MARIGOT--To modernise the territorial administration by implementing digital transformation or e-governance, elimination or removing of official paper documents to better serve citizens, reduce expenses and simplify administrative operations in several areas of competence was a campaign promise of Team Gibbs 2017. The digital transformation applies to different levels: modernization of public administration, digitalization in schools, digital simplification for the socio-professionals of the territory, and digitalized service for citizens.
To this end, the Collectivité has undertaken, with its operators Dauphin Télécom, Orange Caraïbes, MSR, THDTEL, CANAL +, to provide very high-speed Internet access deployed throughout the country and to modernise its administration, thanks to the technological support of its main IT service provider, Computech. At the end of this major work, which will last two years, St. Martin will become the first overseas territory to be fully equipped with optical fibre.
At the same time, the Collectivité is gradually improving services to residents. Access to information is privileged, in particular through the new mobile application My Saint-Martin, which can be downloaded from the Google Store and Apple store, which allows one to receive practical and current information directly on one’s mobile, a very extensive website updated daily (www.com-saint-martin.fr) and a very active Facebook page on daily news (Collectivité de Saint-Martin - Our News).
The dematerialization of services to the population is already underway with online services such as procedures for obtaining civil status documents (online application on the website speeds up the processing of applications), school enrolment and subscription to the territorial scholarship, thanks to a specially dedicated platform on the Collectivité's website.
From now on, the Territorial Council meetings are completely dematerialized. The plenary meeting of the Council on November 14 marked the first session without the use of paper, with elected officials having access to all the documents necessary for the session on the "Portal of the Elected Representatives", a collaborative space accessible via a digital tablet. The Territorial Council meeting on December 13 will confirm this operation, which is now part of a long-term strategy.
President Daniel Gibbs and Territorial Councillor Jean-Sébastien Hamlet, who is in charge of setting up e-governance within the Collectivité, are aware of the challenges of dematerialization, which facilitates the work of elected officials and territorial technicians and limits paper consumption and therefore environmental damage.
As Jean-Sébastien Hamlet points out: "e-governance is a priority that not only makes it possible to improve the organisation of services and their productivity, but also transparency because everyone has access to the same level of information.”
Internal communication is more effective thanks to the collaborative tools that are gradually being deployed. Access to information for the Collectivité’s services is also simplified and centralized on secure and organized intranet spaces. The long-term objective is to standardise administrative procedures through generic, shared and reusable digital services, based on approved technical standards and specifications, to reduce development cost, shorten deployment times and increase inter-operability.
All these data are thus a think tank that allows the Collectivité's departments to compile statistics while respecting the Data Protection Regulation (DPR) and to set up a cooperative policy that targets the needs of citizens and specifies actions accordingly.
The Collectivité continues its efforts to modernize territorial administration. Said President Gibbs: "It is essential today to be part of an approach to simplify access to information for all. Technology is a transversal driving force that plays an essential role in all branches of governance.”
