SAVS/TACR THE LEVEL OF DIGITALIZATION

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION CREATED BY

BOOK PASSAU • BERLIN • PRAGUE

SCIENCE & NEW MEDIA

THE LEVEL OF DIGITALIZATION AND INTEREST IN DIGITAL SERVICES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CITIZENS, COMPANIES AND GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES

Analytical study

Researched by: the research team of project TA CR no. TL01000147

Mladá Boleslav, 2020

The Level of Digitalization and Interest inDigital Services fromthePerspective of Citizens, Companies and Government Authorities: an analytical study

Research team - prof. Ing. JIŘÍ STROUHAL, Ph.D. (ed.) MICHAL BOKŠA, MPhil. doc. Ing. JIŘINA BOKŠOVÁ, Ph.D. Ing. JOSEF HORÁK, Ph.D.

doc. PhDr. KAREL PAVLICA, Ph.D. prof. Ing. STANISLAV ŠAROCH, Ph.D.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National- bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.

ŠKODA AUTO VYSOKÁ ŠKOLA o.p.s Na Karmeli 1457 293 01 Mladá Boleslav Česká republika

© ŠKODA AUTO VYSOKÁ ŠKOLA o.p.s. 2020 © 2020 rw&w Science & NewMedia Passau-Berlin-Prague, an international publishing project of SüdOst Service GmbH, AmSteinfeld 4, 94065 Waldkirchen, Bayern/Germany

ISBN: 978-3-946915-28-7 (electronic) ISBN: 978-3-946915-27-0

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

Introduction

5

2 Research among representatives of government offices with broad powers

7

3

Research among Czech Citizens 3.1 Sample of the general population 3.2 Sample of the internet population

17 17 18 28 40 40 41 41 43 44 52 62

4 Research among representatives of Czech companies

5

Closing Summary

5.1 Government Offices

5.2 Citizens

5.3 Companies

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Questionnaire intended for government offices Appendix 2 – Questionnaire intended for citizens Appendix 3 – Questionnaire intended for companies

3

1 INTRODUCTION We would like to present to you an analytical study dealing with the level of digitalization and interest in digital services from the perspective of citizens, companies, and government authorities. This document is based on research conducted in the months of October – December 2019, i.e. before the outbreak of the current coronavirus pandemic, which has made the digitalization of services even more urgent. Over the course of the research, 350 companies, 1,613 citizens and 232 govern- ment authorities with broader powers in the Czech Republic were addressed. Given the size of the sample, we believe that the results presented are valid for the entire population. The data collection involved using personal, telephone- based, and online methods. The research teamwould like to thank STEM for their help in gathering data. The structure of this study is organized as follows: first we present the results of a survey of respondents from among government offices with broad powers, then respondents from among citizens (general versus Internet population) and, last but not least, the responses of the sample of small, medium-sized, and large companies registered in Czech Republic. At the end of this study, a summary of key points with suggestions for stakeholders will be provided. Acknowledgment This study was created with the state support of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the ÉTA Programme.

In Mladá Boleslav, 31 st March 2020

research team

5

2 RESEARCH AMONG REPRESENTATIVES OF GOVERNMENT OFFICES WITH BROAD POWERS This chapter focuses on the issue of digitalization from the perspective of representatives of government offices with broad powers in the Czech Republic. The research aims to determine which public services should be digitalized as a matter of priority taking into account the experience and opinions of representatives of municipal and city authorities with broad powers. The data collection included an online survey, with 150 government offices responding out of the initially addressed 232 (64.7%). The survey was conducted from November to December 2019. The respondents were broken down as follows: Region Sent Return rate Králové Hradec 15 87% South Bohemia 16 81% Ústí and Labem 16 81% Liberec 10 70% Moravian-Silesia 22 68% Vysočina 15 67% Central Bohemia 26 62% The Capital City of Prague 28 61% Pilsen 15 60% South Moravia 21 57% Olomouc 13 54% Zlín 13 54% Pardubice 15 53% Karlovy Vary 7 43% Total 232 64.7% With regards to the peoplewho filled in the questionnaire, mayors, secretaries and heads of the ICT department clearly dominate: Position Number of respondents Mayor 45 Secretary 32 ICT professional / head of ICT department 32 Other staff 24 Deputy mayor 13 Position not given 4

6

In the first part of the survey, we investigated the general attitudes of government offices to the digitalization of public administration , and the results show that, in this regard, the respondents are clearly positive (for citizens and the functioning of the office), although they are currently critical of the level of digitalization of public administration – 66% of respondents view the current level as relatively poor or even very poor . Staffing certainly contributes to the success of the digitalization of public administration and self-government. The results show that in the vast majority of cases, a maximum of 5 people (70%) are employed in the position of ICT specialist in the government offices, in 4% of cases nobody at all. ICT department with more than 10 employees can only be found among 12% of respondents. Of course, the results correlate with the size of the municipality – in the case of municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less, in 95% of cases they have up to 5 employees (more often 0–2), in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants there are most often 6 or more ICT staff members (57% of respondents). One positive finding is that about half of the respondents send their employees to retrain in ICT skills (in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, it is even 65% of respondents). There are 10% of offices where employees are not trained (usually due to lack of funds). Another positive finding is the fact that the majority of respondents in municipalities have sufficient infrastructure for high-speed internet (68% of respondents) and that there are more providers of high-speed internet connection (3 or more providers in 85% of respondents). It should also be noted that no major differences in relation to the size of the municipality were noted. Where the influence of the size of the municipality is more obvious is the area of electronic data collection – in municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less, 28% of respondents apply for it. However, inmunicipalities withmore than 20,000 inhabitants, it is already true for 62% of respondents. It most often concerns data on the energy performance of buildings, energy consumption, air quality, transport, and parking , and last but not least on meteorological information . Regarding the publication of open data , the results were found in a similar proportion – inmunicipalitieswith 20,000 inhabitants or less: 26% of respondents provide these on their websites; in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, the share is slightly higher – 40% of respondents. They are most often economic data, information on the management of the municipality and its budget, information from council meetings and information on public procurement . Last but not least, it is also a matter of publishing mandatory information , and an official notice board is also available. In the area of the digital records management , this is usually not connected to a higher territorial self-government unit (80% of respondents) – however, it cannot be clearly confirmed that there would be interest in a centralized digital record management (only 60% of respondents are interested).

7

For electronic communication between a government office and citizens , reservation systems are usually used for meetings of citizens with clerks (67% of respondents) and digitalized forms (travel orders, holidays, etc.) for internal processes . However, what is not widely used are interactive forms for citizens (e.g. registration for local fees for dogs, for waste or for a grave site) or online payment of local fees (33% of respondents). On the other hand, it should be noted that 74% of respondents would be interested in introducing a central payment gateway to the municipality’s website. Finally, it can be mentioned that 77% of respondents are not involved in the CMS 2.0 system (Central Service Point). The eGSB service (e-Government Service Bus) is not used by even 93% of respondents. According to their statements, most respondents have an idea of what is found under the name of the National Identification Authority (63% of respondents), but in municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less, awareness of this authority is significantly lower. And how is the information published on the websites of municipalities ? 34% on websites where information is provided and citizens can obtain basic forms that can be printed out and brought to the office; at the same time, citizens can enter the reserva- tion portal and book a specific date and time for a meeting with an official 30% on a website where information from the government office is provided and citizens can obtain basic forms that can be printed out and brought to the office 14% on the web portal, where, in addition to information about the government office, citizens have access to a wide range of forms that can be filled in and sent using a verified elec- tronic signature or data box; citizens have a reservation portal 10% on the web portal, where information about the government office is provided and citi- zens can obtain basic forms that can be filled in and sent using a verified electronic sig- nature or data box; citizens have a reservation portal 7% on the website, basic information is provided (overview of planned activities, minutes from councils) 3% on the interactive web portal, where, in addition to information about the office, a wide range of forms for citizens is provided, which are partially filled in themselves after log- ging in and, after completion, can be sent using a verified electronic signature or data box other Overall, municipal authorities with 20,000 inhabitants or less have websites with basic information and forms to print, and for municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, more than half of the government offices also have a reservation portal for online booking of visits. On the other hand, it is interesting that the share of those offices that have a web portal with electronic documents is similar in both groups with regards to the size of the municipality. The second part of the survey addresses implementation of e-government in government offices . A qualified majority of respondents (68%) stated that they already have an approved strategy or plan for the implementation of e-government at the office in question. Of those who did not consider e-government, a larger share falls on municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less (37%). 2%

8

Respondents regard insufficient support and assistance from the state (69% of respondents on average; while in municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less up to 76% of respondents) and also the struggle with lack of funding (60% of respondents) as two of the major obstacles to digitalization . A minority of the respondents mention that, on the one hand, they do not know how or what to digitalize (14%), or they fear a lack of interest in e-government on the part of their citizens (13%). In the context of digitalization, respondents were most often characterized as follows: 76% We are concerned about difficulties in financing the digitalization of our office’s process- es or the lack of financial processes.  76% respondents from municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less  78% respondents from municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants 55% We are concerned about the financial demands of digitalization projects. (It will be wast- ed money for tools that no one will use.)  62% respondents from municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less  45% respondents from municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants 43% The introduction of e-government is too technically demanding for our office

 49% respondents from municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less  33% respondents from municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants

35% We have concerns about data and information security.

 36% respondents from municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less  33% respondents from municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants 26% Our office does not have the support from among the local residents for e-government.

 31% respondents from municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less  18% respondents from municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants

At the end of this survey section, re-spondents were able to express what would help the digitalization of their offices the most. They could choose up to three of the most useful areas :

Ranking

Frequency

1.

2.

3.

higher financial support from the state and regions specific instructions on what and how to digitalize available technical assistance from the state

33% 21% 12% 76% 27% 12% 13% 52% 11% 19% 11% 41% 8% 13% 13% 34%

subsidytitlesforsubmittinganapplicationforsupportfore-govern- ment funding for the implementation and operation of systems subsidy titles for submitting an application for support of e-govern- ment financing for the maintenance and operation of systems

5% 12% 17% 34%

online technical advice

7% 13% 13% 33% 7% 5% 5% 17% 2% 2% 9% 13%

the direct and explicit interest of citizens in digitalization

higher quality internet connection

9

The final part of the survey focused on the preferences of e-government services , separately from the online services of citizens , and then the online municipality administration . For each of the services offered, respondents were able to express themselves on a Likert scale (1-5) from the most important (1) to the least important (5). The following areas have been identified in the context of citizen services :  Handling administrative fees online 0 Fees for dogs, fishing licenses, national identity cards, driver’s license, passports, requisitions, etc.  Construction procedure online 0 the process from the submission of applications to the individual author- ities concerned to the actual acquisition of a building permit  legislation online 0 Full text of valid laws, decrees and other relevant legislation available free of charge (not paid versions – see e.g. ASPI system or www.sbirka.cz)  funeral services 0 selection, settlement, payment of the grave site, fees from grave sites  personal mobility 0 vehicles available to citizens without their own  library 0 a selection of titles, fees  digital electronic identity (online authentication and authorization) 0 verification of documents stored in data files, online verification of con- tracts, proof of diploma, professional cards, etc.; connection of the village to the NIA  views and extracts from the basic registers of public administration 0 register of persons, register of rights and obligations, register of inhabit- ants, register of territorial identification, addresses and property; infor- mation system of basic registers.  views and extracts from public registers 0 e.g. the federal register, the register of foundations, the register of associ- ations of unit owners  views and extracts from the public administration information systems 0 e.g. cadastral map of properties; vehicle register; trade register; a copy of a criminal record; a record of the driver’s demerit points; extract from the register of unreliable payers; extract from the insolvency regis- ter, etc.  citizens’ social assistance online 0 the possibility of online medical assistance; providing catering for immo- bile citizens; active online help in critical situations, etc.  granting permission online

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0 requisition, obtaining a parking permit, etc.  offenses and administrative proceedings online

0 notification of proceedings, course of proceedings, sharing of evidence, finding out the result, challenging the result of the proceedings, payments for the proceedings  expansion of the online portal of publicly accessible data (open data) col- lected by the state for use for commercial and non-commercial purposes 0 e.g. overviews of public tenders; analysis and statistics  online notification of marriage or registered partnerships into public ad- ministration registers  personal documents online 0 birth certificate, identity card, passport, marriage certificate, death certif- icate; duplicates of personal documents; renewal of identity card, pass- port, driver’s license  moving 0 registration of a new address; waste collection, including online notifica- tion of a new address to other institutions (financial office, school, doctor, post office); removing oneself from the original local authority and public service providers  vehicles 0 registration/cancellation/ re-registration of the vehicle online, online registration of technical certificates of the vehicle; searching for vehicle details in the vehicle register; reporting of fines and misdemeanor pro- ceedings; driver’s license and its renewal online; paying road tax online; technical inspection information; reporting a stolen vehicle  e-communication 0 transport and transport systems, road closure reporting, traffic accident reporting, utility cycling  sustainable environment 0 online information on natural resource management, water, waste, green spaces  sustainable energy 0 online energy management, smart-grid systems, cogeneration systems, boiler subsidies  online voting 0 for the Chamber of Deputies and Senate and in presidential elections

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The overall results indicating the importance of online services for citizens are as follows:

82% views and extracts from the public administration information systems 77% views and extracts from the basic registers of public administration 76% handling administrative fees online 72% personal documents online

70% vehicles 69% moving 68% views and extracts from public registers 64% construction procedure online 63% e-communication 60% granting permission online 59% digital electronic identity 55% online voting 53% offenses and administrative proceedings online 51% legislation online 49% citizens’ social assistance online 43% sustainable environment 40% funeral services 39% sustainable energy

33% broadening the portal of publicly available data online (open data) 33% online wedding and registered partnership announcements 28% library 13% personal mobility

The results are clearly dominated by views and extracts from information systems and registers, the administrative work associated with the processing of personal documents and vehicles and, last but not least, handling administrative fees . On the other hand, personal mobility, online access to local libraries or announcements of marriages or registered partnerships can be consideredmarginal.

12

Now let us look in detail at the main preferences of municipalities with 20,000 inhabitants or less : Ranking Interest Service 1 76% views and extracts from the public administration information systems 2 72% views and extracts from the basic registers of public administration 3 67% handling administrative fees online 4 64% vehicles 5 61% personal documents online 5 61% moving 7 60% views and extracts from public registers 8 58% e-communication 9 53% construction procedure online 10 51% granting permission online And now let us consider in detail the main preferences of municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants : Ranking Interest Service 1 92% views and extracts from the public administration information systems 1 92% handling administrative fees online 3 88% personal documents online 4 85% views and extracts from the basic registers of public administration 5 82% moving 6 80% views and extracts from public registers 6 80% construction procedure online 8 78% vehicles 9 73% granting permission online 10 72% digital electronic identity As part of the online municipal administration the following areas were iden- tified:  modernization of technical support for digitalization 0 modernization of hardware, software  digital documents 0 e.g. invoice, receipt; income/expenditure documents recorded in the form of a digitalized track entry in the system (not printed documents, not pdf documents)  records management, archiving, online post office

13

 submission of information to the financial office (publication of docu- ments, reports)

 digitalization of financial statements (xBRL reporting)  submission of information to the statistical office 0 regular statistical reporting  automation of value added tax

0 the generation of tax returns and VAT statements from the account- ing software without the need for further modifications, submission of claims, confirmation of payment, request for refund of excessive deduc- tion, appeal against the decision  automation of corporate income tax 0 generation of tax claims from digital financial statements, submission of claims, payment, automation of advance obligations, overpayments, ap- peals against decisions  online appeal of the municipality against the decision of the office or court  online subsidy 0 application submission, tracking decision, result, contradiction of results  digital competencies of the office’s employees 0 online training of ICT skills paid for by the state  online establishment of the municipality’s contributory organizations or enterprises 0 company or business registration; name, registered office, entry in the public/trade register; registration: with the CSSA, with a health insurance company, with pension insurance, with payroll tax (with employees), with liability insurance for damage, with self-employed persons; to VAT  social security contributions for employees of offices and contributory organizations of established municipalities 0 online reporting of incapacity for work, automated calculation of bene- fits, reporting of accidents at work – sharing evidence  health insurance for employees of offices and contributory organiza- tions of established municipalities 0 automatic search for employees and their health insurance companies from the central register  online access to the registers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 0 online submission of an application for assignment of persons for com- munity service or community service for work in the municipality

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The overall results indicating the importance of online services for citizens are as follows:

83% records management, archiving, online post office 79% modernization of technical support for digitalization 76% digital documents 70% online subsidy

66% digital competencies of the office’s employees 64% submission of information to the financial office 63% automation of value added tax 61% social security contributions for employees of offices and contributory organizations of established municipalities 60% automation of corporate income tax 60% health insurance for employees of offices and contributory organizations of established municipalities 58% online access to the registers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 56% online appeal of the municipality against the decision of the office or court 53% digitalization of financial statements 50% submission of information to the statistical office 46% online establishment of the municipality’s contributory organizations or enterprise Respondents consider the digitalization of the recordsmanagement, archiving and online post office to be absolutely crucial and thus also identify the necessary modernization of the technical support for digitalization . It is also important for municipalities to have an online system for processing subsidies, training in digital competencies for office staff and digitalization of documents, including the submission of information to the financial administration. Now let us examine the main preferences of municipalities with 20,000 inhab- itants or less : Ranking Interest Service 1 81% filing service, archiving, online post office 2 73% modernization of technical support for digitalization 3 70% digital documents 4 66% online subsidy 5 64% digital competencies of the office‘s employees 6 63% submission of information to the financial office 7 59% automation of value added tax 8 56% social security contributions for employees of offices and contributory organizations of established municipalities

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Ranking Interest

Service

9

54% 54%

automation of corporate income tax

10 health insurance for employees of offices and contributory organiza- tions of established municipalities As can be seen, the order clearly copies the overall results of the research.

And now let us consider in detail the main preferences of municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants :

Ranking Interest

Service

1 1 3 4 5 5 5

87% 87% 83% 77% 70% 70% 70%

records management, archiving, online post office modernization of technical support for digitalization

digital documents

online subsidy

digital competencies of the office’s employees

automation of value added tax

social security contributions for employees of offices and contributory organizations of established municipalities online access to the registers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Af- fairs

5

70%

9 9

68% 68%

automation of corporate income tax

health insurance for employees of offices and contributory organiza- tions of established municipalities

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3 RESEARCH AMONG CZECH CITIZENS This chapter examines the issue of digitalization from the perspective of Czech citizens. The aim of the research was to determine which public services should be digitalized as a matter of priority from the point of view of their experience and opinions. The data collection comprised a combination of an online survey of 611 people to interview the Internet population and a face-to-face survey of 1,002 people for the general population. The obtained data represent the adult population of the Czech Republic; it was a quota selection by gender, age, education, size of municipality and region. The survey was conducted from October to November 2019. 3.1 Sample of the general population First, let us focus on the survey whose respondents came from the general population. Overall, it can be said that the digitalization of public administration and services is of interest to citizens (supported by 67% of respondents). Support is, of course, more crucial for those respondents who actively use the Internet (80% of respondents, while 43% of respondents for those who use the Internet minimally or not at all). In relation to gender, digitalization is slightly more popular with men (71% of male respondents vs. 62% of female respondents). In this respect, the subjective assessment of the level of awareness of Czech citizens about the current possibilities and e-government tools can be considered a negative finding, where only 21% of respondents consider themselves well- informed, and 34% of respondents consider themselves very poorly informed . If we look at this question from the point of view of respondents’ education, university graduates are considered better informed (35% of respondents compared to 13% of respondents with basic education). In terms of age, the age range of 30–44 years can be considered the best informed (26% of respondents), whereas in the senior category 60+, only 17% of respondents feel this way. Respondents usually perceive the long reaction time of the authorities (36% of respondents) and the reluctance of officials (22% of respondents) as the main communication issue with the public administration . The absence of an electronicmeans of communication (10% of respondents) and inappropriate office hours (7% of respondents) can be considered minor. Therefore, it was found out how the respondents evaluate the benefit that online handling of official matters can have for themselves. Seventy-two percent (72%) of respondents consider this step to be beneficial – according to the age spectrum, these are people not classified within the senior age range. (Among the population aged 18–45, 81% of respondents perceive the digitalization of public administration positively, while in the senior category 60+, 44% of respondents perceive it negatively and even as detrimental.) The support of digitalization is also influenced by those with the highest level of completed education and material security. Digitalization is assessed positively by 87% of respondents with a university degree (compared

17

to 65% of respondents with basic education), and 81% of respondents with good material security (compared to 49% of respondents with poor material security). The final question for the general population was devoted to the Citizen’s Portal website . The depressing finding is that only 3% of respondents actively use it , and as much as 51% of respondents do not know which portal it is :

51% I’ve never visited it, and I don’t know what it is. 24% I’ve never visited it, but I know what it is. 8% I’ve visited it, but I don’t use it. 6% I’ve visited it and logged in at least once. 5%

I’ve visited it and logged in at least once, but I’ve never used the services that the portal provides.

3% 3%

I’ve visited it and tried to log in, but it didn’t work.

I’ve visited and use it regularly. Within the significant minority of the population who logged in, 17% of respondents use the Internet regularly, and 20% of respondents from the age range of 30-44 years. On the contrary, respondents who use the Internet minimally or not at all (68% of respondents), resp. senior category 60+ (65% of respondents). 3.2 Sample of the internet population In contrast to thebasic set of questions for the general population, abroader set was prepared for the Internet due to higher expectations of using e-government services. As expected, the Internet population clearly supports the digitalization of public administration (86% of respondents), with the sample being mainly men with a university degree (90% of respondents). It was also not surprising for the Internet public that the absolute majority of respondents consider it beneficial (92%). As with the previous question, university-educated men in particular consider it beneficial here. Contrary to these findings, however, as with the general population, the question of level of awareness about the possibilities and tools of e-government did not turn up much for the Czech e-Government. Here, it is believed that 3% of respondents are certainly well-informed, while 86% of respondents are ill-informed . Within the educational spectrum, respondents with primary and secondary education are considered less informed (79% of respondents compared to 65% of respondents with university education). In the next part of the survey, we focused on the communication of the Internet population with public administration . According to the results of the survey, the respondents most often communicated online with the municipal office or the financial office :

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50% municipal office 34% tax office 30% Czech Social Security Administration

19% labour office 14% other office 6% trade office

However, in communicatingwith the government office, respondents criticize the fact that it happened at least once for 59% of themwhen communicating that that the same office wanted the same document multiple times. As part of the problems in communicating with the authorities , respondents often mention the long reaction time of the authorities and the reluctance of officials : 55% long reaction time 41% reluctance of officials 33% inconvenient public opening hours 32% lack of information online 30% absence of an electronic communication channel 7% other problems Focusing on these issues in the context of individual authorities uncovers the following results: TaO LO CSSA MO TrO long reaction time 57% 58% 62% 63% 65% reluctance of officials 46% 40% 43% 47% 44% inconvenient public opening hours 38% 23% 27% 34% 41% lack of information online 33% 36% 38% 33% 44% absence of an electronic communication channel 38% 32% 31% 30% 50%

Note: TaO – tax office; LO – labour office; CSSA – Czech Social Security Administration; MO – municipal office; TrO – trade office

At this point, however, it should be noted that the data concerning the Trade Licensing Office should be considered as provisional due to the low number of self-employed persons in the set of respondents. Another part of the survey focused on the use of means and tools of digitalization by the Internet community, namely data boxes, electronic identity cards and, last but not least, the Public Administration Portal and the Citizen’s Portal.

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The vast majority of respondents (83%) are aware of data boxes ; however, only 8% of respondents actively use them . Regular users of data boxes can be found especially in the age category 45–59 years (12% of respondents), whereas people from the age range of 18–29 years very often state, surprisingly, that they are not aware of the data box at all (33% of respondents). Individuals who use the data box (8% of respondents mentioned above) com- mented on its level as follows: Satisfaction Dissatisfaction login method 88% 12% clarity, intuitiveness in handling 87% 13% number of services provided 78% 22% data archiving 72% 28% number of services free of charge 71% 29% Of course, the opinions of those respondents who are aware of the data boxes but do not use them were interesting. The most common reason they gave was that the data boxes were of no use : 68% I have no need or use for a data box. 14% I‘d rather handle the matter at the office counter. 14% I don‘t know how to set up a data box. 9% I‘m intimidated by the technical complexity of using a data box. 8% I’ concerned about the security of personal data. 7% I don‘t know what the data box is for. 4% Other reason 22% of respondents have an electronic identity card . However, it should be stressed that the online services it allows are only used by 7% of their owners (meaning only nine people from the surveyed sample of respondents). They mention that they most often used the online service of confirmation of no outstanding debts and a record of their driver’s demerit points. As far as the reasons why the respondents do not have an electronic identity card or do have one but did not activate the electronic chip , the following facts were stated: 60% I still have a valid old identity card and I don‘t want to change it. 32% I plan to get it in the future, but for now I only need a classic identity card. 12% I don‘t need a contact chip. 9% I don’t know about the possibility of an electronic identity card at all. 8% I don’t know what an electronic identity card is for.

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8% 8% 2%

I prefer to handle things in person at the office. I’m concerned about the security of personal data.

I find its use complicated. Thirty-five percent (35%) of respondents are not aware of the Public Administration Portal . As far as the Citizen’s Portal is concerned, only 4% of

respondents identify themselves as regular users: 39% I’ve never visited it, and I don’t know what it is. 28% I’ve never visited it, but I know what it is. 12% I’ve visited it, but I don’t use it. 7% I’ve visited it and logged in at least once. 6%

I’ve visited it and logged in at least once, but I’ve never used the services that Citizen’s Portal provides.

4% 3%

I’ve visited and use Citizen’s Portal regularly.

I’ve visited it and tried to log in, but it didn’t work. Of those respondents who actively use the Citizen’s Portal , they praise the login method the most (90% of respondents), as well as its clarity and intuitiveness in handling (75% of respondents). However, respondents are not very satisfied with the fact that they have to purchase a reader to log in to the Citizen’s Portal. (55% of respondents are dissatisfied.) Among those who do not use the Citizen’s Portal, respondents state the fol- lowing reasons : 34% I have no means to log on  is the reason given by 36% of respondents in the age category 30 – 59 years 30% I don’t need the Citizen’s Portal  is the reason given by 42% of respondents in the age category 18 – 29 years 27% I don’t know how to gain access to the Citizen’s Portal  is the reason given by 30% of respondents in the age category 30 – 59 let 18% I’d rather handle the matter in person at the office  is the reason given by 24% of respondents in the age category 60+ 8% Other reason 7% I’m concerned about personal data security  is the reason given by 10% of respondents in the age category 60+ 2% I find the login complicated Now let us try to compare the answers that were common to general and Internet respondents:

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Support for the digitalization of public administration and services General

Internet

definitely yes somewhat yes somewhat no definitely no

35% 32%

57% 29%

9% 8%

6% 2%

I don’t care 6% Level of awareness about the possibilities and tools of e-government General Internet definitely well informed 2% 3% quite well informed 19% 21% quite poor informed 45% 59% definitely poor informed 34% 17% Perception of digitalization of public administration and services General Internet definitely beneficial 26% 48% quite beneficial 46% 44% quite detrimental 19% 7% definitely detrimental 9% 1% Citizen’s Portal General Internet I’ve visited and use Citizen’s Portal regularly. 3% 4% I’ve visited it and logged in at least once. 6% 7% I’ve visited it and logged in at least once, but I’ve never used the services that Citizen’s Portal provides. 5% 6% I’ve visited it and tried to log in, but it didn’t work. 3% 3% I’ve visited it, but I don’t use it. 8% 12% I’ve never visited it, but I know what it is. 24% 28% I’ve never visited it, and I don’t know what it is. 51% 39% Almost half of the respondents (44%) state that they use state-offered online services that are currently available. If we only consider the link to the education of respondents, these services are used more by university-educated respondents (59% compared to 34% of respondents with basic education). Now let us take a look at what online services the Internet population uses most often: 16%

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85% viewing the cadastral map of properties 24% submitting a request for a copy of one’s criminal record 24% information on driver’s demerit points

10% request for family allowance, child allowance, maternity payment, funeral allowance 10% requesting a confirmation that a individual person has of no outstanding debts 5% request for financial assistance during motherhood, fatherhood 3% request for subsistence allowance, housing supplement, emergency assistance In the context of online services, respondents criticize imperfect digitalization , whichrequiresvisitingthegovernmentoffices inpersonanyway(37%of respondents). The following is a summary of the issues raised by respondents who use online services: 37% The services offered are not fully digitalized. 19% The services offered are confusing and complicated. 18% I can’t manage on the portal. 17% Logging in to the system is complicated. 16% I am concerned about personal data security. 15% Online services are not available for mobile phones. 12% The forms are confusing. The opinions of those who do not currently use online services provided by the state are also worth considering: 62% I haven‘t needed to deal with anything like that yet, but I want to use online services in the future. 23% I do not know the online services offered by the state. I do not know about them.

23% I prefer to handle the services in person at the offices. 11% I am concerned about the personal data security. 8%

I perceive the online services offered by the state as inadequate/low-quality.

6% 2%

I am discouraged by other people’s experiences.

I can‘t work with the internet. I don‘t have the necessary ICT skills. We also focused on the use of online services at the municipal level . A qualified majority of the Internet population (62% of respondents) mention that they visit the websites of the municipality in which they live at least occasionally. This is most often the case in municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants – at least 66% of respondents; on the contrary, in cities with more than 90,000 inhabitants it is only 50% of respondents. It is interesting to focus on this question from the point of view of the age spectrum, when the use of the municipality’s website increases with the age of the respondents (44% of respondents aged 18–29, or 72% of respondents aged 60+).

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Relatedtothe informationavailableonthemunicipality’swebsite, thegreatest interest is in basic information from the office (e.g. price lists of administrative fees for dogs, grave sites, or occupations of public space) and information on energy and transport :

84% to obtain information about the office 81% to obtain current information about an area (water, electricity) 80% to download pre-printed forms

79% to obtain information about transport in the municipality and its surroundings 73% to obtain information about associations in the village, invitations to events 65% to obtain information about the self-governance of the municipality 61% to obtain up-to-date information on air quality The final part of the survey focused on the preferences of e-government services for the Internet population . For each of the services offered, respondents were able to express themselves on a Likert scale (1-5) from the 0 processing or renewal of identity card, passport, driver’s license, profes- sional licenses, duplicates of personal documents  digital electronic identity 0 verification of documents stored in online data files – verification of con- tracts, proof of diploma, etc.  funeral services online 0 online death certificate; selection, settlement, payment of the grave site; fees from grave sites  notification of marriage or registered partnerships to public administra- tion registers  pensions online 0 handling old-age/invalidity/orphan’s or widow’s pension; active retire- ment assistance and support  carer’s allowance online 0 submission of an application for the provision of support for a disabled person (for a close person, social care assistant, social service provider)  moving online 0 registration of the new address during the move, removal of waste, in- cluding online notification of the new address to other institutions (fi- nancial office, school, doctor, post office, electricity and gas utilities, etc.), check-out from the original local authority and public service suppliers most important (1) to the least important (5). The following areas have been identified:  personal documents online

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 unemployment online 0 unemployment registration, online calculations of entitlement to un- employment benefits; active counselling service when looking for a job/ about existing benefits/when refusing a benefit to a citizen; job search certificate; documents necessary for applications for unemployment ben- efits; automatic sending of job offers corresponding to the citizen’s profile  legislation online 0 full text of valid laws, decrees, and other relevant legislation available free of charge (not paid versions see e.g. ASPI system or www.sbirka.cz)  children online 0 online application for parental allowance, online registration of the birth of a child in the registry, birth certificate online, declaration of parenthood for unmarried parents online, online application for child allowance, ob- taining a child passport online  online the course of the complaint process 0 online legal advice explaining in a comprehensible manner the process of complaint proceedings, initiating proceedings, sharing evidence; informa- tion on the status and result (decision) of the complaint process , appeal against the decision  vehicles 0 registration/cancellation/ re-registration of the vehicle online, online registration of technical certificates of the vehicle; searching for vehicle details in the vehicle register; reporting of fines and misdemeanor pro- ceedings; paying road tax online; technical inspection information; report- ing a stolen vehicle  citizens’ social assistance online 0 possibilities of medical assistance online, with catering for immobile citi- zens, active online help in critical situations, etc.  property 0 online application for a proposal for entry in the cadastral map of prop- erty; generating tax claims from information sources (e.g. cadastral map of property), submission of claims, confirmation of payment, appeals against decisions  online elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the election of the President  expansion of the online portal of publicly accessible data (open data) col- lected by the state for use for commercial and non-commercial purposes 0 e.g. public tender overviews, analyses, and statistics

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The overall results indicating the importance of online resolution are as follows: 70% moving 64% personal documents 63% vehicles 60% citizens’ social assistance

58% pensions 58% property 57% care allowance 55% children 53% unemployment registration 51% online course of a complaint process 47% legislation online 45% digital verification of identity

44% funeral services 43% online elections 42% marriage/registered partnership announcements 35% open data

The results clearly show that the Internet community would like to digitalize the issues concerning identity documents, vehicles and the paperwork related to moving the most . Conversely, online elections, marriage/registered partnership announcements and, last but not least, open data extensions can be considered minority issues. Depending on the level of education attained , there were interesting prefer- ences in the following areas:  moving 0 very important to crucial for 74% respondents with higher education or 63% respondents with basic education  vehicles 0 very important to crucial for 74% respondents with higher education or 54% respondents with basic education  personal documents 0 very important to crucial for 73% respondents with higher education or 57% respondents with basic education  online voting 0 very important to crucial for 55% respondents with higher education or 33% respondents with basic education

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Depending on the age category , preferences were interesting in the following areas:  pensions 0 very important to crucial for 65% of respondents aged between 45- 59 years or 62% respondents in category 60+ compared to 55% of respondents in the category 30-44 years  social assistance 0 very important to crucial for 63% of respondents aged between 45- 59 years or 60% of respondents in category 60+ compared to 56% of respondents in the category 18-29 years  children 0 very important to crucial for 63% of respondents aged between 18- 29 years or 43% respondents in category 60+  unemployment registration 0 very important to crucial for 59% of respondents aged between 18- 29 years or 58% of respondents aged between 45-59 years com- pared to 36% of respondents in the category 60+ Depending on the gender of the respondents , slightly different preferences were traced only in the area of open data (preferred by 41% of men compared to 28% of women) and online legislation (51% of men compared to 44% of women consider important to be essential).

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4 RESEARCH AMONG REPRESENTATIVES OF CZECH COMPANIES

This chapter focuses on the issue of digitalization from the perspective of companies registered in the Czech Republic. The aim of the research was to determinewhich public services should be digitalized as amatter of priority from the point of view of the experience and opinions of company representatives. As part of the data collection, a combination of telephone and online surveys was chosen. Telephone inquiries were intended for a sample of 250 companies selected according to fields of activity and company size; the online survey was intended for respondents from the TOP100 ranking of Czech companies, with 28 companies answering it. The survey itself was conducted in the period November – December 2019. The distribution of respondents was as follows: Number of companies Share Agriculture 10 4% Manufacture 83 30% Retail and trade 61 22% Services 99 36% Knowledge services 25 9% Within the results presented below, we took the liberty to work with only three groups: (1) production and agriculture, (2) trade, and (3) services (including knowledge services). In terms of company size, 178 small companies (64% of respondents), 63 medium-sized companies (23% of respondents) and 37 large companies (13% of respondents) were represented. If we consider the people who filled in the questionnaire, the directors of the companies in question predominate: Position Number of respondents CEO 44% Head of ICT department 31% CFO 25% In the first part of the survey, we looked at the current level of digitalization in individual companies. According to the respondents, the level of digitalization in their companies is at least relatively advanced (71% of respondents) – but it should be mentioned that due to self-evaluation, it remains a subjective evaluation. The highest level of digitalization was recorded among medium- sized companies (84% of respondents), on the contrary – and here it is necessary to emphasize the above subjective self-assessment – the lowest level of

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