Borger.dk - via the mobile

Borger.dk is the general public's digital gateway to the Danish public sector. This web portal provides quick and easy access to public information and a range of digital self-services and the Center for Borger.dk is now launching a mobile phone version.

Unwire Project Manager, Tanja Mou Jacobsen, says they there is a definite wave of digitalisation underway in the public sector which they are benefitting from. In contrast to more commercial mobile portals, the content of public portals is more focused on information and service, but self-service solutions are also under development. Tanja guided m.borger.dk through the development process, working closely with the Development Department. "The client made a series of conditions before we even started the project, and was very well prepared in terms of which requirements and content specifications applied. The timeframe was also predetermined. It was exciting to take part in the development of Borger.dk's mobile portal."

m.borger.dk is a site on which you can ask anything
Borger.dk provides general information and answers to questions on the public sector. The mobile portal also facilitates submitting questions which are answered direct from the 1881 contact centre, a phone, e-mail and chat service for the public.

Steen Hertzum Kirchhoff is Special Consultant at Center for Borger.dk and took part in the two-month project, which has just been completed. "We contacted Unwire with a relatively clear idea of how we wanted the mobile portal to look, and Unwire were able to complete the job within our timeframe, which was a very important factor for us." According to Kirchhoff, the mobile portal was primarily set up to give the public access to rapid information searching and to ask questions. The next step is to set up various self-service solutions like those already available at borger.dk and the websites of many other public authorities.

More self-service – when possible
One of the barriers to full self-service on the mobile portal is the limitations posed by Digital Signature, which does not operate on mobile phones at this time. A new signature solution is currently being developed to be launched in 2010. "Naturally, it's only a question of time before we can use our mobiles to advise of change of address, order a new social security card and access other public services currently available on the web. But it could be several years before we can also enrol our children in daycare institutions or pay our taxes via our mobiles," says Kirchhoff. Whether such services will ever be developed is up to the individual local and public authorities.