Improving Communication between Government and Businesses (IL0043)

What is the current situation or problem that the commitment addresses?

The field of public participation has developed in Israel in recent years, and within this framework a government methodology has been developed, designated tenures allocated in 10 government ministries, assimilation processes and training workshops have been conducted, and tenders published for contracting with consulting companies in the field to provide various services. Public participation has also been anchored in decision-making mechanisms regarding regulatory improvement processes, regulatory impact assessment (RIA and social procurement. Despite the existence of many more in-depth participation processes, government still has significant difficulty in reaching target audiences for public participation processes, with an emphasis on the ability to engage a dialogue with the public. Until now, it was mandatory to hold a dialogue with SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) as part of formulating regulatory policy, a matter anchored in a government decision in 2014. Dozens of processes were promoted by the government every year – but despite the above, the issue of direct communication with SMEs remains unresolved. Even when there is great willingness on the part of government to hold such a dialogue, the approach to SMEs is nevertheless complex: Many ministries have no access to businesses and manage the discourse through umbrella organizations rather than directly. Information is not characterized according to the various needs, and there is no policy in regard to communication and processes with SMEs. This creates a situation in which in every process, government ministries are required to “reinvent the wheel". They try to create a list of umbrella organizations that can help spread the processes and reach business owners themselves, they try to advertise on government channels and social networks without having the ability to reach the relevant target audiences or examine the effectiveness of their approach. Business owners see the dialogue with the government as charged and incoherent: Government “meets” the business with various regulatory requirements that are not necessarily coordinated. The dialogue with the government can generate suspicion and mistrust, even in cases where it acts to create support and incentive mechanisms or to make rights accessible to businesses and to hold consultations on improving regulation and other policy processes. The difficulty experienced by the government in maintaining a dialogue with SMEs, both directly and indirectly, increased during the Covid-19 crisis when the state was required to immediately formulate a policy dealing with the increase in morbidity and subsequent lockdowns, alongside continuing economic activity, but encountered difficulty in communicating directly and effectively with businesses.

What is the commitment?

To expand the digital connection infrastructure between government and the public, with an emphasis on SMEs, and to turn it into a significant, simple, and effective tool for managing the dialogue between government and business in Israel. The action will be carried out by establishing a voluntary database that will offer business owners the option to join up in order to receive personalized information and join public participation processes with various government ministries. The direct connection between government and business owners will make possible various functions, such as improving services provided by government to businesses, regular updates and information on their rights and on opportunities, consultations over decision-making processes, so as to formulate policies suitable to business and that put business at the center and strive to reduce regulatory burdens. The infrastructure is composed of two main elements: What is the commitment? Establishing a new, up-to-date voluntary database of business owners that will enable the government to conduct a more effective dialogue and reach more small-and-medium enterprises interested in doing so. Establishing customer journeys to manage effective multi-channel dialogue that will enable regular work processes with government such as workshops and webinars, conducting surveys, focus groups, consultations, etc. Through these customer journeys the process is specified and means of increasing participation and creating higher higher standards of feedback and closing the circle are integrated into the journey. The database will be managed by the Division of Governance and Social Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office in collaboration with the National Digital Agency and will be available for the use of the entire government, according to the usage policy determined.

How will the commitment address the problem?

The infrastructure of the relationship between government and SMEs is designed to enable the government to create an open communication channel, which will result in an ongoing dialogue, to reach out to a larger audience in a simple, efficient, and effective manner, to provide a response to a variety of needs and to make content and services accessible in a personalized way for business owners. In this respect, the infrastructure creates value for both the government and business owners. The new digital infrastructure will enable direct communication between government and SMEs through a unified database on the cloud in full collaboration with the various government ministries. Participation in the databases is voluntary and the data gathered in it is not of a sensitive nature, but it will assist government in conforming participation processes to target audiences such as geographical area, language of contact with a business, branch of business, etc. At a later stage, a broad campaign will be launched to invite businesses to join the infrastructure. In this way, government will succeed in contacting many businesses in a tailored and differentiated way, approaching different audiences in a way suited to them, and to enable small businesses to also make their opinions heard and voice their needs.

Why is the commitment relevant to OGP?

Expansion of digital infrastructure addresses the challenges of OGP by creating significant infrastructure for public participation and promoting equality with businesses with an emphasis on reaching audiences that government currently has difficulty reaching. The ability of government to reach relevant audiences in policy processes will lead to their integration in decision-making, to greater accessibility to information and rights suited to them and in improving services. Moreover, the creation of standards for the government’s dialogue with businesses can be expected to lead to increased public trust.

How does the commitment contribute to inclusion and equality?

Those joining the digital communication infrastructure will be asked to answer a few questions so that different types of participants can be characterized. The data will enable more personalized and relevant approaches to target audiences, and as a result participation in decision-making processes, help with full realization of rights and incentives for businesses managed by women or businesses managed by or ones that employ people with disabilities, or encouraging businesses from the Arab society to compete for government tenders.

Milestone with deliverable | Start date - End date

Conducting a second round with the Small and Medium Businesses Authority | September 2023 - March 2024

Conducting the first round with the Corporations Authority | September 2023 - November 2023

Specification of customer journey | August 2023 - December 2023

Examination of the integration of third sector organizations in a designated database | December 2023 - March 2024

Entry into four government entities (ministries or auxiliary units) | September 2023 - December 2024

Entry into two government entities (ministries or auxiliary units) related to business or third sector organizations | January 2025 - December 2025

Integration of designated content related to the small and medium businesses with the goal of making rights accessible | December 2023 - December 2025

Launch of a registration campaign for digital infrastructure for businesses | September 2023 - December 2024