The article by the CEO of “Information Society SA”, Mr. Stavros Asthenidis, in the special edition of Netweek entitled “Digital Government” published on 20 July with the newspaper “To Vima tis Kyriakis”:
“Beyond any doubt, the digitisation of services is now meeting with the great acceptance of Greek society. This is a major cultural change. Digital transformation is no longer a process that concerns codes or IT specialists; it concerns the whole society, it is part of our modern democracy as it gives all citizens access to services in a transparent and equal way and consequently touches and dramatically affects all our lives.
The “Digital by Design” public administration in Greece is in a phase of rapid transformation, with digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) being the key catalysts.
Guided by the digital achievements of the present, Greece is moving towards a future where digital service will be the norm, with AI being increasingly integrated in the automation of procedures, in the improvement of the quality of services and interaction with the citizen.
Greece has made significant progress in its digital transformation efforts. This is also reflected in the recent eGovernment Benchmark 2024 report. According to the report, Greece scored an eight (8) point increase in the e-government performance score for the second consecutive year, showing steady progress. It is worth noting that over the last four years, Greece has improved its overall score by 16 points, making it one of the most improved countries in the European Union.
All this was done with a plan and a lot of work. Gov.gr has established itself as the single digital portal for citizens and businesses, bringing together a multitude of services and offering a uniform and secure user experience.
As the “Information Society SA”, the central hub of the Ministry of Digital Governance for the design, development and implementation of digital transformation projects, we have assumed a strategic role in this national effort.
By providing front-line digital services, interoperability, process simplification through automation, Open Data, we strive to make the digital world accessible and inclusive.
The further integration of AI will, among other things, lead to the automation of tasks, the facilitation of legal procedures, the accurate and timely diagnosis of medical examinations, more effective crisis management, the assurance of interoperability, the development of highly available and environmentally friendly data centres and cloud infrastructure for the public administration and, above all, investment in the continuous development of digital skills for all Greeks, including civil servants, for the effective use of new technologies.
In the face of this “ideal” reality that is coming, we have to face challenges and existing problems, such as digital illiteracy, the lack of digital skills in the public sector, resilience to cyber-attacks, legislation that does not keep up with technology and ethical dilemmas arising from automation.
In all of this, we have to confront a set of interventions with a vision and a goal to fully digitise public sector services by 2027, aiming to provide direct and effective service to citizens and to make them as accessible as possible to all.”
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