- Kable, Wednesday 8 July 2009 09.53 BST
The National Endowment for Society, Technology and Arts played up the positives on support for online services when it released its Thinking of the Future survey this week, but a look at the figures suggests the public are doing a good job at restraining their enthusiasm for the idea.
When asked if they thought that switching as many public services and facilities as possible online would be a good idea, a majority of 57% came down in the 'Maybe' camp. Those in favour were only marginally more numerous than those against, at 22% to 21%.
This does not amount to hostility to the idea. Clear majorities acknowledged the advantages of online services such as saving time, ease of use, meeting personal needs and saving money for government and the citizen. But they also conveyed no sense of urgency for the switch, with just 4% calling for it to be made as soon as possible and 74% saying it should happen in the next five years.
This goes against the oft heard refrain that people have embraced their online transactions with the private sector and will grow impatient with a public sector that drags its feet. It more accurately reflects that fact that they have anxieties over a change. Big majorities of respondents said they had concerns over privacy, security and difficulties in using the services, and in general people have enough problems in commercial transactions over the internet to instil some caution.
Doing business online with the private sector may work very well in some areas, but many of us have had problems with commercial websites that are difficult to navigate, do not complete transactions, or may tell the customer the job is done without passing the information to the back office systems. Add to that the concerns that a lot of people still face with limited bandwidth and unreliable internet connections and it creates a deterrent to making them more dependent on their computers.
People are not absolutely averse to the change, but they want reassurance that online services will work properly. Government can bang the drum for services that work well, but word of mouth will play a bigger part in building confidence. It may also need more progress in the private sector, and a year or two of visible improvements in the websites that have not worked well, before people are ready to place their faith in a big shift in public services.
This is not an excuse to put off the work on moving more services online – the promises of saving time and money for government and citizens is too great to be ignored – but it could be a mistake to assume the public's enthusiasm. Maybe the ambition should be tempered with a little patience.
Mark Say
Senior Editor, Kable
Issues affecting online services will come under discusion at the Public Sector Online conference, organised by Kable, to take place in London on 21 October. More details.
