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Offering eGov services
Electronic Government (eGov) is a term for Government use of the web to serve its customers. However, it is even harder to define who the customer is for Government than it is for industry.
Governments can use web-based technology in a number of ways. They can use intranets just like companies, to educate their internal staff and facilitate collaboration. They can use extranets for project management and collaboration with government contractors. The can use electronic commerce both as buyer and as seller. They can use supply channel solutions for procurement and inventory management. They can use CRM for both internal and external customers. They are even beginning to choose ERP platforms over legacy systems for financial management.
But while the Government can often use the same tools and platforms as companies, the public sector is different from the private sector in some important ways. Businesses typically define customers as buyers. Even overhead functions whose customers may be internal are structured around ultimately supporting a paying customer.
Governments tend to define customers as those they serve. Without the necessity of a financial transaction (although fee-based services can be part of the equation), there is less focus and precision regarding who the customer is. A Government customer could be another agency, another Government (local/state/Federal/international), a contractor, industry, associations, politicians, lobbying groups, or even citizens.
In fact, "Service to the Citizen" is where eGov is primarily focused. eGov services can streamline how Governments interact with their ultimate customer. There are two chief benefit driving Governments' interest in eGov: 1) it can lower costs, especially for paper-bound processes that are re-engineered to become paperless; and 2) it can improve their relationship with their ultimate customer by making the Government more accessible, understandable, and easier to work with. Reduced budgets have forced Governments to seek out new ways of operating. eGov gives them a means to achieve their mission in spite of reduced staffing.
Implementing eGov solves problems, but it is not without its difficulties. For starters, it assumes an electronic environment with sufficiently robust infrastructures. A Government agency must have its data online, in appropriate and accessible formats, its staff must be online, and it must have the networks and bandwidth required to support the eGov applications. Often, the biggest problem is accessing the legacy data and systems. Sometimes they have to be migrated first. To be truly successful, the agency must also be prepared to re-engineer its processes. You cannot simply take a paper-based process, make it electronic and consistently achieve success.
Another issue raised by eGov is data sharing. When agencies combine efforts to deliver re-engineered service to the citizen that crosses institutional boundaries, they often have to implement data sharing and application integration standards. In the long term, this is where eGov efforts will succeed or fail. Whoever controls the standards for application integration is in the driver’s seat. Therefore, when seeking to form a partnership with a Government customer to deliver eGov solutions, pay close attention to the standards environment. If you are there at the beginning, help them define their standards. If you don't, someone else will.
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