E government “ILLUSION OR REALITY”

E government E government “ILLUSION OR REALITY”“ILLUSION OR REALITY”

M.Apostolova, M.Apostolova, Institute for Information Systems DevelopmentInstitute for Information Systems Development

Skopje, Republic of MacedoniaSkopje, Republic of Macedonia

Why Illusion?• Do we have a chance for Customer-centric

design philosophy • Develop directly challenges the traditional

notion of organisation boundaries and clear-cut lines of demarcation

• To transform Industrial Age big government into Knowledge Age smart government

Is it our Reality?• New Economy government organized

around the functions and the needs of citizens; with information and communication technologies as a key enabler of this reinvented government

What is the SEE Reality?

Macro Level Considerations1. Increase the investment spending on IT as a

share of GDP.2. Corporation’s re-engineering operations to make

better use of IT and to cut costs.3. Open financial markets and funding of

innovation.4. Developed venture capital for foster innovation.5. Encourage small businesses and create an

entrepreneurial Environment.6. The pace of deregulation must be increased.

Micro Level Considerations•Slow liberalisation of monopoly providers, keeping costs high.•Too much government controls, regulations and licensing requirements.• Lack of common, shared infrastructure.Lack of or inadequate legal framework, especially with respect

to e-commerce, information and infrastructure security and computer crime, consumer protection and privacy, or non-conformity with the developing global framework.Lack of government IT policy, intra-governmental organisation

and co-ordination.Lack of interaction between government, industry, academia,

and citizens, from the local level on up.Lack of IT skills in the workforce.Lack of support for entrepreneurs, small businesses.

WHAT TO DO?

BEGIN TO MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

“e-Macedonia for ALL”

• Preparation of a national strategy for becoming an information society and, as a part of it, a national strategy for converging telecommunications sectors, information and the content sectors (including the media, the electronic diffusion, the Internet, publishing and all types of intellectual property and authorship)

• Not delaying with preparation of the above-mentioned documents, but to undertake immediate actions.

For the Government of the Republic of Macedonia

a. To constitute a Committee (or an Agency) for IT,b. Preparation of an national strategy for IS development c. To establish a Faculty for Information technology, d. To establish an institution for electronic certificates and digital

signatures,e. To prepare legal regulations for:• 1. Standardization of the saving format, method of exchange and

use of the data in electronic format based on the XML language,• 2. Limited 2 year time tax reductions for retail trade transactions

via Internet,• 3. Introduction of a Web-Domain and e-mail address for the

companies and the institutions in the Republic of Macedonia,f. To Provide e- public procurement g. To equip each secondary school with a computer lab h. To stimulate translation and publication of IT literature,m. To create appropriate media campaign for the promotion of the

information society,

What we must have in mind?• Technology Growth• Benefits of eGovernment• Building eGovernment• Sociotechnical Alignment• Consequences of Not Moving

• Moore’s Law: Computing power doubles every 18 months, represents over 4,000 times increase over the past 28 years.

• Metcalf’s Law: The value of a network grows as the square of the number of its users.

• Gilder’s Law: Available bandwidth will triple every 12 months.

Technology Growth

Benefits of eGovernment

36%

23%

21%

13%

19%

34%

17%

23%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Government moreaccountable to

citizens

Greater publicaccess to

information

More effective/costeffective government

More convenientgovernment services

Public Government Officials

The Council for Excellence

in Government

September 2000

Building eGovernment

Technology & Communications Infrastructure

Trust- Privacy & Security

G2C G2B G2E G2G

eGovernment

Source: Scott Fairholm, Electronic Government Implementation Division, Commonwealth of Virginia www.egov.state.va.us

Successful development and implementation of e Government, e.g., e-procurement or e-tax collection, call centres, one-stop-shop/joined-up-government, community portals, depend not only on the technical ingredients but on the effectiveness of complex holistic processes of sociotechnical alignment

In these processes the technology interacts with citizens and players of many organisations with different governances, interests and pursuits, including effective interaction with 'heritage' systems and processes - as a way of bridging the past to the future.

Processes of Sociotechnical Alignment

What is Driving the Internet & the Push to eGovernment?

• Technology growth, both computing and telecommunications bandwidth

• Business Investment In and Adoption of Technology

• Growth in the Adoption of the Internet by Citizens/Consumers

• Changes in Citizen & Business Expectations• Competitive Pressures

What it takes to be successful in eGovernment

• Visionary leadership both political and executive

• An Organization-wide Strategy and Commitment

• Technology Leadership• Commitment to customer input and

customer focus• Partnerships• Funding

Barriers to eGovernment Implementation

• The protection of confidential information vs. the accessibility of information across traditional agency boundaries

• Sensitive data may be used or show up in the wrong place

• Web development costs• Resources to support operations• The level of experience in applying an enterprise-

wide perspective to eGovernment initiatives• Our ability to do, may be ahead of our ability to

manage

Consequences of Not Moving

• The larger the Gap between citizen expectations and government’s ability to deliver becomes, the harder it will be to catch up.

• Lost opportunities are biggest cost, most of which you may never be aware of.

• Costs of government will ultimately be higher

What is our experience?• EmunIS project• SEED project• eSkopje

www.emunis-ist.org

Nevertheless…...

Is the aspiration of Information society for All just an impossible dream?

ConclusionMaybe it is all an impossible dream. Yet! Let me

leave you with this thought

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old,

they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams(adapted from a letter from Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

I hope this will be the motivation for many of you to work together and pursue the noble goal of An

Information Society for All