Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Estonia’s Road to a Digital Society

This is not directly related to my study tour but I thought that the lessons learned in Estonia, just 75km south if Helsinki, were so interesting that they were worth noting.
I repeatedly heard about the huge leap that Estonia had made in e-governance while I was in Europe.
This is especially relevant to to the systems disasters plaguing TAFE.

Life in the Digital Society

e-Estonia means voting in elections from the comfort of your own living room. Filing your income taxreturn in just five minutes. Signing a legally-binding contract over the Internet, from anywhere in the world, via your mobile phone. These are just a few of the services that Estonians take advantage of on a regular basis.

Some Do’s and Don’ts, based on Estonia’s experience:

  • Do – Create a decentralized, distributed system so that all existing components can be linked and new ones can be added, no matter what platform they use
  • Don’t – Try to force everyone to use a centralized database or system, which won’t meet their needs and will be seen as a burden rather than a benefit
  • Do – Be a smart purchaser, buying the most appropriate systems developed by the private sector
  • Don’t – Waste millions contracting large, slow development projects that result in inflexible systems
  • Do – Find systems that are already working, allowing for faster implementation
  • Don’t – Rely on pie-in-the-sky solutions that take time to develop and may not work

Estonia’s Road to a Digital Society

https://e-estonia.com/the-story/how-we-got-there/

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