Expert exposes massive failure rate for e-gov projects: As much as 85 percent of e-government projects in developing countries are failures, according to an estimate by the World Bank. Speaking at an e-government seminar in Bangalore in India, Robert Schware, the World Bank's Lead Informatics Specialist, said that around 35 percent of e-government projects in the developing world were total failures, while about 50 percent could be deemed partial failures. "There are equal numbers of very sad statistics about the number of failed implementations in the US and Europe," Schware also noted. The World Bank is in the process of completing a study of national e-strategies across 40 countries. "There is consensus in the strategies that e-government can provide realistic and immediate benefits in terms of improved government productivity, effectiveness and cost savings," he said. The World Bank expert revealed that one of the main reasons e-government projects fail is through the lack of a compelling business case which takes into account affordability, costs, long-term benefits and short-term trade-offs. Schware also noted that there tended to be an over-reliance on technology alone to drive projects.
UK councils set to meet e-government targets: Local councils in the UK are on track to reach the government's target for e-enabling their services. Local e-government minister Phil Hope, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), said that local authorities will have brought 100 percent of their services online by the end of 2005, reports Kable's Government Computing website. Hope predicted that 86 percent of councils would be e-enabled by the start of April 2005. "The overall picture is one of steady progress, but there is no room for complacency as 2005 gets closer," he said. The minister said that the launch of the National Projects was supporting the rollout of e-services. The National Projects is a STG80 million programme set up to help give councils access to key electronic services. Eleven of 23 projects have been launched, and hundreds of partnerships have been established. The ODPM is now focusing on encouraging local authorities to use products from the National Projects and to realise the benefits of e-government.
German city trials m-ticketing: Transport authorities in Frankfurt, Germany, have announced the launch of a pilot scheme to trial wireless mobile ticketing in the nearby city of Hanau. The trial, which will be run in conjunction with Philips and mobile handset maker Nokia, will begin early in 2005. Users of Nokia's 3220 mobile phones will be able to equip their handsets with a high-tech shell, designed by Philips, that can be used to pay for and store electronic transport tickets. The technology in the shell will be compatible with an existing electronic ticketing system that has been implemented throughout Hanau. Users of the new system will simply need to touch their phones against contactless readers, which are already in place, as they get on and off a bus in order to register their journey. "Local ticketing is a great example of how mobility can bring completely new value to consumers and companies that serve them," said Jarkko Sairanen, vice president, Strategy and Planning, at Nokia Technology Platforms.
Socitm provides e-charter for Wales: Welsh politicians and policymakers need to focus on the possibilities that e-government offers, concludes a new report by Socitm (Society of IT Management), an organisation of local government IT managers. The "e-charter" sets out a strategic focus for the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities and other stakeholders to "take e-government to the next level", by transforming public services. The report says that Wales still has a long way to go to achieve its aim of providing universal access to services using ICT (information and communications technologies). According to Chris Guest, president of Socitm, the report highlights many exciting ICT initiatives at national and local level, including the Broadband Wales Programme, but is also a call to action for the Welsh Assembly Government. "A clear set of e-government objectives set out by the WAG, and a structure and investment plan to back them, could enable the learning and success of the projects included in the report to be spread more widely, providing a consistent basis of sustainable improvement in service delivery across Wales," he said.
US tax site wins reliability award: The US federal government's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been judged to have the most reliable e-government website in the US. Web performance monitoring firm Keynote Systems recognised the site, IRS.gov, in its inaugural Keynote Performance Awards, which assess e-government, e-commerce, and online travel sites in terms of speed and reliability. The IRS was given the award for Best Transaction Reliability, with an average score of 99.8 percent. The award is based on Keynote's E-Government Web Transaction Performance Index, which measures a user's ability to click through a number of pages on a site and successfully find the information required. Three aspects of each transaction are measured: accessing the home page, entering a search topic and selecting a specific search result. "The IRS is strongly committed to the use of technology to help taxpayers, and taxpayers are embracing this technology," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. New services recently added to the IRS website include the "Where's My Refund?" feature and a range of tools to help tax practitioners interact with the IRS over the internet.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.Net, 10.11.2004
