Impact of Digital Capabilities and Technology Skills on Effectiveness of Government in Public Services

Abstract

The rapid integration of digital capabilities, innovations and IT skills has become an important practice of a nation in the overall development of the societies and economies. The introduction of digital public services, data capability, technology skills, artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups enhance improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the Government service delivery in the public sector. However, the new expectations of citizens' and businesses are posing a great challenge for the governments. Government need to organize themselves and ensure the use of right set of skills to use new digital tools, collaborate and interact with citizens, society, and businesses. Digital transformation of governments is required to serve digital societies and economies. To achieve the goal, governments need to use data capabilities and skills as strategic components of their efforts to modernise the services in the public sector. The study undertakes Governments' Artificial Intelligence Readiness index score of 100 countries from Oxford Insights and IDRC to examine the influence of various digital tools like digital capabilities, technology skills, innovation and data capabilities on effectiveness of government in public service delivery. The findings suggest that the improvement in digital public services, procurement of advanced technology, data and innovation capabilities of a nation can be significant in effectiveness of the Government in public services.