Leisure services emerged in the e-commerce survey
The North Satakunta digitalization project surveyed the views of local residents on electronic services with a survey during April. The survey received 169 responses from the entire region, and 77 responses from Kankaanpää. The largest group of respondents was in the 40-55 age group.
-Since the survey was conducted only in electronic form, it was assumed that the majority of respondents also use electronic services. The number of responses in relation to the population of the entire region does not tell the whole truth, of course, but it gives us some guidelines on where to prioritize development, digitalization project coordinator Heli Puputti says.
The availability of leisure services online was highlighted
The survey highlighted the availability of leisure services electronically. A map service that would show, for example, outdoor routes, cultural and sports destinations, as well as restaurants and accommodation establishments in the area, was one of the most desired services. Similarly, electronic booking and payment for sports and cultural services, as well as monitoring the maintenance of sports facilities, were clearly highlighted in the survey.
-The second ongoing project, digital leisure services, aims to contribute to the digital availability of sports and cultural destinations and outdoor routes. This summer, the project will conduct demo routes in all participating municipalities. We already have a tool for booking and paying for events electronically, we just need to use it more actively, Puputti emphasizes.
On the education side, the electronic booking of early childhood education appointments and the importance of the Wilma system used by schools in communication between home and school were emphasized.
-Wilma received electronic Suomi.fi identification for guardians during the spring, so schools were able to get rid of the need to create IDs. Electronic transactions will also be improved in early childhood education in the future.
Websites the most important source of information – criticism of confusion
In the field of communication, municipal websites were seen as the most important source of information. The majority of respondents felt that they most often found the information they wanted on their own municipality's website. However, in the free feedback, several respondents said that the information was difficult to find and that the structure of the sites was confusing.
-This is the original sin of municipalities. Municipalities have many functions and all sectors have their own subpages. It often happens that people don't remember to update the pages and delete old information when new information is added. More effort should be made in this regard and the search functions of the sites should be improved. In Kankaanpää, the chat service has certainly partially helped to find information, Puputti thinks.
Giving feedback featured in several places
Several sections of the survey asked about giving feedback. The website feedback form was seen as the most important feedback channel, with email coming in a close second.
-We have invested in providing and processing feedback with the new feedback channel. The residents have found it reasonably easy to use and the experiences so far have been positive.
There was also a lot of free feedback given in the survey. Topics included the development of social media channels, concerns about digital support providers as services become more digital, development suggestions for tourism, and much more.
-All feedback has been delivered to the right responsible parties. We thank everyone who responded to the survey and provided feedback! We strive to target development activities based on the feedback, without forgetting traditional transactions, which will not disappear with digitalization, Puputti sums up.
Read the report on the survey results here.
Additional information:
Heli Puputti
Project coordinator
[email protected]
044 5772231