Public bodies increase online presence, but real-time interaction with citizens still needs to grow in Brazil

Survey ICT Electronic Government 2019, by Cetic.br, also investigates for the first time the use of new technologies such as big data analysis

Federal and state public bodies and Brazilian municipalities have increased their presence on the Internet through websites and social networks, but the adoption of online tools for real-time interaction with citizens, such as chats or chatbots, is still limited. This is what the fourth edition of the ICT Electronic Government Survey indicates, conducted by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br).

In 2019, 85% of federal and state public bodies and 82% of municipalities had profiles on social networks. The online presence through websites reached 95% among both federal and state public bodies and municipalities.

According to the survey, less than 10% of federal and state agency websites offered real-time support, whether by attendants (chats, 6%) or through chatbots or virtual assistants (7%). Among those bodies with profiles on social networks, 18% reported having real-time support, and 9% have chatbots or virtual assistants on their networks. Among the municipalities, 13% provided support through chats on their websites and 16% on social network profiles or accounts.

“Nowadays, it is crucial for public organizations to be present on the Internet. The adoption of platforms and network-supported applications that enable interaction with citizens also facilitates the search for information and access to public services by the population. With the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, public organizations could use these technologies to provide remote access to information and essential services for society,” analyzes Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

The survey indicates that there was an increase compared to 2017 in the number of municipalities that provided access to information requests (from 62% to 71%) and online ombudsman services (from 46% to 62%). The study also reveals advances in the provision of electronic services among municipalities with websites, such as the issuance of electronic invoices (from 51% to 69%), filling or submitting forms via the website (from 55% to 61%), and issuing tax slips or other payment guides (from 38% to 53%). Among the services surveyed by the research, actions such as making appointments for consultations, attendance or services (25%) or enrolling for contests, courses, and schools (40%) are still low.

Fiber optic connection
In 2019, fiber optic technology for Internet connection was the most cited both by federal and state public bodies (94%) and municipalities (73%), with noted increases especially in municipalities with up to 100,000 inhabitants. The proportion of municipalities with fiber optic connections and up to 10,000 inhabitants rose from 32% in 2017 to 63% in 2019. In municipalities between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, the number increased from 52% to 79%.

Fiber optic connection is more prevalent in southern region municipalities (89%), followed by Southeast (77%), Northeast (66%), Central-West (58%), and North (54%). The ICT Electronic Government Survey also highlights disparities related to population size: in the North, only 31% of municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants had fiber optic connections, while the proportion is 61% in those with more than 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants.

New technologies
Regarding services based on new technologies, the most used service by federal and state agencies with IT departments was cloud-based email (36%) – an increase of 11 percentage points compared to 2017. There was greater adherence to the service among Judicial Power bodies (from 15% in 2017 to 40% in 2019) and federal agencies (from 19% in 2017 to 40% in 2019).

In Brazil, 21% of municipalities have an operations center for monitoring situations like traffic, security, or emergencies. Among those with such centers, 86% use them to monitor public safety, 73% monitor traffic, 71% monitor property or public buildings; 54% for emergencies or disasters; and 43% for public transportation.

Indicators on big data analysis among federal and state public bodies were also collected: about 23% of those with a department or IT area conducted this type of analysis. Among them, 41% used geolocation data derived from using portable devices like mobile phones, wireless connection, or GPS; 41% used data from platforms such as social networks, blogs, and multimedia content sharing websites; and 33% used data from smart devices or sensors like machine-to-machine data exchanges, digital sensors, or radio-frequency identification tags. Three out of four federal and state agencies that conducted big data analysis in the past 12 months also declared using other data sources.

“Emerging practices in the public sector, like the use of big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and Internet of Things, have the potential to generate greater process agility and efficiency in citizen service and data analysis for decision making. This is even more relevant during crisis management and emergencies, where centralized information and rapid response are vital to mitigate greater social losses,” explains Barbosa.

About the survey
Conducted between July and December 2019, the ICT Electronic Government Survey investigates the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in two types of organizations: federal and state public bodies from all powers (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary, and Public Ministry), and also in municipalities (Municipal Executive). In 2019, the survey began to cover all municipalities (census), allowing the data release by new groupings for the survey, including results by Federation Units (UF). In total, 665 federal and state agencies and 5,114 municipalities were interviewed.

To access the full indicators of the ICT Electronic Government 2019 visit the address https://cetic.br/pesquisa/governo-eletronico/indicadores. Besides downloading the data in Portuguese, it is now possible to download the tables of proportions, totals, and margins of error of the survey in English and Spanish.

Compare the evolution of the indicators from the data visualization at https://data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_EGOV.

About Cetic.br
The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, of NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, disseminating periodic analyses and information on the network's development in the country. Cetic.br is a Regional Studies Center, under the auspices of UNESCO. More information at https://www.cetic.br/.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br
The Brazilian Network Information Center — NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a civil, private, non-profit entity that, besides implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, has among its responsibilities: coordinating domain name registration — Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding, and dealing with security incidents in Brazil — CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching network technologies and operations — Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing indicators on information and communication technologies — Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), implementing and operating Traffic Exchange Points — IX.br (https://ix.br/), enabling the Brazilian community's participation in the global Web development and subsidizing the formulation of public policies — Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br), and hosting the W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee - CGI.br
The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinates and integrates all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of the offered services. Based on the principles of multilateralism, transparency, and democracy, CGI.br represents a multi-sectoral Internet governance model with effective participation from all sectors of society in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information at https://www.cgi.br/.

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This content was automatically translated with the support of artificial intelligence.