Some 25 percent of the Romanians don’t know they can use public services online, almost half think that public services require personal visits to the respective public offices and only 11 percent think about the security of personal data, according to a recent study conducted by Capgemini for the European Commission.

“In Romania, 59 percent prefer to have personal contact with the authorities, 47 percent  believe that public services require personal visits or paper submission and 24 percent were not aware of the existence of online public services,” said Kevin von Gamm, Chief Sales Officer Capgemini Romania, quoted by local news agency Mediafax.

Moreover, 8 percent of the Romanians abandoned the online service because it was too difficult to use, a similar percentage gave up because the service's website or application had technical problems. Around another 6 percent don’t expect to save time by using the online services, while 4 percent admit they don’t have the technical knowledge necessary to use them.

At a European level, 21 percent of the respondents were not aware of the existence of relevant websites or online services and 11 percent didn’t use the internet because of concerns about the security of personal data, shows the study. Moreover, 62 percent preferred to have personal contact to get what they needed, while 34 percent of the respondents believe that public services require personal visits or paper submission.

According to Capgemini’s study, 13 percent of Europeans couldn’t find or access the information or services they needed, 5 percent tried but abandoned the service because it was too difficult to use, while another 5 percent tried but abandoned the service because the service’s website or application had technical faults. The entire study here (PDF file).

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com