Digitalization Without Exclusion: Technology Should Be Designed for People

Digitalization is accelerating.

More and more public services, business processes, education, and communication are moving into the digital world. For part of society, this means convenience, time savings, and greater access to information.

For others, however, it may mean the creation of yet another barrier.

That is why the discussion about digitalization should not be limited to the question:

“What else can we move online?”

We should also ask:

“Will people be able to use this solution?”

Digitalization is not only about technology

It is very easy to equate digitalization with creating new systems, portals, applications, or electronic services.

Yet genuine digital transformation is, above all, a change in how people and institutions operate.

We can create the best electronic system, but if its user:

• does not understand the interface,
• is afraid of making a mistake,
• does not have the necessary skills,
• does not understand the official language,
• cannot confirm their identity,
• does not know where to seek help,

then technology has not solved that person’s problem.

In some cases, it has created a new one.

A new kind of exclusion

Digital exclusion no longer means only the lack of a computer or Internet access.

A person may own a smartphone and use social media every day while still experiencing serious difficulties with:

• online banking,
• public services,
• electronic signatures,
• public administration applications,
• account security,
• assessing the credibility of information,
• using artificial intelligence.

A new divide is therefore emerging.

It is not between people who have Internet access and those who do not.

Increasingly, the divide runs between those who can function effectively in a digital environment and those who use it only at a superficial level.

Artificial intelligence can narrow this gap

Interestingly, artificial intelligence can become both a source of new exclusion and a tool for reducing it.

A well-designed AI assistant can help a person:

• understand a difficult document,
• draft a letter,
• explain an unfamiliar term,
• translate information,
• find the correct procedure,
• learn how to use a tool,
• organize information.

Technology is therefore beginning to take on the role of a digital guide.

This does not mean, however, that we can abandon education.

Quite the opposite.

The more advanced technology becomes, the more important it is to teach people how to use it consciously.

The digital skills of the future

For many years, digital skills meant knowing how to operate a computer.

Today, that is clearly not enough.

Modern digital skills include, among other things:

• security,
• privacy,
• critical thinking,
• evaluating sources,
• the conscious use of AI,
• recognizing manipulation,
• managing one’s digital identity,
• solving problems with the help of technology.

The most important skill, however, may become the ability to adapt.

Technology will change faster than education programs.

That is why we must teach people more than how to use specific tools.

We must teach them how to explore new ones independently.

People remain the point of reference

At the Vis in Unitate Foundation, we want to look at digitalization first and foremost from a human perspective.

Good digital transformation should not be assessed solely by the number of systems implemented.

It should also be assessed by how many people have genuinely gained new opportunities because of it.

Technology should simplify the world.

Not make it even more complicated.

That is why we see the future of digitalization as a combination of three elements:

technology + education + people.

Because digitalization makes sense only when it serves people.