Digital transformation in the Public Service Delivery after COVID

Public service delivery is a mechanism by which the public institutions at local, municipal or federal level deliver services to the public. The paradigm of public service delivery in Nepal has changed in a span of 70 years. The change of regime, political upheaval, and technological advancements are the major factors affecting the changes. The outreach to the other countries' news and activities of development and practice of good governance through the internet, people started to become aware of the citizens-centric services in other countries. COVID pandemic that started towards the end of 2019 affected the whole world. The governments across the world imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. This affected the public service delivery of Nepal too. During the lockdowns, people used the internet and mobile devices to stay connected and aware of the situations. Both the public and private organizations started work from home modality of operation. The online activity increased largely. The public sector of Nepal tried to use this opportunity to bring the services in the online platform. The lack of a strong base of data, use of old technology, lack of interoperability and nonuniformity in the system development hindered the process. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of use of technology in the public service. It is now time for the government to develop solutions to make the public service delivery resilient, versatile, and sustainable at present and the future crisis. Nepal is a developing country going through political and structural changes. There has to be a shared-vision among the government at various levels for the organizations to cooperate and coordinate. The lens of digital transformation is necessary in public service delivery to counter the uncertainty that looms in future. We have considered the Transport management office (TMO) as our case study area to view through the lens of new process adoption for digital transformation.