Digital transformation of public services must start with the people

Digital transformation is becoming an important pillar in the development strategy of every country. In Vietnam, the goal of building a digital government is clearly defined with people as the center, data as the foundation, and technology as the tool.

Ms. Dai Le - Federal Member of Parliament representing Fowler (red shirt), discussed with the delegation of short-term training officers in Australia about digital transformation of public services in Fowler (Australia).

Online public services are considered a test for the effectiveness of this process. Lessons from previous countries show that for technology to truly serve people, the decisive factor lies in management thinking, digital capacity of officials and community support.

Technology is just a tool

During a short-term training course for leaders and managers of central and local departments, ministries and branches on digital transformation and artificial intelligence, experts from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) emphasized that the core of digital transformation does not lie in technological transformation, but in changing the way of thinking and working of people in the public authority system.

Dr. Sue Craig (Australian Institute of Company Directors) believes that for the public sector, digital transformation not only helps save costs and shorten processes, but also opens up new approaches to governance, service delivery and interaction with people. When governments digitize data and redesign processes, they simultaneously change their working culture - from control to service, from administrative orders to accompanying people.

Dr. Sue Craig (Australian Institute of Company Directors) exchanged information with the delegation of leaders of central and local departments, ministries and branches on digital transformation and artificial intelligence at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

In Australia, the public service delivery model is organized in a way that puts people’s needs at the center. Technology is just a tool, what is more important is the trust, accessibility and satisfaction of citizens when using digital services.

Ms. Dai Le - Member of the Australian Federal House of Representatives, the first Vietnamese person elected to the country's Parliament - shared a practical perspective from the district she represents. Fowler is an area with a very high proportion of immigrants and elderly people, so when switching to online public services, the government encountered many difficulties. People's digital access is very low. This community still mainly uses cash, does not feel safe or familiar with online payments.

Some eastern suburbs have better connectivity, but most residents, especially older people, are not familiar with digital platforms, leading to low online completion rates. Many people have to go in person to ask for assistance filling out forms. For vulnerable groups such as the unemployed or those on welfare, they often use Government Central Link - the government service portal - but they face long queues, reducing the motivation to use online services.

Checkout counter at a convenience store in Canberra, with digital payment devices in common use.

Another major barrier is language. Public service platforms are only available in English, not in local languages ​​or the mother tongues of immigrant communities. This is the reason why many people refuse or hesitate to access digital services.

According to Ms. Dai Le, any reform of public services must come from the needs, capacities and habits of the people, and cannot be imposed by administrative orders. Therefore, the government needs to listen to the people and support them with more accessible tools - such as integrating translation functions right on the technology platform, helping people understand and carry out procedures more easily; maintaining the cash method is necessary to ensure convenience for the people, especially the elderly and the immigrant community.

Delegation of short-term training program staff in Australia experienced digital payment at a store in Canberra (Australia)

From Australia's experience, it can be seen that digital transformation of public services cannot be measured only by the number of procedures put online, but must be measured by the percentage of people who can actually use them, are satisfied and trust them.

Enhancing digital capacity for people

In Vietnam, online public services have been deployed in most localities, but the effectiveness between places is not uniform. Some localities have made significant progress in the index of service quality assessment for people and businesses.

In Tay Ninh , according to the report of the Provincial People's Committee on November 1, 2025, the score on the National Public Service Portal reached 89.77/100 points, an increase of 2.85 points compared to the previous week and a rise of 12 ranks (from 22nd to 10th out of 34 provinces and cities) - the highest increase ever. Notably, there was a time when the province ranked 8th out of 34 in the first days of the month.

By November 10, 2025, the province's score continued to increase to 90.07/100 points and maintained its position in the top 10 nationwide. All component indexes maintained an upward trend, in which the profile index increased continuously and reached 21.47 points - the highest among 34 provinces and cities, showing the strong efforts of the locality in standardizing processes and promoting profile processing in the digital environment.

In fact, as Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Committee of Tay Ninh Provincial Party Committee - shared, despite the development of the online platform, officials still have to do almost all online operations on behalf of the people. Most people, especially in rural or elderly areas, are not familiar with technology and do not understand the digitalization process, leading to the inability to perform online public services themselves. This creates a huge workload pressure for the staff, causing the processing volume to increase compared to before the digital transformation.

Not only the people, but also the digital capacity of grassroots officials is uneven, causing the implementation of many online services to not be as effective as expected.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong emphasized that to truly transform digitally, it is necessary to widely disseminate technological knowledge to the people, while improving digital capacity for officials, thereby ensuring efficiency, reducing workload, and creating proactive participation of the whole society in the digital transformation process.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Viet Ha - Director of the Department of Information Technology and Digital Transformation (Ministry of Finance) said that although the financial sector has the largest volume of electronic transactions in the country, the biggest difficulty today is that the digital capacity of people and businesses is not commensurate with the speed of digitalization of the financial sector. Many people are not familiar with operating in the online environment, especially steps such as identification, login, digital signature, document download, electronic payment, etc., leading to having to go to the financial agency to receive direct support from staff. This causes the workload of staff to increase instead of decreasing as expected.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Ha - Director of the Department of Information Technology and Digital Transformation (Ministry of Finance) talked with reporters of Nhan Dan Newspaper.

In addition, although the Ministry of Finance's digital system has been heavily invested, in order to achieve "one declaration, multiple procedures", the issue of connecting and sharing data between ministries, branches and localities is still a challenge. When data is not synchronized, people have to re-enter a lot of information or supplement paper records, reducing the experience in the digital environment.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Ha said that to truly transform digitally, the Ministry of Finance is focusing on two directions: continuing to perfect digital platforms, integrating data, simplifying processes to make it easier for people to operate, and coordinating with localities to promote the dissemination of digital skills to people and grassroots staff, helping them grasp basic operations, thereby increasing the ability to perform online public services themselves, reducing pressure on management agencies.

He also said that the digital transformation process in the financial sector will only be most effective when the entire political system participates, and especially when people truly master the use of technology and services instead of depending on officials.

In reality, public service operations in Australia and Vietnam, as Dr. Sue Craig (UTS Lecturer) shared, digital transformation is a process of changing organizational culture, not just applying new technology. Any plan, no matter how modern the tools, will fail if the operators do not understand, do not believe in and do not want to use the system. Therefore, digital transformation in the public sector requires a comprehensive strategy: retraining staff, redesigning processes and making citizen experience the ultimate measure.

PHAN THANH PHONG

Source: https://nhandan.vn/chuyen-doi-so-dich-vu-cong-phai-bat-dau-tu-nguoi-dan-post922996.html