Институт развития информационного общества
   

Tatiana Ershova took part in the discussion of the new version of the portal of state services on the air of the radio “Govorit Moskva”

On April 2, 2021, at 16:00, the Information Channel program went on the air on the “Govorit Moskva” (Moscow Speaking) radio. The host of the program, Yuri Budkin, asked Tatiana Ershova, IIS general director and the chief editor of the scientific and analytical journal “Information Society”.

First question: Why do you think the new version was made? Previous services weren’t good enough?

T. Ershova assessed them as quite good, but the main task is to attract the entire population to the portal of public services, and it should be understandable to ordinary users. Everything should be clea to an ordinary person. Therefore, the idea of ​​the assistant – and in the new version it is the cute robot Max – is good and correct. While Max does not have a voice, he can only correspond with the user, suggest something, but in the near future he will have a voice and it will be possible to talk to him. It would be nice if Max was not intrusive. If he really helps, it will be great. The new portal has simpler logic in general, and that’s great. I myself am quite qualified and, I would say, advanced user, but I am very glad that everything is going along the path of simplification. The portal can be actively used by older people, people with disabilities, migrants and other categories of the population who may now have difficulties. There will also be versions in other languages.

Second question: Can we expect the expansion of the portal’s capabilities?

T. Ershova replied: “Certainly. I am a digital optimist, and I believe that everything will only develop. Already now you can see some improvements: as soon as you start writing something in the input line, prompt options immediately pop up. They may not always be accurate yet, but in most cases they are still very useful. The range of services will, of course, expand throughout life. The use of artificial intelligence and big data technologies opens up great opportunities here.”

Third question: Can we say that now the portal of public services works more or less without interruptions?

T. Ershova noticed that there are failures, and no one is ever insured against them. Therefore, they switch to the new version because the old one does not always withstand peak loads. The portal inside should be more complicated than it is now, but outside, on the contrary, it should be easier. This is exactly the slogan of the developers of the new version. If the government wants the portal to be used by everyone, then the hardware and software to support it must be very powerful and reliable so that it does not fall under heavy loads.

The fourth question: The promised traffic of 50-60 million users – is it really, as they say, quite enough?

According to T. Ershova, this is enough for now, but more is needed. After all, Russia is a civilized country and is moving very quickly along the path of digital development.

You can listen to the recording of the program by following the link https://govoritmoskva.ru/broadcasts/167/.