Even though Estonia was well known as a leader in digital public services, some government departments had been less successful than others in their digitalisation efforts. In particular, the social insurance board had struggled to get their digital platform for social protection benefits off the ground: between 2017 and 2022, the project had eaten up €23 million and achieved only a quarter of its intended goals. 

This case study centres around the decision of whether to discontinue or try to salvage an unsuccessful digitalisation project. By analysing the social insurance board’s challenges to digitalisation, the case will be used to evaluate factors that contribute to unsuccessful digitalisation efforts, and in doing so, identify how governments can build up the skills to successfully digitalise.