E-government is an attainable goal, according to findings of an Accenture study released yesterday, but even the most advanced e-governance implementations are still only halfway there.
The report, "Rhetoric vs Reality? Closing the Gap," reveals all countries surveyed have a long way to go. Accenture researchers attempted to conduct business with 22 governments via the Internet, role-playing as citizens and businesses in their own countries.
Service sectors on which they focused included human services, justice and public safety, revenue, defense, education, administration, transportation, regulation and democracy, and postal. A total of 165 services potentially offered by national government services were studied.
Evaluation criteria
Governments were evaluated on the basis of delivery maturity and service maturity.
[VIDEO]Delivery maturity, a new aspect of this year`s study, assessed the sophistication of the electronic mechanism used to deliver service, with the most mature services being those which allowed citizens and businesses to interact with government via a portal designed according to anticipated citizen and business needs. Through such a single point of entry, citizens and businesses could gain easy access to services across government agencies.
Service maturity measured the level to which a government had developed an online presence. This measurement took into account the number of services that were the responsibility of a national government to provide and the completeness with which they are offered online. The level of this maturity is categorised as publishing, interacting or transacting.
Accenture`s interpretation of the findings is encouraging. The report established four categories of e-governments - innovative leaders, visionary followers, steady achievers and platform builders.
Canada, Singapore and the US, countries categorised as innovative leaders, have completed less than half of the work required to develop and provide fully mature online government, both in terms of service and delivery models. These countries` continued leadership in the creation of e-government and more mature online services set them apart from the other 19 countries studied, the report says.
Norway, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands and the UK are identified as visionary followers, demonstrating both a high number of services online and moderate sophistication.
New Zealand, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Germany and Belgium are categorised as steady achievers, as they offer a large breadth of services with significant opportunity to mature their service level and delivery model.
And, Japan, Brazil, Malaysia, SA, Italy and Mexico are labelled "Platform Builders" with low levels of online service, positioning them well to develop a coordinated cross-agency Web presence.
The South African perspective
Accenture SA partner, Willem Strauss, believes the most successful forays into local e-governance will stem from initiatives such as Mytax.co.za, which will be launched in June.
[VIDEO]People will be able to submit VAT returns online and do the payment and settlement between the banks online. This has positive implications for business, especially, says Strauss, as they can benefit from an extra five days that can be saved through electronic submission of returns.
With its drive to both online returns filing and a focus on customer relationship management, Strauss believes that the South African Revenue Service is heading in the right direction, and setting a good example.
Comparatively speaking, though, SA`s e-government initiative is nowhere near as aggressive as that of its closest peer, Brazil. That country, says Strauss, presents a good example of the digital divide being addressed. "They`re trying to create 250 000 access points for citizens."
In stark contrast, SA`s plan to create access, the public information terminal project, will start roll-out of the first 100 terminals in the next few months.
"The only real difference is that the Brazilian implementation has been more aggressive than the South African attempt. The difference between SA and any other country [surveyed] is only a two year gap."
Other findings
The research also showed that understanding and use of e-government is moving up the maturity curve very slowly. Only in rare instances, such as in the case of Ireland`s Revenue Online System, can businesses transact with government via the Internet.
[VIDEO]It also found that portals are emerging as a means of bringing order and customer-focus to e-government services. Canada, Singapore and the US all have introduced nationwide portals to provide citizens a single point of access to government. However, few good portal sites exist and those that do have a long way to go to be truly customer-focused and intentions-based.
The study shows a few government organisations are employing more sophisticated techniques, such as customer relationship management, founding their e-government programs on intentions-based designs and developing portals to provide online services across agencies from a single Web site.
Among the few government organisations demonstrating this level of delivery maturity and employing customer relationship management is the US Postal Service. Its customers can establish an online postal account to purchase stamps or pay utility bills. Similarly, postal organisations in Finland and the Netherlands ranked highly in the provision of electronic services.
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