Digital government, technology at the service of States

With the aim of transforming the State, different countries such as Estonia and Colombia have incorporated information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the efficiency of governmental tasks, state processes, the provision of public services and the relationship with citizens. 

Changes at the state level gave rise to e-Government or electronic governments, which are defined by the Organization of American States (OAS) as those in which ICTs are applied in government functions and procedures. 

An example of this is Estonia's "e-cabinet meeting" platform, which includes a database and a programmer that streamlines ministerial meetings and decision-making by officials. Another case is the Houndoc technological solution of the Colombian company Nuvu, which allows public institutions to organize the information of the entity, with the objective of knowing its historical memory and making decisions based on the data.

Over time, countries recognized that the transformation should not only be within the State and, consequently, moved towards digital government. This new approach includes not only government actors, but also non-profit organizations, businesses and citizens. 

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), digital government makes use of ICTs to create public value, for example, to provide better service, facilitate access to information, consolidate transparency, and achieve citizen participation, among other aspects. 

Colombia has made great strides in digital transformation, which is evidenced by the rating obtained in the latest ranking of the OECD's "Digital Government Index 2019", published in 2020, in which it ranked third and in which the maturity of the country's Digital Government strategies was recognized. 

Colombia moves towards digital government

The Colombian government has implemented technologies such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Big Data, Machine Learning and robotics to change public management and improve service delivery using the services of large cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services. 

According to the Presidential Council for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, the country has 184 projects that seek to transform 54 entities through the use of technology. Among the initiatives, the following stand out: 

The integrated information system, which, through AI, collects, analyzes and processes the financial information of companies and corporations; a core banking system that regulates and reduces the processes for granting and renewing educational loans; facial biometrics implemented to improve controls on people entering and leaving the country; and an AI-based solution created by Nuvu that analyzes government contracts to identify cost overruns and ensure the effective use of public resources. 

Colombia has also advanced towards digitalization through the implementation of single windows, where citizens can access information from various entities, carry out procedures and find out the status of processes easily, quickly and without complications. 

In short, digital government has changed the way the State relates to citizens and has contributed to improve the management of the entities. However, there are still challenges in the connectivity of institutions and citizen participation.