London council sells abandoned cars on eBay: The London borough of Westminster in England has begun selling abandoned cars on eBay's online auction website. Up to now, the council had been using a specialist auction house to dispose of roadworthy vehicles that are either abandoned or repossessed due to non-payment of fines or taxes. The borough has to dispose of around 30 such cars every year. In a move aimed at making the disposal process more efficient, as well as avoiding the payment of commission fees to regular auction houses, the council decided to run a six-month trial of selling vehicles through popular e-auction site eBay.co.uk. The council has sold two vehicles since the trial began in mid-March: a 1996 Range Rover, which went for STG6,600, and a 1962 Rover P5, for a winning bid of STG4,100. A vehicle only needs to sell for about STG1,000 for the council to cover its costs. If the trial is deemed a success, Westminster hopes to sell two to three cars a week through eBay.
European councils put e-government on the agenda: E-government is now a permanent fixture on the agenda for the majority of local councils across Europe, according to a new survey by Deloitte and TeleCities. Some 80 percent of the 102 European cities that participated in the "eCitizenship for All 2004" survey have developed an e-government policy, including the delivery of services electronically. The study revealed that councils are focusing their cost-reduction and efficiency efforts through analysing the real needs of citizens and businesses. In fact, 79 percent of survey participants said that meeting the demands of citizens and businesses was the most important factor driving the implementation of e-government in their organisation. Other factors noted for driving change were moves to streamline internal processes (61 percent), increase productivity (59 percent), improve performance (59 percent) and reduce costs (50 percent). The results of the second annual benchmarking survey were revealed at the Eurocities Knowledge Society Forum - TeleCities spring conference in Tallinn, Estonia.
SAP partners with Danish IT specialist: Business software giant SAP has announced a strategic partnership with Danish IT firm KMD, aimed at developing software related to social services and social security processes. SAP says that this area has enormous growth potential among public sector organisations, as social security and social services software systems typically account for 25 percent of a government's IT budget. SAP and KMD, which is already a provider of software and services to the public sector in Denmark, plan to focus their initial development efforts on software that delivers illness and maternity leave benefits. The two companies described these areas as "high-demand scenarios" that involve process flows that can also be applied to other key areas of social services and social security. SAP already has a number of alliances in the public sector space, including a recently announced agreement with IBM to develop and market solutions for the global social services and social security market, with an initial focus on child welfare agencies.
Arkansas enables online payments to prisoners: Friends and family of prisoners in the state of Arkansas in the US can now avail of an online service that makes it easier to deposit money into inmates' accounts. The Arkansas Department of Correction has teamed up with the Information Network of Arkansas to offer the payment service through the state's portal site, www.Arkansas.gov. Funds can be charged electronically to Visa, Mastercard or Discover credit cards, and payments are processed through Arkansas.gov's secure payment server. Until now, sending money to inmates was slow or costly: the only options were to send a wire transfer or mail a cheque or money order. Overnight delivery of such items can cost as much as USD14. "This new online payment option will reduce the administrative burden for our agency and also save time and money for family members and friends of inmates," said Sheila Sharp, assistant director of Administrative Services for the Arkansas Department of Correction. The service is one of a number of e-services offered through the portal. Other facilities include the payment of business and property taxes, the purchase of state police accident records, and a criminal background check system.
Germany to launch e-ticketing system: The German government is to roll out a national ticketing system for public transport systems based on RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. RFID is a technology for storing, receiving and transmitting data via antennas on tags (similar to barcodes) that respond to radio frequency queries. Following a successful trial of the system, hundreds of transport firms around the country are set to use the e-ticketing system, which involves the use of smartcards for passengers and the implementation of RFID technology on trains and buses. The technology will enable the capture of passenger data and will allow the appropriate charges to be made. IT services firm T-Systems worked with the VDV, the German public transport authority, on the trial. The German government is expected to approve the system later this year, and it is due to be rolled out in 2006.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews, 28.04.2005
