People want govt alerts on mobile apps

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When it comes to government alerts or notifications, most Indians want it at their fingertips, literally. A significant percentage of the population feels that mobile apps and alerts are the easiest and quickest way of communication when it comes to dealing with government matters.

Nearly 50 per cent of Indian citizens believe that interacting with their government is easy as with private-sector companies when it comes to digital medium, reveals Accenture Digital Citizen Online survey.

Owing to low internet penetration, most people in the country prefer to use digital services beyond websites and portals with about two-thirds of respondents clamouring for mobile websites and apps.

“Mobile penetration is far higher than the internet and there are 6.6 million GSM connections as on March last,” said telecom consultant Mr S. Viswanathan. The survey further revealed that about 77 per cent of folks were willing to receive electronic emergency broadcasts or alerts through digital channels.

“Digital citizens are empowered in ways that previous generations could only imagine,” said Mr Krishna Giri, who leads Accenture’s health & public service business in India.

“They can initiate and dictate the dynamics of citizen-to-government relationships with a tweet, blog post or Facebook message sent to hundreds of people from their smart phone.”

With 67 per cent of people keen on government to be more integrated on the digital medium with their agencies, the proposal by Tamil Nadu government to come out with a separate e-governance policy seems more apt than ever.

“High performing governments are working now to reshape the way they deliver public services to meet the new demands of their citizens,” Mr Giri said.

However, when it comes to problem solving, people seem to be desperate for a human touch. Though digital interactions made the government more accessible, when it comes to resolving problems, about 63 per cent of respondents preferred a phone call or face-to-face meeting.