Policy Context and Legal Framework

Better Digital Service, Efficiency and Collaboration.

These are the three main focus areas for the Danish E-government Strategy for 2010. A primary aim of the E-government Strategy is to raise the level of ambition and set new standards for the development of citizens' services and cohesion across the public sector. The new strategy will entail better and more binding cooperation and emphasizes that implementation of specific digitalization measures will continue to be anchored by the individual public authorities.
 
With the new strategy, the Danish Government, Local Government Denmark and Danish Regions will be joining forces for the third time to set common objectives and targets, and to take joint initiatives as a move towards increased and more efficient digitalization of the public sector up to 2010.It is within the confines of this strategy that EasyAccount operates.
 
Granting private companies access to the EasyAccount database is in line with the overall e-Government Strategy of increasing the use of efficient digitalized solutions. The service itself is managed by the Danish Agency for Governmental Management, under The Ministry of Finance.

Implementation and Management Approach

Contrary to EasyAccount for Public Institutions, the demand for this solution came directly from the potential users, i.e. the private sector. This of course is an indication of the success of the existing EasyAccount solution and the fact that it derives from a request from the private sector - the users of the system - is obviously a good starting point for a successful solution.
 
A large Danish IT-company is facilitating the technical aspects of the solution in close cooperation with the Danish Agency for Governmental Management.  This company is the same as the one facilitating EasyAccount for Public Institutions; this is advantageous since experiences from the first implementation have been made available and offer a solid background for the new solution. Close cooperation with the IT system supplier is essential and team members of EasyAccount are in daily contact with the supplier.

Technology solution

Early in the scoping process of EasyAccount for Private Companies it became clear that two different technical solutions had to be offered to the private companies, both for financial and technical reasons.

EasyAccount is a database, so the technical aspect deals with how the private companies gain access to the database that connects their customer's social security numbers with their preferred bank account.
 
There are basically two ways a company is able to access and use the benefits from EasyAccount:

1. A company can connect to the EasyAccount database directly. This demands a process of technical integration with the system itself.
2. A company can be connected to the database using an already connected private payment provider as an intermediary.

 The main difference between the two ways is financial. The first solution is primarily designed for larger companies who handle large scale check payments and who use resources on updating their customers’ current bank accounts in order ensure designated payments.

Impact

The overall benefits - and goals - for EasyAccount for Private Companies are in line with the overall Danish E-government Strategy of reducing expensive administrative burdens by an increased use of IT, not just in the public sector, but across all sectors.
 
By legally allowing the use of the EasyAccount system to private companies, Denmark has established an incentive for the private companies nationwide to avoid issuing physical checks helping the companies to work more efficiently and decreasing the number of checks issued, thereby also responding to environmental needs.

The main beneficiaries are of course the users of the system, the private companies and the Danish citizens; EasyAccount benefits the private companies of Denmark for two main reasons:

• The estimated average cost for a company to handle a single check is roughly €6 Euros. The cost for a company, connected directly to the EasyAccount database is €45-50 000 as a one time fee and an annual fee of €3 500. Each transaction processed through EasyAccount costs the company €0.05 Euros.

A concrete example of the financial benefits the use of EasyAccount has on a private company can be illustrated by looking at numbers from a large Danish bank: From May 1, till May 31, the bank processed 185 000 payments at a combined cost of €9 250. Without the use of the EasyAccount payments system, the cost would roughly be a staggering €1 100 000 in check handling. Taking into account the monthly fee of €3 350 - the financial impact of EasyAccount is quite evident

• Besides the direct savings on the large check expense there is also money and resources to be saved on the account of maintaining customers’ bank accounts, a job automatically managed by the EasyAccount database.

 EasyAccount benefits the citizens in that it heightens the service level by replacing checks with digital money transfer, directly to each individual citizen's EasyAccount.

Track record of sharing

EasyAccount for Private Companies is a prime example of how a successful public IT project can be modified to accommodate the same needs of the private sector, helping to reduce costs and lighten heavy administrative burdens.
 
The Danish website, www.modernisering.dk (modernization) is a portal for public managers, promoters and others who work professionally with the modernization and digitalization of the public sector. It has been used to share information about the original and now also the new EasyAccount solution. Modernisering.dk is a forum based on the idea of knowledge sharing and has over the past years it has become an institution and a main portal for activities involving new digital initiatives.
 
EasyAccount for Private Companies serves as a class example of how to gain value from a well founded and successfully implemented IT project. This is of course a valuable knowledge for other public IT initiatives that may face similar challenges.

Lessons learnt

Examples of lessons learned and experiences are:

1. If a digital idea, solution or concept, created and implemented in the public sector can benefit the overall expansion of digitalization, including the private sector, it should be pursued and if deemed profitable for both the public and the private sector, initiated.
2. Re-use of a successful system. The technical alternations from the original EasyAccount for the public, to the new EasyAccount for Private Companies are few and the process of scoping EasyAccount to fit the new needs where smooth. Lessons and findings from the original system where cast into light, evaluated and integrated into the concept-description of the new system; this ensured that the benefits of having a similar project running successfully since 2005 where harvested and thereby ensured the team not to stumble on previous obstacles.

With the original implementation of EasyAccount, it was mandatory for all public administrations to use it, and all adult citizens where given an EasyAccount. This is not the case in regards to EasyAccount for Private Companies. This has meant that the time scope for ensuring enough companies would adopt EasyAccount was longer than initially anticipated. The lesson learned here is that when marketing an optional IT system, not all the financial benefits are reaped instantly and therefore demands quite a lot of direct communication to the target group.