Slovenia has taken advantage of its size and centralised administration to “move fast and be agile” on digital government policy design and implementation. As a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004, Slovenia has also benefitted from the influence of the digital government policy of the EU and has demonstrated aspirations of achieving objectives set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe of a single digital market.
Slovenia has increasingly made digital government a key policy priority and has invested in several public policies that stress the importance of technology and digital literacy for a digitally enabled state. Important concepts for an effective digital transformation, such as ‘digital by default’ and ‘once only’ were progressively embraced, and, similarly, Slovenia adopted key enablers to improve access and interoperability of government services, such as digital identity and citizen data rights. The digital government policies also fully recognised the need to invest in the underlying digital infrastructure of the country, digital skills and the digital capacity of businesses. Although these comprehensive policies revealed awareness of the country’s needs, more is needed to govern the digital transformation across the whole public sector.
Given that digital transformation relies on establishing a clear vision and solid governance, Slovenia could build on their social and economic digital eagerness and create a sense of urgency to leverage the current digital disruption and enhance the country’s economic development and social wellbeing. Strategic communication and clarification of the role of digitalisation would also be crucial for improving citizen trust, social wellbeing and inclusive economic growth, as well as creating opportunities to involve the ecosystem of stakeholders in the process of policy design and delivery.
Another ingredient for a successful government transformation is to ensure the right talents and skills to lead it. Recognising the importance of establishing a more receptive workplace to digital settings and lifelong learning for talents to thrive by putting people at the centre would foster digital experimentation, application of new digital skills and change of mindset. Defining essential digital skills and training would help the digital workforce focus on the evolving needs of job profiles and descriptions. This talent focus could also promote the Slovenian public sector as an agile and attractive employer, particularly for the youth.
A focus on the user experience of accessing services is another key component to designing and delivering quality services. Services such as the government platform GOV.SI reflect an initial statement of intent by the Slovenian government to simplify the user experience of accessing services. However, there remains more to do to align the citizen user experience and provide joined-up services across government.
Finally, there would be no digital transformation without a consistent data policy. Thanks to its strong data governance, acknowledging the power of data would help Slovenia further unlock public value. This would not only develop and stimulate data-driven approaches to policymaking and service delivery whether for upfront forecasting using big data or for ongoing analysis of service performance, but also strengthen public trust.