Narrowing the digital divide in Aotearoa New Zealand
The New Zealand Government is enhancing digital services and access through functional, efficient, and well-designed experiences. Our latest Government Digital Performance and Inclusion (GDPI) Benchmark found that New Zealand has moderately improved its benchmark score this year, rising to 59.6 out of 100 from 58 in 2022. As a result, it has boosted its level of maturity from ‘emerging’ to the cusp of an ‘intermediate’ level of maturity.
The GDPI Benchmark is an analysis of government websites across three dimensions. The first is customer experience, based on user feedback on their desktop and mobile experience quality. The second is site performance, measuring webpage loading speeds, errors, and findability of sites. The third dimension is digital social equity, or how easy websites are for all citizens to access, read, and understand.
New Zealand’s improved benchmark score was led by an uplift in the digital social equity dimension as agencies increased the accessibility of websites. However, citizens' ability to read and access content in multiple languages hampered the score. While accessibility rose 23%, readability and multi-lingual translation remained largely flat year-on-year.
Providing a responsive and mobile-friendly experience to the one in two New Zealand citizens who access services from a mobile device remains a barrier. Mobile customer experience scores fell 9% year-on-year and remained behind desktop experiences.
Site performance was dragged lower as public websites became harder to find in online searches. Search authority, or the findability of sites, declined by 25%, while digitally optimised content and loading speeds were 5% lower year-on-year.
Adapting to the next wave of change
Leading agencies create experiences that enable citizens to find, understand, and engage in public services on their preferred device. They design services for diverse citizen needs, whether it’s a routine service interaction, a pivotal life moment or urgent assistance.
To ensure that all citizens receive an inclusive and personalised service, government agencies and departments can consider features such as digital self-service, responsive content, multi-lingual translation, and recommendations for ‘next best action’ to guide citizens.
New technologies like generative AI can also help narrow the digital divide, whether that’s by improving digital self-service or enabling more responsive and personalised interactions. As governments assess responsible adoption pathways, more applications for AI to enhance digital equity and the citizen experience emerge. Here are a few examples:
For more information, you can download the full report here.