An Overview of On-Site Contact Centers in Subnational Governments in Brazil

This paper presents an overview of on-site Contact Centers in Subnational Governments in Brazil. The research also addresses how these public services were impacted by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020. Public services needed to adapt to social distancing measures to prevent public servants from contracting and spreading the virus, so on-site delivered services either stop or face mandatory digital transformation. This research hypothesizes that Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic was a catalyst to digital transformation in Sub-national governments and impacted how services delivered on a face-to-face basis could be provided to citizens. A survey was conducted with 20 of 27 Brazilian states and the federal district questioning if the services of the On-site Contact Center needed to be suspended, which services were impacted by this condition and were digitally transformed, and finally, the key challenges that public servants faced in this process. This research concludes that, although the Covid-19 pandemic did improve digital transformation in Subnational Governments, on-site services are still important and needed by citizens as a learning space of digital services.