The trend, in the public sector as well as in the private sector is to dematerialize the customer-user relationship.
In its 2013 report on digital inclusion, the Conseil National du Numérique (French National Digital Council) observed that "many field actors describe the exclusionary effect of an e-administration policy that eliminates human interfaces in favor of web access in which the most fragile rarely find the paths adapted to their real situation: in these unfortunately frequent borderline cases, digital technology excludes not only from its own benefits but also from access to rights .
37% of French people have completed an administrative procedure online in the last 12 months
The General Secretariat for the Modernization of Public Action (SGMAP) has just published the 3rd edition of the digital public services scoreboard.This dashboard makes it possible to monitor, year after year, the French people's perception of paperless administrative procedures, and the evolution of their use rate compared to other channels.
Among the individuals who declare having carried out an administrative procedure in the last 12 months (37% of the sample surveyed), 3 out of 4 declare having done so online. 90% are satisfied with the online process. These two indicators are up compared to 2015.
- In the last 12 months, 37% of French people have carried out an administrative procedure with a public administration
- 47% say they have consulted an online account such as CAF, taxes, health insurance, employment office in the last 12 months
- 28% declare that they have completed an entire procedure on a government website
- 32% consider that online administrative procedures facilitate their relations with the administration, 17% consider them more complicated and 46% neither easier nor more complicated.
Inequalities persist in relation to dematerialized public services
According to the last edition of the Digital Barometer, the use of the Internet for administrative and tax procedures had recorded a clear increase, from 53% adoption by the French in 2015 to 62% in 2016.The feeling of ease dominates in all user groups, with some nuances however. In fact, structural obstacles remain. The divide between non-graduates and graduates is the strongest, with a ratio of one to two. 16% of those not connected cite cost as a problem.
It is thus necessary to be careful not to see the emergence of new territorial fractures: if 30% of Parisians are worried about having to do their paperwork online, 43% of French people living in rural areas are worried.
Concern is not only a function of economic and geographic variables. 21% of 18-24 year olds say they are quite worried about having to do most of their administrative and tax procedures on the Internet. This is more than the 25-39 year olds (16%) and as many as the 40-59 year olds! 19% of the 18-24 year olds say they have a problem with the computer and 31% have a problem with data security (the age group that places the most importance on this issue).
The two main reasons for concern are related to usage: 31% on the lack of comfort with computers, 27% on the security of personal data. As for the French who are not connected, 54% declare that they are not interested in having access to the Internet.
Source : Agence du Numérique: Inequalities persist in the face of dematerialized public services
Increasing difficulty in obtaining information from public services by telephone.
According to a survey published in September 2016 in the magazine "60 million consumers", it is increasingly difficult to obtain information by phone from public services. Users in particular of the Caf, Social Security and Pôle emploi are often invited to go online.60 Millions de consommateurs conducted a test that consisted of having "mystery users" call family allowance funds (CAF), primary health insurance funds (CPAM) and employment agencies to find out the conditions for obtaining a specific financial aid to which they were entitled.
1,463 telephone calls were made throughout France by four user profiles: a hearing-impaired person, another with a strong African accent, a third with no Internet access at home, and an ordinary user.
The results of the survey show that it is very difficult and random, by telephone, to know one's rights, the steps to take, the documents to bring, or even to obtain simple information.
- According to this survey, the Health Insurance (Caisses primaires d'Assurance Maladie, CPAM), when asked about the help in paying for complementary health insurance (ACS), obtains the best results. 53% of callers had precise information about this allowance. But less than a third had obtained a list of the steps to take. As a result, one out of two callers felt they had not received a satisfactory answer.
- At Pôle emploi, the 60 Millions de consommateurs investigators asked about the conditions for receiving the back-to-work allowance (ARE). Half of the calls allowed them to find out, without any personalized simulation. As for the steps to be taken, 40% of the calls resulted in brief information but, one time out of five, the advisor took the time to describe them precisely. In the end, 57% of users felt that they did not receive a satisfactory answer.
- As for the Caisse d'Allocations familiales de Paris, the calls concerned the social housing allowance (ALS): 70% of the calls did not provide the list of documents to be attached to the file.
Source : 60 Millions de consommateurs : No Internet, no benefits?
The social action professions are in high demand to assist disadvantaged people with administrative procedures
In order to gain a better understanding of the role of digital technology in the professional practices of social workers, Emmaus Connect interviewed 93 social work professionals individually or in focus groups.The study, published in April 2016, shows that digital technology has entered the Social Action professions, even if there are still differences between the different areas of support investigated (budgeting, access to rights, socio-professional integration, housing, emergency accommodation, and occasional reception).
- 75% of professionals say they do digital procedures "in place of" the user
- 95% declare that access to digital technology is very frequently provided by the user.
- 83% of the social workers surveyed consider digital technology to be essential to their professional practice, and 58% consider it to be essential to a user's journey.
- Less than 10% of the social workers surveyed said they had received digital training as part of their job or during their initial training.
- Only 30% of social workers are able to direct a user with digital deficiencies to an actor offering adapted training.
- Less than 20% of the structures have a systematic procedure for detecting the digital difficulties of users
Source: Emmaus Connect: Digital technology in social work in a context of dematerialization, institutional policies, professional practices and digital support for users (Cahier & Connexions solidaires)
In the private sector as well, the substitution of automatic telephone systems and online interfaces contributes for some to a simplification of their life as a consumer, for others to the unintelligibility of the offers and thus to an increasing asymmetry of the consumer/company relationship, to an overall degradation of the customer relationship.
