Industry Spotlight: Public Sector | Digital Consumer Trends 2021

Mobile has become a common way for citizens to interact with public authorities.

Deloitte’s 2021 Digital Consumer Trends survey shows that 9 out of 10 (89%) Scandinavians have at some point interacted with public authorities through their mobile phone. In the Deloitte 2019 Consumer Mobile Consumer survey, we reported that 50% of Scandinavian consumers never used their smartphones to apply for public services. This result shows that there has been rapid growth in digital interaction and communication with public authorities in Scandinavia.

Five hotspots from the public sector

Two-thirds (66%) of Scandinavians interact with public authorities through their mobile phone at least once a month.
Almost half (49%) use their phone to check secure digital mail at least once a month.
More than two-fifths (41%) of Scandinavians use their phone to check their health data at least once a month, and about one-fifth (21%) use it to make or change a doctor’s appointment.
Almost half (47%) of 18- to 44-year olds interact with their children’s school or day care through their mobile. Of these, more than half (55%) interact at least once a week.
11% of citizens in Sweden, 8% in Denmark and 6% in Norway never interact with public authorities through their mobile phones.

Deloitte view

The mobile phone has become an increasingly common way for citizens to interact with public authorities. However, public institutions need to improve, particularly by providing predictive and personalised solutions and improving the user-friendliness of mobile services.

“The time has come for government agencies to adopt a ‘mobile-first’ strategy about services and channels made available to citizens. This strategy means shifting focus to design services with mobile devices as the starting point instead of developing traditional digital services and then adding a mobile option.”

Lauri Byckling, Nordic Public Industry Leader

When coupled with focus on service design, user experience and behavioural economics, a ‘mobile-first’ strategy has the potential to create more citizen-centric and personalised services ‘at your fingertips’. And with advances in voice technology, voice-enabled services at scale are not far away.

We still need to remember ‘offline’ citizens

Even though most citizens interact with the public sector through their mobile phone, we must not forget those people who do not. Clear correlation exists between age and interaction with public institutions by mobile. One-third of 65- to 75-year olds (32%) never use their phone to check health data, and two-fifths (40%) never use it to make or change a doctor’s appointment. This non-use is a concern, given the reliance of this age group on medical and health services.

The public sector still needs to have other user-friendly options such as offline communication channels, or a website covering the same areas as the mobile option. ‘Mobile first’ does not necessarily mean ‘mobile only’.