Digitalization of Governments during the Pandemic: The Case of Turkiye.

• Author: Babaoglu, Cenay
• Position: ARTICLE

Introduction

The rapidly changing world of the 21st century and its unpredictable social, political, economic, and military dynamics create multidimensional and complex problems that are difficult for states to solve. As solving such complex issues requires data and evidence-based analysis by collecting and processing large amounts of data, using new technologies and innovative applications has become a necessity rather than a choice for policymakers and decision-makers. In this process, new technologies have become essential analysis tools in the hands of policymakers. While technological developments reveal new opportunities that will make people's lives easier, they also create various opportunities for managers, such as better and faster planning, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. New information and communication technologies (ICT) and new administrative tools can be used to investigate the problems, define and solve them, and evaluate the implementations. Developments in the field of ICT have positively affected the classical bureaucratic structures, and a new design is being formed that makes it possible to speed up and simplify processesat a lower cost. Recent technological developments also affect the relations between governments and citizens. Governments aim to create more effective and efficient administrative procedures, and citizens expect more transparent and accountable administrations. Digitalized services and technological developments could help administrations fulfill these goals.

Developing new technologies creates new opportunities, and information technologies also take over the initial force of social change in this process. ICT has made the process of social change faster, easier, and more interactive for citizens. (2) The COVID-19 crisis has also been a new trigger for social change in this situation, and new technologies have been an essential tool to counter difficulties during the pandemic. In the pandemic period, the necessity of distance service delivery has accelerated the integration of new technologies into administrative processes. On the one hand, states have turned to digital service offerings to avoid the disruption of services; on the other hand, citizens demand access to services from afar. Supported by both supply and demand, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a leading factor in the digitalization of governments. In this study, first of all, the pandemic's effects on digitalization and public administrations' reactions to change were questioned. Then, the efforts made at the local and central levels during the pandemic period in Turkiye were discussed.

Digitalization during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is on the agenda with its negative consequences worldwide, it has also acted as a trigger for the development of digitalization processes. Governments have had to address this crisis and improve their public service performance. Public institutions and organizations have had to adapt to new administrative techniques and methods to cope with the problems that have arisen amid the pandemic's changing situation. Digitalization aims to improve public services and paves the way for more successful steps in each policy area. ICT is used in policy-making, auditing, and follow-up processes. (3) Therefore, information and communication technologies and applications have used as a functional tool for combating pandemic. Governments must continuously serve and improve, cooperate with all stakeholders, and continue their public relations efforts to strengthen communication with citizens. Policymakers are responsive to their citizens, which means they need to consider the public's changing needs and demands. (4) The pandemic revealed that the methods of old administrative perspectives were not effective in addressing the crisis. Governments need to be more conscientious to solve new problems, and public administrators have recognized the need for capacity-building steps. (5) Ines Mergel, Yiwei Gong, and John Bertot (6) claim that governments need new approaches and innovative administration procedures to design and implement ICT in public servi ces. (7) The relationship between technology and policy processes is shown in Figure 1 below.

As technology feeds the policy process, digitalization policies support technological developments. Countries' digital transformation practices continued at different speeds until 2020 but also accelerated during the pandemic. Concepts such as data,dataanalytics,andtechnologiessuch as big data and artificial intelligence that have come to the fore in recent years continue to change policy processes. Instead of e-service delivery,digitalized administrative approaches have started to standout. Data analysis performs a critical function with the flow of information aimed at decision-makers. However, data analytics will not always provide the best policy, and data analytics should act as a facilitator for policy formulation. One of the most important contributions of data analysis is that it enables rapid decision-making and intervention. Especially in times of crisis, it has played a more significant role in administrative processes due to its benefits. These new perspectives also value data and data-driven policy-making. In the digitalizing world, states' attitude toward citizens is also becoming data-oriented. Datafication points to a new revolution in policy production processes and makes governments more agile. Thus, their capacity to adapt to policy agendas increases. (8) Data-driven approaches increase governments' capacity to make quick decisions, adapt to changes rapidly, and develop citizen-oriented decisions. (9) So data-based policies have come to the fore, especially regarding combating the epidemic during the pandemic period. In particular, the measures against possible scenarios were determined through data analysis. Therefore, data analysis is a tool that accelerates and enriches the decision process. It has also come to the fore as an administrative capacity builder during the pandemic.

COVID-19 has provided significant windows of opportunity for this radical transformation in the public sector. The rates of digitalization in services and policies have increased exponentially compared to the past. Thus, the digitalization process, which takes longer in regular periods, has accelerated due to the pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to digitalize public administration services and processes has become even more significant since digitalization has become an essential aspect of all segments of society. (10) While on one hand, the importance of digitalization for public administration has been confirmed, on the other hand, the shortcomings of the public administration's transformation to a digital government are clearly on display.

The unprecedented and drastic health restrictions have made digitalization a significant development priority. Public administration was insufficiently prepared for the transition to fully digital operations, and public administration organizations mostly seemed to lack crisis management plans for such a shock. Digital applications are used daily in many countries to combat the pandemic. Countries such as China, Israel, and Iran have facilitated patient follow-ups by installing monitoring systems on mobile phones. Along these lines, the Chinese government agreed with operators to monitor health statuses via 1.6 billion mobile applications. (11) Likewise, different technologies and digital applications have been used for many medical purposes, including monitoring patients, monitoring healthcare professionals, drug tracking systems, bed occupancy rates, mass density monitoring, and access to health services. The technology has also facilitated transportation by drones, the reduction of virus transmission thanks to the use of robotics, information transfer, and laid the framework for future preparation projections. (12) In the post-COVID-19 era, it will be possible to see the massive impacts of new managerial skills, knowledge generation tools, and especially crisis management processes gained during the pandemic. Therefore, the demand for devices to accelerate policy decision-making processes is increasing. For example, innovative applications such as big data, artificial intelligence, open data, blockchain, and data mining change the data flow processes and processing times. These tools, as well as data-driven policy, support governments. In this process, political, administrative, and social priorities and citizen expectations are among the main determinants.

On the other hand, Marijn Janssen and Haiko van der Voort (13) warned that quick decisions are not always the best decisions and described...