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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2020 13 COMMERCIAL Coronavirus How digitalising government services improved clients' experience MaltaToday speaks to Clayton Bartolo, parliamentary secretary for financial services and the digital economy, about the need to shift government departments to work online following the COVID-19 outbreak Do you believe governmental depart- ments were prepared for the shift to online operations due to COVID-19? The government runs a vast online database that provides for instant con- nectivity from any department or of- fice. Naturally, with the decision for these operations to work remotely, the question was how to ensure connectivi- ty at a wider distance. Our entire work- force has ambitiously worked for an easy 'switch' to remote working since day one, and this has proved to be our strongest tool yet. We were lucky to have had an online system in place for many years, which our workforce has manned very well from any location. I believe our workforce was not only prepared to handle this change but was also willing to adapt to a new reality. How has digitalising these services improved the client's experience? The success of a digital government is how the end-product lands in the cli- ent's hands. Our services have not only been enhanced and made more efficient during this time, but have also been given new 'potentials'. Digitalising gov- ernmental operations has made them available and accessible to our clients at the click of a button, some of them without any additional cost. Digitalisation makes the world seem smaller, safer, and within one's reach. Clients have been benefitting from ser- vices which they didn't know had been available until the pandemic. New and improved connectivity with the health- care sector, for example, made it pos- sible for crucial data to be accessed by healthcare professionals in different sites. Digitalising existing governmen- tal services has brought them closer to our citizens. Digitalising new govern- mental services has proven we have the means and talent to adapt to any situ- ation. The next step, especially as the pan- demic comes to an end, is to harmonise these digital potentials with how are services have already been operating. How has the COVID-19 pandemic paved Malta's way of becoming a 'dig- ital state'? It has certainly answered the question of whether or not we have the means to do so. Malta has certainly succeeded in pushing its name to the forefront of this digital age we are living in, and can now 'compete' with other digital states such as Estonia or Denmark. This gov- ernment has certainly, and successfully, overcome the 'digital disconnect' with shifting its operations online. Now is the time to strengthen this through fur- ther intergovernmental collaboration and aligning our overall vision with our digital platform. Now is the time for this the government to develop a solid digital strategy, based on intergovern- mental and external collaboration, and implement it. This government has always promoted the work-life balance concept. If any- thing, this pandemic has opened our eyes to how this concept can really work. Are these changes worth keep- ing in place even after the pandemic? We need to create the perfect balance between the operational success of any entity and the safety, security, and overall well-being of our workforce. We now have all the proof we need of the benefits of telework, however, let's not completely set aside the notion of physically delivering these services to our citizens and clients.