E-Government: Concepts and Advances

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have already proved that, appropriately used, they have an extraordinary transformational power in the functioning of public administration.

Governments from throughout the world, from national, regional or local levels, needed an excuse to re-invent themselves and found it in the form of the internet and its endless possibilities to improve both intra-governmental operations and external government relationships.

The fact that government procurement activity averages 17% of the GDP of any country, according to the OECD, makes the idea of making the public administration more efficient and transparent not just attractive but badly needed.

ICT have let citizens taste the sweet flavor of easily available information, fast and laneless government procedures, transparent public spending, etc., and those citizens crave for more. Businesses and citizens alike increasingly demand not just efficiency and transparency in public resources management, but also the establishment of a well-functioning environment that facilitates the access to education, health, employment and any other public service.

Incorporating ICT to the public administration and the society at large is not an easy task. Problems like cultural resistance to change, scarce financial resources and the digital gap, obligate governments to carefully plan to solve those critical aspects. In this regard, experts and academics have come up with valuable roadmaps that can help overcome many of these obstacles. Appropriate planning, strong political support, fluid dialogue with the private sector, public employees engagement, continuous monitoring and citizen participation are generally recommended ingredients for the recipe of e-government success.

Those looking at e-government with skepticism may want to spend some time reading about the numerous worldwide initiatives that have started to pay back the investment made by the respective governments showing clear positive impact both on the government and the constituent sides. Tax collection, government procurement, licensing and basic procedures are the areas were e-government have experienced the most significant advances for the satisfaction of government leaders as well as citizens. These examples can be found at well-developed nations such as the United States, Australia or Canada, but also a developing nation like Colombia or Brazil.

On the other side, the need to gather political and financial support for these transformational plans based on the use of ICT, makes it a sine qua non requisite for governments to design an e-government strategy that can be used both as a business plan and as a marketing tool. This strategy document not only helps to sell the idea and guide the implementation initiatives afterwards, it also sets the grounds for the institutional aspect of e-government, the distribution of responsibilities, the legal requirements and the monitoring system.