New strategy to help upgrade e-governance through digital framework

His commitment coincided with the Cabinet's approval on July 9 of the outline of the Bureaucratic Development Strategy (2024-27).

Proposed by the Bureaucratic Development Committee, the strategy aims to provide a digital framework for government departments and agencies to integrate and implement digital technology into the public sector, particularly cloud technology. 

Part of the accomplishment is to achieve the target rank on the E-Government Development Index (EGDI).

The strategy also sets a new target of raising the country's EGDI ranking from No. 55 in 2022 to no lower than No. 40, with a score of at least 0.82 out of 1.

The EGDI, developed by the United Nations, assesses a country's website development patterns and takes into account access characteristics such as infrastructure and educational levels to reflect how a country uses information technologies to promote access and inclusion for its people. The EGDI is a composite measure of three key aspects of e-government: provision of online services, telecommunication connectivity, and human capacity.

Prasert said that the government had also set a new ambitious target for the IMD Competitiveness Ranking for Government Effectiveness to be no lower than No. 20, up from the current No. 23.

To help accelerate and facilitate every government agency's seamless and flawless transition to digital transformation, Prasert said that his ministry had established practical policies to guide each agency to develop and apply modern technology to increase the efficiency of internal management. 

The guidelines will provide useful information about which organisations or agencies each department can approach for collaboration and support. 

These will help to boost confidence in the digital use of the public sector across the country while preventing and suppressing the possibility of online crimes, which threaten and cause problems for the public sector and, ultimately, society on a larger scale, he said.

In addition to linking and integrating security information, surveillance, and alerting, as well as raising awareness and knowledge of digital use in the public sector, the initiative guidelines include: 

1. The use of a paperless system in effective internal management of the organisation in the workplace and utilising cloud storage, which is secure and allows for easy data management.
2. Providing public services by leveraging digital technology to make them more convenient, faster, secure, and safe. The ministry will assist in integrating data links from government agencies with the digital ID system. The move will help link health information between hospitals, pharmacies, and medical facilities across the country through the Big Data Institute (Public Organisation), with strict personal data protection provided by the Office of the Personal Data Protection Commission.
3. Creating equality and reducing digital inequality by raising awareness of digital use in government agencies across the country through the "Public Internet Project to Improve Quality of Life" initiative. There will be support for people, including youth and the new generation, to participate in the digital economy by learning smart agriculture, launching startups, or establishing digital businesses. 
4. Increasing digital security and confidence by collaborating with relevant agencies to accelerate the fight against online crime. The move included the establishment of the AOC 1441 Online Crime Resolution Operation Centre, which will provide 24-hour online complaint service, as well as the use of AI technology to verify information. It has also established the GCC 1111 call centre to handle government inquiries and complaints, as well as whistleblower reports on fake news and other online crimes.