Heute 500

Gestern 897

Insgesamt 39397156

Freitag, 29.03.2024
eGovernment Forschung seit 2001 | eGovernment Research since 2001

While mobification of e-governance programs is a step in the right direction, roping in telco partners could help unlock and realize true citizen reach and impact potential of these programs

The m-governance architects have been quick enough to recognize the efficacy of the mobile platform from a strategic point of view. Among various steps taken in the direction of making m-governance a reality, the development of Mobile Seva Store has been particularly significant. However, despite being touted as a next big thing, the adoption of m-Seva apps has remained low. A reason cited for this is that the apps were not ported for the popular platforms like Android and iOS at the outset, which led to a low visibility for the apps.

The store boasts of no less than 637 live apps that have recorded a cumulative download of 345,393 at the time of writing this article. However, individually the apps are yet to realize their potentials, with the top performing app being UPOne at 17,862 downloads as of date. This easily contrasts with many general apps in Google Play and Apple App Store that have seen more than a million downloads, even which is considered a modest benchmark of success.

One pointer to a potential gap in the design and delivery of government apps may be seen in the fact that while the mygov.in website notes 1.21 million registered users for MyGov as well as more than 131,000 submissions across 198 tasks, the linked app on Google Play store shows an installed range of 10,000 to 50,000 only. Telcos could offer push-based mechanisms to help drive the adoption and usage of these apps.

However, in a country like India where smart phone penetration is still low and where literacy is not widely and uniformly prevalent, apps alone may not suffice as an m-governance strategy.

What measures could the stakeholders be taking to ensure that any gaps in the design and delivery of m-governance programs, including apps, be addressed? Is there a vital missing link?

Think telecom service providers. Their service delivery capabilities (and not just the network reach) have evolved much beyond just vanilla network services and are very much geared to support m-governance solutioning needs across a range of categories. Telcos'ubiquitous reach across all socioeconomic segments makes them the ideal vehicle for delivery of both government-to-government and government-to-citizen services which touch the lives of millions of citizens. For example, IVR-based services make communication an easy and transparent process. Telcos offer such services that give them ease to connect over IVR, select options, make a request, get confirmation and close the transaction without any human intervention.

Here are some of the areas where telcos can serve as effective partners for m-enabling the various e-governance services:

  • Traffic challan automation:

    Manual traffic challan systems have been known to be fraught with numerous problems, ranging from lack of transparency in accounting from a citizen's standpoint to difficulties in referring to an offender's history from the traffic official's viewpoint. Moreover, the paperwork can be time-consuming and inefficient. Automation and mobification of the challan processes have been seen to address all these gaps and also to make challans a seamless activity.

  • Video surveillance with vehicle tracking solutions (VTS):

    These solutions could be applied to derive significant benefits in areas such as city traffic systems and patrolling; public distribution systems, VIP escort vehicles, and healthcare services like ambulance. Control-room styled monitoring and command systems for vehicles fitted with VTS gears with end-to-end integration with the tracking solution could help ensure just-in-time provisioning of resources to help ensure their safe, smooth and speedy movements with minimal disruption to other traffic. In sectors like public healthcare, these solutions could be effectively applied in areas such as ambulance tracking.

  • Utilities distribution and smart billing:

    By leveraging their ubiquitous mobile broadband networks, telcos are uniquely positioned to help safeguard against thefts and pilferages in the power and water distribution systems, which not only disrupt the benefits from reaching to the needy citizens but are also a cause of increased carbon footprints.

  • Financial inclusion solutions:

    With the Reserve Bank of India approving payment bank licenses for some select telcos, they are ideally suited to support the government in achieving its financial inclusion goals. Large telcos with pan-India reach and with hundreds of million subscribers, including in rural and unbanked areas, can effectively leverage their vast retail networks to double up as payment bank centers for the benefit of masses in a truly effective manner.

  • Information dissemination apps:

    While Mobile Seva Store apps like MyGov are designed for direct citizen participation in governance by providing an avenue for channelizing their ideas, comments and creative suggestions to ministries and associated organizations, they have had limited reach so far. Telcos could be leveraged to massify these apps, say, by way of service-message prompts, among other means.

  • Healthcare and vaccination alerts:

    Telcos could design a judicious mix of app- and SMS-based vaccination alerts to parents of children that are due for vaccinations. Further, voice-based messages could be delivered to parents in rural and semi-urban areas where SMS literacy and usage is low and also other means of information dissemination are not prevalent. Such messages can be mass messages in case of vaccination drives like polio, or could be targeted messages that may be delivered to parents who have registered with local health centres to receive individualized alerts. These solutions could also be used to monitor delivery of mother and child care.

---

Quelle/Source: Empowering Enterprises, 18.11.2015

Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:

Zum Seitenanfang