Anton Marrero, honorary president of Softline IT, gave a presentation on "E-governance: world experience" at the Hi-Tech Park business center on Tuesday, September 4, 2012. A significant part of his report was devoted to the pressing problems of building "e-government" in Ukraine.
"The first problem to be solved is a system for identifying citizens," says Anton Marrero. The technologies that work around the world are based on the existence of a reference register, for example a population register. In our country it exists only as a draft project. Moreover, it must be linked to existing databases.
Then, according to Anton Marrero, a system for identifying citizens has to be created. There are two ways: either bring the digital signature to a single standard, since the country has 18 digital signature certification centers working to standards that are incompatible with each other, or follow the Estonian path and identify a person by a credit card and PIN code.
The next step is developing the websites of state institutions. Today they are mere "business cards", but in the future they can and should provide feedback from citizens. For example, Ukrainians who have gone through identification will be able to freely obtain full information about themselves held by other institutions, order and receive any information and permits, and send requests for information and receive the answers electronically. Websites should become the core of the information system through which citizens and the state interact. Anton Marrero highlighted the fact that in the European Union 75% of public services are available online.
According to Anton Marrero, it is important to review the business processes in every agency. Indeed, in the current situation with the implementation of e-government, we face a problem such as excessive bureaucracy: if each procedure is too long and complex, and the computer does not go beyond the civil servant's algorithm (rules and regulations), decisions will take too long. "That is why I welcome the deregulation process the state has been carrying out in recent years. However, we cannot stop there," Anton Marrero emphasizes.
"The elimination of corruption will be a logical and natural result of introducing 'e-government'," said Anton Marrero. Citizens will hardly ever have to deal with officials, and decisions will be made much faster. Obtaining a birth certificate or a passport, opening or closing a business, registering a car, dealing with the tax office: all these issues can be resolved via the Internet, without visiting state agencies. In addition, according to Anton Marrero, we get substantial fiscal savings. For example, Estonia's investment in "e-government" paid off in 14 months, and France saves more than 10 billion euros a year with its help.