phone reception. The only place between Innsbruck and Vienna where it doesn’t work is the Deutsches Eck. We still have a few supply gaps in Lower Austria and Styria, but the gaps will be closed with the supply requirements. Fiber optic expansion is much more challenging. Due to the good mobile network expansion, we were always a little behind. In order to close these gaps by 2030, private companies will invest 6 billion, which we will support with another 1.5 billion.
FMK:
Thank you very much for the conversation.
The next conversation with Flora Schmudermayer will be available on the Forum Mobile Communication YouTube channel from Monday, November 13th, 2023.
Flora Schmudermayer was federal school representative until summer 2023 and is now studying spatial planning. Not only does she not believe in cell phone bans in schools like in Great Britain, she is much more demanding that artificial intelligence be used and included in lessons.
Questions & Contact:
Gregor Wagner
Press spokesman
Forum Mobile Communications – FMK
Mariahilfer Straße 37-39, A-1060 Vienna
Mobil: +43 664 619 25 12
Fix: +43 1 588 39 38
Email: wagner@fmk.at
Website: www.fmk.at
1699607310
#FMK #5Conversations #Florian #Tursky #egovernment #smart #government #Mobile #communication #forum
