German authorities do not necessarily have the reputation of being comprehensively positioned in the digital world. However, many digitization measures have already been implemented.
In general, one has to say that the digital expansion of the German authorities is rather sluggish in comparison. Accessibility by phone or e-mail is sometimes poor, you usually have to appear in person at the authorities and submit many applications in printed form. Digitization could save many a trip to the office and long waiting times for an appointment. Many people in Germany want exactly that: more digital communication with authorities. Most of the time it’s just a wish – but some things are already possible.
Survey shows desire for more digitization of the authorities
According to a representative Bitkom survey Three out of four people in Germany (76 percent) want to contact the authorities digitally in the future. A third (33 percent) of those surveyed even stated that they only wanted to communicate digitally with the authorities in the future. A good two out of five (43 percent) would prefer a hybrid model. Only a good fifth (21 percent) would like to remain completely analog. For this survey, Bitkom Research interviewed more than 1000 people in Germany by telephone.
What is a matter of course in countries like Denmark, people in Germany also want: to deal with official business independently of time and place. The offices would save mountains of files, meters thick, millions of letters would become superfluous and the switch to paperless communication would not least make an important contribution to saving scarce resources such as wood and water and protecting the climate. In administration, digital information can be recorded directly in a structured manner and processed without media breaks – faster, more efficiently and less labour-intensive.
Bitkom President Achim Berg
Many would like to communicate via messenger
Communication exclusively by post or on site ignores the realities of life for many people. This problem has been known for some time, which is why the federal government is making money available explicitly for the digitization of the authorities. In 2017, the Online Protection Act (OZG) actually set the goal of being able to complete most administrative procedures online by the end of 2022. That’s probably not realistic, like the last one request of the left submitted to the Bundestag. Many of the funds made available are not even used by the federal states. The reason for this is, among other things, a lack of or trained staff.
In the Bitkom survey, almost every second respondent (46 percent) who would like to contact an office online stated that they would prefer to do so by email. In fact, this is already possible in many offices, but not all. A total of 19 percent would also like a shorter and completely new way of communication: chatting via Messenger such as WhatsApp. or signal.
In addition, around two thirds (66 percent) of digitization fans would like to have a personal online service account. At this point, however, one has to take a stand for the supposedly very analogue official mold: anyone who has an ID card with an E-ID function can set up user accounts on the administration portals of the federal government and the federal states in order to submit applications digitally.
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What is already possible with the online ID card
That lists around 180 applications ID card portal of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. From vehicle registration authorities to the National Weapons Register to Bafög applications – many services can already be used online. Telecommunications providers and banks are also listed there, as are various services from the Federal Employment Agency. But one thing is also clear: If the office in your own municipality is still using analogue methods, the online ID card is of little use at that point.
As part of the already mentioned OZG, the Dashboard Digital Management introduced. The aim of this portal is to digitally standardize the patchwork of German authorities. What was initially slow progress accelerated in 2020 with the corona pandemic. The result: child benefit applications, registration certificates and much more can now be applied for online and many are increasingly using this service. However, the situation in the countries is still so different that it will probably take some time to simplify the digitization of the authorities.
With information from the dpa.