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Big Data, Public Administration, Structural Reforms, Economic Development
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Lotsis S, Georgousis I and Papakostas GA. Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.144350.1)
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Case Study
Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece
[version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]
PUBLISHED 28 Mar 2024
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Abstract
Corresponding author:
George A. Papakostas
Competing interests:
No competing interests were disclosed.
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The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work.
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© 2024 Lotsis S et al.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
How to cite: Lotsis S, Georgousis I and Papakostas GA. Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.144350.1)
First published: 28 Mar 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.144350.1)
Latest published: 28 Mar 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.144350.1)
Introduction
The present paper aims to shed some light on the prospects, limitations, and concerns that arise from the implementation of Big Data in the public sector, particularly in Greece, by contributing to a relevant academic bibliography from a sectoral and country perspective. During the recent economic recession and the three consequent economic adjustment programs, the Greek public administration has been identified as a cornerstone for the proper reform implementation in the spheres of economy, society, and institutions (European Commission, 2012, 2013a,b, 2014a,b,c, 2016, 2017; 2018a,b, 2019; IMF, 2013a,b, 2014, 2017; OECD, 2019, 2023).
In the same line of thought, the main questions that are addressed in the present paper are:
• Can Big Data as part of the 4th Industrial Revolution be a catalyst for a paradigm shift in the Greek public sector?
• How can this paradigm shift transform the real economy of Greece? Which sectors will be affected and how?
For the purposes of this study, two theoretical doctrines have been considered.
The first one lies in the Unified Growth Theory (Galor, 2005), which explains the long-term growth patterns of economies and describes how technological progress, population growth, and economic institutions interact to drive economic growth over time. The theory posits that economic growth is driven by the accumulation of knowledge, which leads to the development of new technologies and increased productivity. This, in turn, leads to higher wages and improved living standards. The theory also suggests that population growth and the development of economic development institutions such as property rights and contract enforcement play a crucial role in promoting technological progress and economic growth.
The theory has been used to explain the differences in growth rates among countries over time and has been applied to study the impact of different economic policies on long-term growth.
Sectors with a higher prevalence of tertiary education will likely adopt new technologies more quickly (De Ferranti, 2003), resulting in higher growth rates. This is because people with higher levels of education are more adaptable to new technologies and have the skills and knowledge required to implement and use them effectively (Lazar et al., 2020). Knowledge is definitely about to be accumulated by the Big Data usage and the basic research that would be provoked. Furthermore, industries with a higher concentration of highly educated people tend to have more robust research and development capabilities, which can drive technological progress even further. The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution has the potential to significantly alter many areas of public administration and contribute to the accumulation of Big Data and Knowledge creation. Some industries that may benefit significantly from IoT include:
1. The delivery of public services such as efficient energy consumption and waste management in smart cities (Al Nuaimi et al., 2015; Batty, 2013; Kim et al., 2021).
2. Healthcare: IoT technology can be used to improve healthcare service delivery, such as through remote patient monitoring and telemedicine (Chen et al., 2017; Dash et al., 2019).
3. Environmental monitoring: IoT technology can be used to monitor and track environmental conditions such as air and water quality, as well as to assist in the management of natural resources (Dan et al., 2015; Asha et al., 2022).
4. Public safety and emergency management: IoT technology can be used to improve public safety and emergency management by monitoring public spaces with sensors and cameras and responding quickly to emergencies and possibly reducing crime (Zavrsnik, 2021; Joh, 2014; Sanders and Sheptycki, 2017).
5. Public transportation: IoT technology can be used to improve public transportation services, such as smart traffic signals, real-time vehicle tracking, and dynamic route optimisation. These are just a few examples, but it’s worth noting that IoT technology has the potential to transform many other areas of public administration, including education, justice, and others (Zhu et al., 2019; Batty, 2013; Bellini et al., 2022).
The second line of thought is complementary to the first and follows the “Washington Consensus” doctrine regarding the implementation of economic adjustment programs (Williamson 1990, 1993, 1994). The rationale is as follows:
1. To transform an economy, you need to transform the product market, labour market, and institutions.
2. In order to do so you need an efficient and reliable tool for policy implementation, which is public administration.
3. Regarding Greece, public administration has been identified as an indispensable catalyst for the reform implementation (reduction of red tape, regulation through legislation, change in institutions e.g. anti-corruption, acceleration of judicial performance etc.) (Featherstone, 2015; Makrydemetres et al., 2016; Papaioannou and Karatza, 2018).
4. How would the Greek public administration adopt the full use of big data?
5. What would be the impact on the real economy under the above scenario?
To scrutinise the above rationale, the research has followed a two folded approach. Firstly, the ICT, open data, and Big Data potential is assessed from a historical/legislative point of view during the period of the implementation of the economic adjustment programmes (2010-2018). Secondly, the readiness of the Greek public administration for the introduction of Big Data has been examined from a comparative perspective through the SEV Digital Maturity Index of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises and DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index) of the European Union.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during the last decades has produced a plethora of digital devices such as cameras, smartphones, tablets, and computers that have made communication easier to establish and information easier to deliver. The exponential evolution of the Internet has transformed the way that transactions are made, products and services are delivered, and goods are produced. Hence, the mixture of land, labour, and capital, or known as the “means of production”, in the production process has changed leading scholars, journalists and entrepreneurs to talk about the 4th Industrial Revolution and Internet of Things (IoT). Computer specs are growing constantly making possible the connection of physical objects/devices to the Internet with the ability to identify themselves to other devices via wireless technologies, sensor technologies, or QR codes resulting in massive datasets or Big Data (Fowdur et al., 2018).
Public sector is a major stakeholder when it comes to Big Data. Many countries have expressed interest in Big Data by initiating national policies and adopting long-term strategies.1 The potential value to Europe’s public sector administration has been estimated to EUR 250 billion, more than the GDP of Greece (Manyika, 2011). However, unlocking the full potential of Big Data for the public sector, and consequently for the citizens’ benefit, requires a public authority to develop thorough knowledge, skills, and procedures in a range of fields such as computer programming, modelling, statistics, data management, data exploration, computerized natural language processing and analytics, algorithmic machine learning, and data product formatting (Maciejewski, 2017).
The novelty of the present paper lies firstly on a comprehensive review of the full spectrum of big data systems already in place and running regarding the Hellenic Public Administration during the economic adjustment period (2010-2018), and secondly on the digital and technological evaluation of the Greek public sector through two different indices: the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) Digital Maturity Index and Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Commission in retrospect of Big Data readiness for the year 2019.
To best of our knowledge, this is the first time such an exhaustive analysis and assessment has taken place for a single country. Some academic articles have investigated specific government agencies regarding Big Data but not from a holistic reformative point of view such as this one. For example, Coulthart and Riccucci (2021) assess the United States Border Patrol (USBP) regarding Big Data capabilities concluding that big data analytics will require trial-error process coordinated by organizational leadership. Sarah Brayne (2017) examines the case of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) regarding the growth of surveillance and the rise of Big Data. Gschender et al. (2016) describe a successful experience of collaboration between academia and the public transport authority in Santiago, Chile for developing policy tools based on processing passive data coming from GPS devices on buses, a project called Transantiago.
This paper has the following structure, we review the relative literature before presenting all important ICT projects, and possible Big Data projects, that have been introduced in the Greek public sector during the economic adjustment programmes. Subsequently, we discuss real economy implications of the Big Data projects in the Greek public sector followed by the reckoning of future opportunities and risks such as privacy and freedom issues. Finally, policy implications are highlighted so as Greece to take the much-needed leap towards the 21st century and the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Methods
For the completion of the present study, the following reports were taken into consideration:
Moreover, by studying the three economic adjustment programmes that Greece implemented during the economic crisis, all critical structural reforms regarding Communication and Information Technology (ICT) were assessed along with flagship projects of the Greek Public Administration which are analytically explained further in the present study.
For collecting the relevant data, internet open data regarding the following government open platforms were accessed:
• Diaygeia.gr (The Transparency Program)
• Taxisnet (The integrated tax administration information system)
• KHMDHS (The Central Electronic Registry for Public Procurements)
• Apografi.gov.gr (The Human Resource Management System of the Greek Public Administration)
• Opengov.gr (The legislative public deliberation platform of the Open Governance Initiative)
• Ergani.gr (The workforce and labour market monitoring system)
The present study was mainly formulated during 2022, based on the theoretical foundations of Unified Growth Theory (Galor O, 2005) regarding the interaction of technological progress, institutions and economic growth, and Washington Consensus (Williamson 1990;1993;1994) for the rationale of achieving economic growth through implementing structural reforms on markets and institutions. Under this line of thought, the upgrading of the Greek Public Administration through the adoption of Big Data is considered as a research hypothesis.
As far as analysis methods are concerned, comparative analysis and benchmarking were used for drawing conclusions regarding the digital transformation readiness of the Greek Public Administration.
Literature review
What is the definition of Big Data? In the relative literature and within the academic community there is no unanimity (Fredriksson et al., 2017). According to Kwon, Kwak, & Kim (2015), the definition depends on the research angle. Ohlhorst (2013) observes that: “… Big Data defines a situation in which data sets have grown to such enormous sizes that conventional information technologies can no longer effectively handle either the size of the data set or the scale and growth of the data set. In other words, the data set has grown so large that it is difficult to manage and even harder to garner value out of it. The primary difficulties are the acquisition, storage, searching, sharing, analytics, and visualization of data …”.
Most of the attention has been focused on challenges and applications of Big Data rather than its characteristics and special features. Most scholars choose to highlight three main features, the 3Vs, that is Velocity, Volume and Variety. (Jordan, 2014; Kitchin & Lauriault, 2014; Kshetri, 2014; McDermott & Turk, 2015; Pandey & Dhoundiyal, 2015). The original idea was stemmed from Laney (2001), who first proposed a process of data management based on three dimensions. Consequently, Huang et al. (2015) chose 4Vs (Velocity, Volume, Variety and Value) by encompassing the notion of the economical outcome (Value) of data processing. Furthermore, the need of focusing on the quality and trust of data processing, created the notion of Veracity (White, 2012) and the 5Vs definition version.
The rapid growth of data in every aspect has caused increasing interest in the academic community, especially in the last decade (Cavanillas et al., 2016). The opportunity for increasing economic value and the advance in computer technology has led academics from a plethora of sciences such as mathematics, statistics, computer scientists, business, and management studies, towards Big Data research with private and public sector applications. Thus far, the rapid growth of data has attracted interest in how Big Data is used in the private sector (Manyika et al., 2011; Henke et al., 2016; Misra et al., 2022), leaving a gap in and a need for further research into the public sector’s use of Big Data (Desouza & Jacob, 2014). The present paper intends to add a contribution to this aspect.
Kim et al. (2014) review the Big Data applications in the government sector and suggest that Big Data insights can help follower countries to leapfrog the leaders’ applications through careful analysis of their successes and failures, as well as exploit future opportunities in mobile services. Other academics have highlighted the anticipated merger of private sector methodology, public administrative expertise and political leadership needed to apply Big Datasets to public-sector decision-making processes (Milakovich, 2012).
Janssen et al. (2017) assess the factors influencing decision-making based on Big Data by using as a case study the Dutch Tax Organization. They conclude that the value from Big Data and Big Data Analysis is generated by improving decision-making quality. In order to achieve this goal, a chain perspective allows us to analyse both the activities that are carried out in a Big Data chain and the organizations that carry them out, and to understand the interdependencies between those activities. Hence, process transformation and integration, development of skills, retaining experience and human resources, ensuring data quality, flexible systems, collaboration, knowledge exchange, decision-maker quality, building trust and managing relationships should be addressed simultaneously.
The European Commission has expressed its interest but also its concerns regarding a data-driven economy through a communication paper (2014). The main focus of this communication was “… to provide the right framework conditions for a single market for Big Data and cloud computing …” and called for action all member states to benefit from the enormous potential of Big Data in various fields, ranging from health, food security, climate and resource efficiency to energy, intelligent transport systems and smart cities.
Yet, through the communication paper of February 7th, 2014, the European Commission recognizes that the European digital economy has been rather sluggish in embracing the data revolution compared to the USA and lacks industrial capability. Indeed, Obama’s administration issued the “Open Government Directive” based on the three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration (Executive Office of the President, 2009).
Big Data has attracted academic interest from other countries also. Kuraeva and Kazantsev (2015) have conducted a survey regarding Big Data analytics in the public sector of the Russian Federation. Their main conclusion is that budget restrictions are a big limiting factor, which also stands in the case of Greece, but nevertheless, in the near future, all public agencies of the developed countries will have to cope with the integration of disparate data sources, building analytical capacities both in the infrastructure perspective and in the human factor and eventually move to a more data-driven decision – making environment.
The private sector has also made some important efforts towards the Big Data public administration strategy through private entities. Yiu (2012) via thinktank Policy Exchange has highlighted the Big Data opportunity mainly in the way policymakers work and citizens interact with governments. Campbell (2014) via the Bureau of International Affairs, Inc., reviews the Tax Policy and Administration in an Era of Big Data observes that tax authorities are increasingly understanding the importance of Big Data, and consequently request more data from taxpayers within shorter timeframes.
As Greece is concerned, the national digital strategies (NSD) of 2006-2013 (National Digital Strategy 2006-2013: n.d. In Greek) and 2016-2021(Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunication and Information: National Digital Strategy. 2016) followed the designed European policies such as the i2010 eGovernment Action Plan which succeeded eEurope2005. Its critical actions involved broadband development, information campaigns regarding citizens’ ICT familiarization and adoption of e-procurement legislation. Unfortunately, radical fiscal and investment restrictions that came into force as a result of the Economic Adjustment Programs implementation (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Memorandum of Understanding) took the aforementioned strategies way off schedule.
With Digital Transformation Bible 2020-2025 and National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Greece 2.0 (National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Greece 2.0: n.d. Reference Source), both compiled in 2021, Greece plans to put a comprehensive digital strategy back on track for the 4th industrial revolution through digital actions such as:
• Deployment of modern submarine fibre cables that will connect mainland with the Greek islands aiming to address a major barrier to the availability of high-speed broadband services to end-users, both through fixed and mobile networks, enhancing the capacity and resilience of the backhaul infrastructure for fixed networks and 5G.
• Installation of fibre optic infrastructure in residential and business private buildings to promote end-users’ connection with very high-capacity networks (VHCN).
• Development of the necessary 5G infrastructure into major Greek highways that are part of the Trans European Transport Networks in order to serve the needs for Connected and Autonomous Mobility.
Big Data projects in the Greek public sector during the economic crisis
The implementation of the necessary structural reforms is strongly correlated to the power of institutions that preserve the necessary principles and values of a society. Without strong political institutions such as democracy, the rule of law, transparency, and accountability as well as strong economic institutions such as market openness, property rights, stable tax, and investment legislation any reform is doomed to failure (Rigobon and Rodrik, 2004). The enhancement of institutions as a prerequisite for reform implementation was attempted, inter alia, through the introduction of the following large-scale ICT projects in Greece’s case as depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Greek Public Administration integrated systems.
The transparency and accountability projects
“Diaygeia” - The Transparency Program initiative
The project was introduced by Law 3861/20102 having the aspiration to promote e-government to the full range of central and local government. The legislation had five main goals (explanatory memorandum of Law 3861/2010):
• The creation of the necessary institutional conditions for citizens (citizen to government or C2G) and businesses (business to government or B2G) to communicate with the government via information and communication technologies (ICT).
• The reengineering of the public administration procedures to the end of ICT.
• The facilitation of the citizens and businesses to interact with governmental entities.
• The elimination of legislative obstacles prevented swift and effective access to public service and information.
• The consolidation of trust and transparency through the expansion of electronic applications.
Starting from October 1st, 2010, all government entities were mandated to post their official actions and resolutions online, expect for matters related the national security and sensitive personal information protection. Each record undergoes digital authentication and is given a distinct Internet Uploading Number (IUN), confirming its placement on the “Transparency Portal.”3 As per the legislative motion (Law 4210/2013) by the Ministry of Administrative Reform and e-Governance, administrative actions and resolutions are deemed invalid unless they are made available on the internet (The Transparency Program) (Ministry of Administrative Reform and E-Governance: 2014, in greek).
This measure slowly but significantly influenced how officials wielded their governing authority. The absolute transparency instigated by the Transparency Program made the administration more directly accountable, leaving minimal space for corrupt practices. Instances of corruption are more readily exposed due to the widespread accessibility of potentially questionable actions to any citizen or concerned party. This collective oversight is notably impactful as it allows those directly affected or interested in an issue to deeply scrutinize it, reducing reliance solely on media for public examination.
The implementation of the Program took place in three stages: Ministries started in October 2010, Extended Public Sector and Independent Authorities started in November 2010, and Regional and Local Authorities in March 2011. From December 1st, 2010, to January 16th, 2023, a total of 53,785,1704 acts and resolutions have been published on the Transparency Portal by 4,550 public authorities. Currently, an average of approximately 368,392 decisions are uploaded per month.
“Opengov.gr” – The Open Governance Initiative
Another step towards transparency, deliberation, accountability, and decentralization is the Open Governance Initiative, which was introduced by Law 4002/2011. The main goal of the initiative was to use open code applications and the internet to create governance best practices through direct democracy procedures. In other words, any citizen with internet access has the opportunity to assess draft legislation and add comments that can be taken into account during the next legislative procedures followed by the parliament.
The electronic legislative deliberation takes place via four distinct phases. In the first one, the according Ministry prepares the draft legislation and any other material regarding e-consultation which later is uploaded to the site opengov.gr. In the next phase, the draft legislation is open to public comments, which are read and approved at a later time by moderators. Any comment should fulfil certain requirements such as proper language, specific examples, and proper argumentations. After the deliberation has taken place, the added comments can be extracted into an (*.xls) form from any concerned part (citizens, governmental or NGOs). In the last phase of the electronic legislative consultation, a report is prepared by the according Ministry that accompanies the legislation draft to the Parliament for the final vote according to the requirements of art. 6 of the Law 4048/2012. According to recent data, via opengov.gr, 1082 deliberations have been concluded with a total of 334,311 comments from citizens and civil society organisations.
“KHMDHS” – Central Electronic Registry for Public Procurements
Public procurement was at the epicentre of the reform efforts of the Greek public administration. Through a modern electronic system that collects, processes and analyses relevant data, the public sector can significantly reduce fiscal and transaction costs for public procurements, enhance transparency and accountability, while at the same time applies uniform procedures across all governmental entities. In this direction, Law 4013/2011 established the Central Electronic Registry for Public Procurements.
The purpose of the Central Electronic Registry for Public Procurements is the collection, process, and publication of the data at all stages of the award and execution of public contracts, that are concluded in a written, electronic or verbal manner between governmental entities and third parties, with object execution of works, goods or/and services procurement, provided that available budget is equal or bigger than EUR 1000 (Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority, 2015).
Since the first function of the Central Electronic Registry for Public Procurements (04/02/2013) till 30/06/2019 has yielded: 1,711,833 granted requests, 243,891 tenders, 520,683 awarding decisions, 1,221,498 contracts and 2,822,348 payment orders (Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Development, 2019).
The tax and fiscal reform projects
The increase of tax revenues via tax base broadening and tackling of fiscal derailing through public spending reviews were primal recommendations to the Greek authorities regarding fiscal reforms (IMF; 2013, European Commission; 2013). To this end, two significant projects of ICT were put into work in order for the former (Taxisnet) to provide quick, comprehensive, and efficient services regarding tax obligations, data and tax payment while the latter (The Integrated Information System for Fiscal Policy) to measure accurately, on time and to provide sound statistics and projections of fiscal data.
“Taxisnet” – The integrated tax administration information system
The integrated tax administration information system started in 1998 for the electronic declaration of Value Added Tax (V.A.T). By the year 2012 was the first information system with broad compulsory use for income tax declarations of 5,719,456 taxpayers and 213,423 legal entities (Independent Authority for Public Revenue, 2019). Its wide introduction contributed to a great extent to the change of citizen’s mentality in favour of e-government services. The ease of use, the speed of transactions and declarations without the red tape and bureaupathology of the Weberian bureaucratic system, as well as the time cost that comes with it, established “Taxisnet” as the most famous information system of the Greek public administration. The first circular regarding user’s registration in “Taxisnet” was issued on 07/12/2010 from the Minister of Finance.
Since then, the tax administration system has come a long way. Today “Taxisnet” provides a wide range of services to citizens and businesses regarding real estate property declaration, tobacco and alcohol product tracing, family, and social benefits. A notable innovation that brought “Taxisnet” was the e-fee for electronic public payments. Through an application of the integrated tax administration information system, the citizens fill out an electronic form and a single e-fee code is created in order to use it either electronically or in a physical store (bank or public authority).
“Integrated Information System for Fiscal Policy” of the Hellenic General Accounting Office
The system was introduced with Law 4270/2014 and its implementation was planned in 3 phases. In the first one, the “Integrated Information System for Fiscal Policy” would support the services of the Hellenic General Accounting Office. By 2017, with Law 4337/2015 the system was expanded to the Decentralized Administrations of the State and Independent Administrative Authorities while by 2019 the system could support the new Administrative and Financial Classification of Public Expenses Procedure. According to the Hellenic General Accounting Office (2018), the system will be transformed into a full ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system of fiscal policy for the whole public sector in the recent future.
The Integrated Information System for Fiscal Policy features some important characteristics that simplify existing procedures and modernize the accounting standards from a modified cash basis to an accrual basis. Policies such as “Treasury Single Account” and “Performance Budgeting” that already have been implemented, offer more efficiency, lower costs in terms of money and time, and better auditing that comes from more accurate and unbiased data concluding to greater transparency and accountability horizontally to the Greek public administration.
Furthermore, e-Invoicing and e-procurement will enhance the cooperation among the Hellenic General Accounting Office, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue and the Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority contributing to a better and faster convergence of the independent systems leading eventually to a single one for full interoperability (Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority, 2015).
“Apografi.gov.gr” – The human resource management system of the public administration
A central electronic registry for all public servants of the Hellenic Republic was introduced with Law 3943/2011 under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. Its main purpose is to provide all the necessary data and applications for an effective human resource management of the Hellenic Public Administration. Its data are entered and updated by the Human Resources Directorates in charge of all public entities. The registry of Greek public servants has the most active legislative framework producing 10 Laws, seven Ministerial Decisions and 18 Circulars regarding its functions, features, and applications.
Under the umbrella of “Apografi.gov.gr” run several subsystems that communicate and interact with the main registry. The subsystem of digital organigrams of public entities where all administrative divisions are depicted to the level of departments. Those digital organigrams are combined with specific job descriptions that precisely describe a certain job position in a public entity.
Using the subsystems of digital organigrams and job descriptions, applications such as internal mobility in the public sector allowing a public servant to move, for a certain time or permanently, from one public entity to another. This application allows the circulation of the public sector human resource breaking organizational “silos” that had existed for decades in ministries preventing suitable public servants to reach relevant positions.
Another important feature of “Apografi.gov.gr” relates to the performance evaluation of public servants. Since 2018 with Law 4533 performance evaluation has taken place electronically through a special application in the platform allowing fast procedures, data processing and central supervision from the Ministry in charge.
Furthermore, the central electronic registry of public servants interacts with the Single Payment Authority of the Hellenic General Accounting Office5. In this way, it is confirmed that every single payment is executed to a registered public servant.
“Ergani” – The workforce and labour market monitoring system
Greek economy reform under the prospect of Big Data projects and applications could not be meaningful if it did not focus on aspects of the Greek real economy that lacked in terms of technology adoption and needed immediate assistance and modernization to eliminate obsolete bureaucratic procedures and time-consuming gathering and provision of data sources and information. Such an example is the workforce and the monitoring of all related procedures to employment.
In order to cover this development gap, the information system “Ergani” was created. Law 4152/2013 of the Hellenic Ministry of Labour, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity, defines the development and implementation of this application in order to constantly monitor in real-time, the flows of employment; recruitments, dismissals, overtimes, leaves and employment agreements, in the private sector of the economy, while at the same time, it provides crucial information and statistics for the labour market by depicting the actual status of the labour market at a given time.
The system’s main goal is to minimize bureaucracy and management efforts in decision making, enhance transparency and assist administrative authorities in conducting audits and generally monitor the labour market. The system is also interconnected with “Taxisnet” for the retrieval of employees’ and employers’ information.
More than 30,000 users per day access the system and compile around 50.000 forms, with these numbers almost doubling during peak days of the month near deadlines. These numbers constitute “Ergani” as a system of vital importance in ensuring a steady and unobstructed operation of private businesses in relation to their obligations towards the public authorities and providing a significant source of Big Data that could be used for further analysis in policy making.
Real economy implications of Big Data projects in the Greek public sector
Tax reform and the tackling of tax-evasion, rising of public revenues.
A key area for Big Data implementation is taxation. Taxation data are structured or semi-structured and can be used to tackle the hidden economy, reduce tax-evasion, and reveal tax-avoidance. Through the process of Big Data collection, data mining, analysis and decision-making errors can be corrected, tax compliance to be improved, and tax non-compliance to be detected more accurately. With pressure mounting on government budgets, many tax and treasury authorities around the world are now keenly focused on measures intended to improve their tax revenues by identifying and eliminating gaps between the total tax liability and the reality of collections, collecting, and sharing cross-border information, and enhancing operational efficiency (Campbell, 2014).
In the case of Greece, where Big Data is a near future project, the main implementation highlights should focus primarily to:
• Rapid identification of exact and close matches in order to “clean-up” multiple parallel registries that have been created during the past years.
• Enable de-duplication from data entry errors so as structured data of tax and treasury authorities.
• Interoperability of different information systems that have evolved independently and in parallel to implement common information principles such as the “once only principle” where a public entity registers available information and makes it available to all other public entities needed rather than asking the citizens the same things over and over.
• Long term strategy of infrastructure building to encompass future technology evolution such as Big Data capacity and capability.
To this end, the Independent Authority of Public Revenues plans, by the end of 2021, to fully implement the “e-asset platform”, a registry where every taxpayer has declared all tangible assets properly evaluated by authorized estimators (IAPR, 2019). “e-asset platform” will make tax-auditing faster and more efficient, tax-evasion will be easier to detect, and eventually public revenues will rise substantially.
Naturally, for best results, the exchange of information at a supra-national level among tax and judicial authorities plays a crucial role. Cooperation in matters of taxation and fraud such as “the missing trader fraud” could save the EU budget around EUR 60 billion annually in tax losses according to Europol (2020).
Fiscal reform and spending review of public expenditures, better budgeting
In public economics there are basically two ways to rising public revenues, by raising the taxes (or broadening the tax base), reducing public expenditures or a combination of them both. Taking into account the austerity measures that have been implemented in the Greek economy during the last decade, rising taxes is not really a viable option. Under this perspective, it is of crucial importance spending review of public expenditures for better budgeting and more efficient financial management of the State.
Making the most of Big Data in public expenditures has an immediate impact on several sectors of the private economy. By centralizing the information regarding public procurement based on the real needs of public entities and by exploiting past behaviour patterns, economies of scale are created, the cost per unit obtained decreases, and taxpayer’s money is spent wisely. This policy allows fiscal space for tax neutral strategy or even tax reliefs with direct benefits to disposable income and thus to active demand.
Moreover, the use of Big Data in public procurement offers opportunities for sector evaluation and mapping of the industrial and technological capabilities of the Greek economy. This could provide a crucial tool for economic development policies regarding special industrial zones, technology and education hubs, and research & development (see for example Giddings et al., 2002; Lee, 2014; Evers et al., 2010).
Another prominent sector of public expenditures is the health sector. Some important steps have taken place toward the digitalization of certain aspects such as e-prescription. The Greek prescription system in the years before 2010 was based on a paper procedure, with handwritten notes from doctors that would have to be executed manually in pharmacies. The paper booklet system was consequently prone to fraud, mistyping errors and long inspection/auditing times.
In 2010, Law 3892/2010 “Online registration and execution of medical prescriptions and referrals for medical examinations”, led to the creation and obligatory adoption from all public and private health-related professionals and organizations, of a new electronic system to replace handwritten doctor prescriptions with electronic ones. This system also, was created in three phases, over a two-year period. The centrally gathered data and health records assist both doctors in their work by providing them with full historical medical records of their patients and simultaneously assisting patients in receiving a complete and thorough health treatment plan while at the same time, they benefit from reduced bureaucracy related to their medical insurance costs coverage. In addition, the third stakeholder of the equation, pharmacists are greatly benefited since errors resulting from handwritten prescriptions are no longer possible except in very rare circumstances where the system is still unavailable (remote areas), plus their financial compensation from the state; for the provision of medicines, the process is optimized due to the lack of paperwork. Finally, electronic data gathered assist health authorities by applying better controls and reducing red tape. E-prescription system also provides an Advanced Programming Interface (API), for health application developers, providing many opportunities for further technological advancement.
Public sector Big Data sources related to procurement can be identified also in smaller scale projects. Such data sources are web applications developed in public universities and educational institutions that assist in the tracking, real-time monitoring and authorization of expenditures and distribution of research grants.
The operation of Greek public universities and their budgets’ allocation is a matter of controversy for many decades. Public authorities have long been trying to enhance transparency and eliminate fraud and embezzlement of public funds related to research and universities operation.
A lot of laws and frameworks have been established long before the use of information technology systems for public management. In specific, the Greek “Elke”, Special Account for Research Grants’ (SARG) legal frame is defined under the laws 3794/2009 and 3027/2002.
Public educational organizations, in an effort to be more effective in the application of the laws, have developed electronic systems usually accessible through the web, that operate under the specifications and directions of the Special Account for Research Grants (SARG). SARG provides scientists and scientific directors the ability to compile and monitor the financial details of their projects electronically, in a relatively effortless way, while simultaneously the administrative authorities have access to the financial records. In addition, the work of universities’ research committees and their members is supported by the efficacy of the information dispersion and again the decision-making process is amplified. Furthermore, the generated data can be used for analysis, auditing, and discovery of irregularities in funds management and allocation.
Thus, creating a new approach to public policy could lead to a whole new paradigm of economic organization and production based on knowledge, technology, specialized human factor and comparative advantages, leaving in the past political clientelism, corruption and parasitic relationship between public and private sector.
Transparency and accountability projects for better governance, public administration and democracy
Athenian democracy was the first paradigm of direct democracy in human history. Today, limitations regarding population, geography, information, knowledge, time, and money cost do not allow full implementation of direct democracy. Is it possible for these limitations to fade out as Big Data becomes more and more accessible and useful for citizens? We do not have enough evidence to credibly answer that question. What is more plausible though, is the quality improvement of the governance that comes with Big Data exploitation. Governance is a two-sided procedure; it needs government and citizens. For governance to be improved, it is necessary for citizens to provide feedback on their sentiment of governance and for the government to have the necessary will to listen and improve.
Poel et al. (2018) present some findings regarding a study of Big Data in which they analyse 58 data-driven initiatives and elaborate on a number of persistent challenges that have been discussed in the recent literature: representativeness of data, the validity of results, the need to engage citizens, and the need to ramp up data skills in public sectors and in society in general. One of their main findings is that the policy area with greater gain from Big Data is transparency while in the policy cycle process, the step of foresight and agenda setting benefits the most.
In this way, policy making could be more participating. For example, “Opengov.gr” platform enhanced with Big Data capabilities could combine former primary and secondary legislation that already exists with the legislation bill to be deliberated. Providing this volume of data to citizens helps, to a certain degree, compare and thus form a more in-depth opinion.
Public services, by harvesting Big Data benefits, could adopt a rating system for every citizen that makes use of a public service. To avoid excessive use of the system, a mean of identification should be used so that multiple ratings or other manipulations to be avoided. This rating could be used, in combination with other performance indices, to assess the public sector regarding service quality, public servant behaviour, red tape complications, etc.
In any case, as Giest and Ng (2018) conclude, data use in policy making is not a linear process where data is analysed and then information is fed into the policy cycle. It is rather a multi - disciplinary process that involves several stakeholders.
Digital and technological evaluation of the Greek public sector through SEV Digital Maturity Index and DESI
Even though government organizations do recognize the opportunities of Big Data, they seem uncertain about whether they are ready for their introduction in the administrative process or if they are adequately equipped to use them. In this section of the paper, a digital and technological evaluation of the Greek public sector is attempted by using the Digital Maturity Index of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), and the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the EU.
Firstly, we follow the Klievink and Janssen (2009) approach for assessing capabilities and the present stage of the Greek public sector regarding transformation from stove-piped organizational situations to a nationwide, customer (citizen) – oriented and joined-up government according to the level of flexibility and the level of costumer (citizen) orientation. This approach can be summed up through the following Table 1:
Table 1. Digital transformation growth stages (Source: Klievink & Janssen [2009]).
Each stage of digital transformation can be identified as follows (Table 2):
Table 2. Organization maturity: e-Government growth stages and characteristics (Source: Klievink et al. [2017]).
| e-Government growth stage | Activities and information sharing | IT facilities | Data systems | Explanation | IT systems examples6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bounded within separate departments within the organization | All activities are, where possible, supported by IT | Digitalization of processes | Providing digital tools for operational processes in data entry and data search | Organization’s public payment orders Organization’s human resource management system | |
| Transcends the separate departments. Information is shared throughout the organization | Organization-wide IT infrastructure from which information is accessible throughout the organization | Business Intelligence & data management | Bundling of information storage across the organization and automated analysis tools that create information from organization’s internal data | Public documents electronic management system | |
| Beyond the boundaries of organization. Information is accessible from outside the organization. | IT infrastructure suited for external access by applications and for information access within the organization | Business Intelligence 2.0 & data management 2.0 | Business intelligence & data management with options to access and change data and information from outside the organization | “Opengov.gr”, “Khmdhs.gr”, “Hdika.gr” | |
| Extensively shared with other organizations | IT infrastructure suited for full access by applications and for information access by other organizations | Open data | Provision of as much anonymized data as possible from the organization as public data, in a standardized format | “Taxisnet.gr”, “Diaygeia.gr” “Apografi.gov.gr” | |
| Organized centrally and made available to all relevant organizations and stakeholders | Centrally built IT facilities supporting all information and applications and fully accessible to all involved stakeholders | Big Data | Collection, combination, and analysis of large, complex datasets with unconventional technologies to create new knowledge for the organization | Not available yet |
Assessing the above growth stages with the characteristics of the Greek public sector in mind, we detect its maturity on the verge of passing from stage 3 to stage 4. Many nationwide portals do exist that transcend the boundaries of organization such as “Taxisnet.gr”, “Diaygeia.gr”, “Opengov.gr”, “Hdika.gr”7, “Khmdhs.gr”, and “Apografi.gov.gr”. Access to all the above platforms is possible from inside each organization as well as outside it, as far as an internet connection is available and data management to a great extent is possible from outside the organization as well.
With the above stages in mind, we assess the findings of a study conducted by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) among 278 high level managers of Greek companies in February 2019. Primary research was conducted via a questionnaire separated into seven basic units from which a compound index is extracted (SEV Digital Maturity Index) consisting of 100 indicators taken from international organizations such as Eurostat, OECD, World Bank, World Economic Forum etc. classified into 27 sub dimensions8.
The seven dimensions of the SEV Digital Maturity Index consist of:
1. ICT & edge technology sectors
2. Connectivity infrastructure
3. Policies and regulation framework
4. Digital skills
5. Business’s digital maturity
6. Society’s digital maturity
7. Public sector’s digital maturity
In the present paper, only the public sector’s digital maturity is reviewed in retrospect of Big Data readiness. The results are summarized in the following Table 3:
Table 3. Subdimension analysis of the SEV Digital Maturity Index (Public Sector).
| Subdimension | Greece’s Score9 | Average Score - EU | Best Country Score | Best Country | Greece’s rank 2018 | Greece’s rank 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,8 | 6,0 | 7,8 | Austria | 26/28 | 28/28 | |
| 5,3 | 6.6 | 9,3 | Malta | 23/28 | 24/28 | |
| 2,4 | 6,0 | 9,9 | Malta | 27/28 | 28/28 | |
| 5,3 | 6,0 | 8,9 | Denmark | 19/28 | 19/28 | |
| 4,5 | 5,8 | 10,0 | United Kingdom | 21/28 | 22/28 | |
| 3,4 | 5,8 | 8,8 | Sweden | 27/28 | 27/28 | |
| Total | 4,3 (3,9 in 2017) | 6,0 (5,9 in 2017) | 7,9 (8,1 in 2017) | Netherlands Denmark | 27/28 | 27/28 |
On the positive side, user and smartphone friendliness of digital public services can be mentioned along with a relatively acceptable ranking in open data availability. On the negative side, the use of digital services is extremely low along with necessary prerequisites in the public sector for high quality digital services. These two findings strongly indicate that the introduction of digital skills in the educational system along with vocational training of older groups regarding the use of digital public services is an important factor for digital services implementation in the case of Greece.
Moreover, looking at the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2019 of the EU the above findings are reaffirmed to a great extent. DESI is a composite index10 that summarizes relevant indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the progress of EU Member States in digital competitiveness. As far as digital public services are concerned, Finland has the highest score for the year 2019, followed by Estonia, the Netherlands and Spain. The lowest scores have Romania, Greece and Hungary suggesting there is much to be done. The full ranking of DESI index regarding digital public services is shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2. Digital public services in the EU (Source: DESI 2019 Report Digital Public Services, European Commission).
The figure has been reproduced under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of Commission documents.
Low demand for digital public services is also highlighted in confirmation of the findings of the SEV Digital Maturity Index. Greece is ranked last of the 28 countries of the EU followed by Italy and Germany, while the best countries in the ranking are Sweden, Finland and Denmark accordingly as analytically shown in Figure 3. The finding underlies that demand for digital public services is not merely a matter of economic power. Other causes that lie in cultural, geographical, and behavioural habits should also be considered during academic research.
Figure 3. e-Government users, 2018 (Source: DESI 2019 Report Digital Public Services, European Commission).
The figure has been reproduced under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of Commission documents.
Future opportunities and risks that rise from Big Data and its economic prospects
Health Sector data and national health promotion strategy
The National Health Care System ‘ESY’ in Greece has placed significant emphasis on the use of electronic systems and software applications in recent years to comply with international and European quality standards and improve service provision. Electronic systems that help monitor the operation of hospitals and assist medical professionals in their work, procurement systems, business intelligence systems and the e-prescription system were mentioned in the previous chapter.
A notable system of Big Data Analytics in healthcare is Bi-Health, “ESY Business Intelligence System” a web-based information system whose primary goal is to support the informational activities and decision-making processes of the Ministry of Health. As per its definition, the BI-Health system ensures the collection and processing of the analytical and aggregated data of the public health units of the state at a central operational level and enables the dissemination of information to management mechanisms with the aim of improving the quality of health services provided. Monthly financial and administrative information is collected, as well as information on the activity of public bodies for analysis through the implementation of data visualization techniques. Another tool, in the effort to ensure transparency and support the implementation of national health promotion strategy in the Greek public sector and specifically the much-tormented health care system.
A great part of the literature has focused on the importance and value of Big Data in clinical research and disease treatment. In addition to this, many countries and international health organizations have already understood the importance of open anonymous health records in the disposal of developers and data scientists.11
The Greek health care systems previously described, cannot and should not only be limited to constituting financial monitoring systems, but rather also contribute to the creation of a nationwide health promotion strategy. Furthermore, collected data and analysis assist in controlling pandemics, such as the recent Covid-19. An example of such Big Data application, using the power of GIS, Geographical Information Systems, is Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE12. Where the user can see global cases of Covid-19, basic statistics related to mortality rate and recovery per country and the status of the pandemic.
Except for the above-mentioned extreme situation of a pandemic, after so many years of an ineffective application of the European anti-smoking law, a new hotline ‘1142’ was established to help tracing the delinquent behaviour of smokers, data collected from this line and the analysis of results is a good step towards the reduction of smoking.
The gaining popularity of health-related mobile apps and the generated data allow, provided after the user’s authorization is given, to show how active the general population is and help policy makers and strategists plan more efficiently and effectively based on real-time data positive interventions for the public’s wellbeing.
In health care, the complexity of Big Data analysis also arises from combining different types of information. Starting with the collection of individual data elements and moving to the fusion of multiple data sets, the results can reveal entirely new approaches to treating diseases. A prominent example is the electronic prescription portal (e-prescription.gr) which is available since (May, 2014) for patients and doctors alike. E-prescription data and bi-health data combined can show the distribution and spreading of diseases in an effort to combat them more effectively.
Manufacturing, retail and transport data for promoting growth
Big Data reform opportunity is expected to focus on sectors of the economy that traditionally constitute leverages of development. Manufacturing, retail, and transport should not be left out of the reform equation and the next big scale projects and frameworks must be oriented towards the technological optimization of these sectors. Applications that will help both businesses and individuals survive, evolve, and thrive in a glooming economic environment after ten years of the fiscal crisis in Greece.
The Greek National Access Point, part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, gathers and distributes in real-time transport related data, for analysis and utilization by developers and decision makers. Traffic counts, road weather conditions and traffic congestions of primary road junctions and highways are a mere sample of the datasets available. These datasets can prove a valuable tool to transport professionals in their planning and policy and decision making, e.g. smart sensors can be applied to vehicles and the collected data can contribute to fuel management, thus saving companies resources.
Individuals may also benefit from well planned and executed Big Data projects in public transports. Since 2010 in Singapore, authorities have been operating a Big Data project with astonishing results for the public welfare and optimization of transport routes and services (Maciejewski, 2017). Similarly, in Athens, public transport services have recently implemented in 2017 a new ticketing system using RFID13 technologies. The electronic transactions performed when passengers enter the means of transportation; buses, trolleybuses, metro, tram, and suburban railways can provide data for the transportational habits of commuters and assist in optimizing daily schedules, without the need of spending more on acquiring new assets but rather by applying proper distribution of the existing assets and available personnel. In addition, the gathered data can assist in calculating just and reasonable fares based on the provided service and distance travelled.
Apart from the well-known benefits of applying Big Data techniques in retail; Customer targeting, inventory management, price optimization and in-store behaviour and customer sentiment analysis (Belarbi et al., 2016), Big Data in retail has another significant application, the utilization of metadata and the creation of new e-commerce channels. In the Greek retail sector, the biggest e-commerce channel is Skroutz S.A., where visitors are presented with a plethora of sellers for the same article code, and it is up to them to analyse their selection based on reviews and feedback generated from other visitors or buyers.
The manufacturing sector can benefit also in various ways from the use of Big Data. Tracking of information can optimize the whole supply chain by providing valuable insights (Awwad et al., 2018). Also, Big Data can provide access to efficient electronic markets for purchasing materials or distribution of products. Plus, the whole manufacturing line can become more competitive and cost efficient by analysing generated data during the process of manufacturing. At the EU open data portal, scientists can trace data related to production for the member states. Moreover, EU since 2008 has been working on a Public Private Partnership in promoting industrial research and innovation “Factories of the Future” which we will analyse later.
Tax collection data and anti-tax evasion policy
In the literature review, the analysis of tax collection and anti-tax policies employing Big Data and Big Data Analytics is explored. For instance, the Dutch tax authorities utilize Big Data and Big Data Analytics techniques to detect tax evasion and fraud (Janssen & Kuk, 2016). In addition, Cambell in 2014, examines how Big Data can increase operational efficiency, help in cross border sharing of information and closing the tax gap. Tax evasion in Greece has been a chronic problem, with recent European statistics depicting for 2017 a EUR 7.4 billion in VAT Revenue lost in Greece and EUR 137 billion lost EU-wide (EU VAT Gap study 2019). As the statistics show, there is plenty of room for improvement.
The ability to use properly and analyse the data sets gathered from various sources like electronic citizen registries, vehicle registries, property registries, business registries and lately social media accounts and user generated content on the web, needs capable and skilled professionals. In addition, it is of paramount importance that the Greek legal framework and legislation strengthen with surgical moves and allow or even enforce the cooperation between private companies and Greek tax authorities, always respecting personal data. Big Data Analytics and machine learning techniques (Grigoriadis et al., 2023) can help narrow down the tax gap and increase public revenues.
The electronic payment systems and gateways could prove a valuable source of Big Data that could be put into the collection of tax collection tools, in order to identify the spending habits and patterns of taxpayers. Specially crafted algorithms, thereafter, can assist in the tracing of irregularities between spending and tax filling information.
Reducing red tape and enhancing public administration effectiveness through public electronic registries
Greek bureaucracy constitutes an actual heavy burden for businesses, researchers, citizens, and prospective investors. In European Commissions’ country report (2019) for Greece, it is referenced that even though recent reforms have focused on improving Greek public administration, still there is a lot of space for improvement. World Bank’s “Doing Business 2020” study, ranks Greece 79 out of 190 countries with Greece being the second hardest European Union country after Malta to do business in. Considering these facts, it becomes evident that Big Data reform should focus on eliminating existing obstacles within public administration, rather than exacerbating them.
Recent press releases, centre the spotlight on some of the previously analysed systems, specifically there are concerns that “Ergani” needs refactoring in many processes to minimize bureaucratic steps and optimize work related issues (Special Report SEV 2019 “Upgrade of IS Ergani”).
Part of the upgrade measures for “Ergani” include the use of the Single Government Cloud (G-Cloud Services) which guarantees uptime to 100%. G-cloud’s ambition is to gather all public technological infrastructure and public information systems in a single supercomputer under the umbrella of the Ministry of Digital Governance, Law 4623/2019 (Government Gazette No. 134), par. 3b and 3c, no. 48, in order to maintain safe operation, speed up and facilitate procedures related to citizens’ information and personal data, while at the same time, it reduces the costs of having separate ΙΤ infrastructures. The primary goal of this merging is to establish easy interconnections between public information systems, to reduce red tape.
If the interconnection of public systems is successful and continues, in theory, prospective investors will be able to retrieve information for their potential investments and accomplish their project plans with fewer obstacles in less time, citizens will not be obliged to visit multiple public organizations to retrieve documents for their transactions with public authorities because all information will be centrally stored. Moreover, researchers will have at their disposal the proper tools to assist them in managing their projects’ logistics and focus on their actual research and finally, businesses will be able to perform in a business-friendly environment that will allow them to fulfil their duties towards the state without adding more operational costs. In the end, the main winner who will benefit the most from such interventions is the public administration itself.
Opportunities for Big Data Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
The digitizing industry strategy reinforces the role of Public Private Partnerships to focus on key technologies and their implementation through federated projects. More than EUR 20 billion is to be invested until 2020 in the context of the Digital Single Market.14 Over the years, European Union has put significant amounts of funds and a lot of effort to reinforce PPPs with long lasting strategies aiming at the public welfare.
Essential partnerships in a fast-paced world of digital technology where not all member states are equally initiated. Big Data is the basis of such partnerships. With Big Data as the keystone and private sector know-how and expertise open sourced or publicly owned new technologies can be developed.
Nominally, the EU amongst other projects is investing in “The Factories of the Future” and “The Future Internet platform FIWARE”. “The Factories of the Future”. PPP is an initiative aiming to support and secure EUs industrial production, since it is still an important catalyst of the European economy. Rapid technological changes and global competition require funds and research in order to ensure stability for production, markets, and the workforce alike. All levels of enterprises contribute by providing data and research material, in some numbers, more than 200 projects have been completed since 2008 and more than 1000 organizations across Europe participate. “The Future Internet platform FIWARE” is an open-source web platform, for the collaboration and distribution of data and information. It focuses on research and innovation and the development of smart solutions using open data for smart cities, agriculture, healthcare, transport, energy & environment, media & content, manufacturing and logistics and social & learning.
Finally, yet importantly, smaller scale projects like Datathons and Hackathons sponsored by private companies and organized by public authorities may propose and invent important applications with great impact on our daily lives. Such initiatives have already occurred over the past years in many European countries, with the first health Datathon taking place in Greece in 201915.
Privacy and freedom issues
Concerns regarding privacy issues and limitations on user freedom arising from the use of Big Data emerged very early. The adoption of Big Data analytics practices and the created correlations between data sets disturb international privacy laws, as far as the distinction between personal and non-personal data is concerned (Rubinstein, 2013; Aho & Duffield, 2020). For these reasons, many countries, like USA with California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), Australia with the Federal Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and its Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) and the European Union which has already taken measures since 1995 with the Directive 95/46/EC that has today evolved to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are trying to protect individuals and put a measure and restrictions on the vastness of information and circulating data.
GDPR is the EU 2016/679 regulation with the main goal of the protection of persons in the processing of their personal data and the free transfer of such data. GDPR has been transposed into the national legislation with law 4624/2019.16
Transparency on the purpose of usage of the collected data and the user’s consent is required for a controller, processor, or recipient to utilize the user’s data. Greek healthcare authorities and professionals need to put special attention to patient medical records that under GDPR constitute a special category of data.
Furthermore, the concentration of all information systems under one infrastructure can be very risky in case of a data breach, since data sets from multiple systems will be accessed. Big Data has become a commodity17 in legal, shadow, and black markets alike, with an estimated market value in hundreds of billions.18 For this reason, hackers will always try to find ways to get possession of personal data on the contrary public authorities and IT experts must be ever vigilant. In addition, the extent of information private companies can get a hold of is intimidating and targeted advertising can to an extent limit the individual’s options and choices.
Conclusions and policy implications
The economic recession has hit Greece’s economy hard. Yet, constitutes a common belief the fact that more needs to be done with fewer resources than before. The followed approach combined governance with performance and laid the foundation for further quantitative research that will prove whether the performance change is actually due to institutional change (governance) or due to technology adoption or a combination of both and maybe some other factor. To this end, the 4th industrial revolution and Big Data particularly could prove an important tool for the necessary leap in the 21st century for the Greek public sector. Through this major reform, the whole mechanism of the economy can be transformed via targeted interventions in sectors such as health, education, transport, and manufacturing. Red tape and “bureaupathology” can be minimized with positive effects for businesses, researchers, citizens, and prospective investors.
Greece is not in the pole position regarding Big Data implementation. Fast and ultrafast broadband is not widely spread, and prices remain high comparably to other European countries. Internet user skills and advanced IT skills remain mostly misused in private and the public sector, while business digitisation, e-commerce, e-Government, and e-health remain relatively low (DESI, 2019).
This fact makes proper digital strategy setting and policies implementation steps of high importance. A long term, coherent, and realistic national digital strategy should be put into place considering European and international best practices regarding Big Data implementation and a series of tangible policies needs to be started.
Firstly, open data projects need to be fully flagged to the whole range of the public sector (e-Government growth stage 4) with the provision of a demand driven, joined-up government that will provide Big Data public services in due time (e-Government growth stage 5). Secondly, education and vocational policies regarding e-government services use should be included in the typical (schools, universities) and non-typical (seminars, webinars, open-lessons) training to improve the penetration rate of digital public services. Nevertheless, Big Data per se does not offer much to people without knowledge and tools of data mining, research techniques and a certain degree of computer literacy. It is the duty of the State and the right of the citizen to include Big Data in the education system adjoint with informatics and to adapt academic research techniques and procedures to a direction that can make the most of Big Data registries. Thirdly, investment in infrastructure regarding super-fast broadband internet speed, centrally built IT facilities, and an increase of the cloud-based technology should be set as a high priority.The next steps involve expanding the appropriate IT infrastructure throughout the entire Greek public sector to facilitate the full implementation of open data to the public in a standardized format and within a swift timeframe. As of today, achieving full implementation of Big Data in the Greek public sector appears somewhat distant but not unattainable. Effective policy implementation, coupled with infrastructure investment and the nurturing of a conducive public culture, has the potential to propel economic development towards the 21st century and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
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Lotsis S, Georgousis I and Papakostas GA. Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.144350.1)
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Ma S. Reviewer Report For: Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.158130.r402813)
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Reviewer Report 27 Aug 2025
Approved with Reservations
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1. The first section lacks innovation. We suggest that the authors add relevant content.
2. References should cite results from the last three years as much as possible.
3. The limitations and future prospects of this paper should ... Continue reading
2. References should cite results from the last three years as much as possible.
3. The limitations and future prospects of this paper should ... Continue reading
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HOW TO CITE THIS REPORT
Ma S. Reviewer Report For: Big Data as a reform opportunity for public sector and real economy: The case of Greece [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. F1000Research 2024, 13:234 (https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.158130.r402813)
The direct URL for this report is:
https://f1000research.com/articles/13-234/v1#referee-response-402813
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