Digitalisation of the public sector in Thailand – Insights into Thailand's public sector digitalisation strategy

Background As Southeast Asia embraces digital technology, governments use it to make public services more efficient and accessible. This study explores Thailand’s digitalization efforts, focusing on how government agencies implement e-government services to improve services and reduce costs. Methods Using survey data from 288 representatives across central and regional government institutions, the research identifies key focus areas of Thailand’s digital strategy and evaluates its effectiveness through factor and descriptive analysis. Results The results show that digital tools are widely used in such sectors as defence, environmental protection, healthcare, and education. The results show that in Thailand, the digital tools contribute to enhancing service delivery, reduce administrative burden, and improve transparency. However, the results show that the financial benefits are frequently underassessed during project planning and evaluation. Only a small number of agencies report to systematically measure the financial returns of ICT projects, despite their long-term potential to strengthen public finances. Challenges to effective digital transformation include uneven digital literacy, low service maturity and limited data integration across agencies. Moreover, concerns about data security and access disparities between urban and rural populations pose further challenges. Discussion/Conclusions Thailand’s case demonstrates that digitalization can drive both efficiency and inclusivity, but its success depends on coordinated implementation, robust evaluation and targeted efforts to improve digital skills among citizens and public sector employees.