This was the view expressed by Philip Goddard, Special Envoy to the Government of Barbados for Technology, Trade and Investment, during his presentation at last week's Information Society of Barbados (ISB) Conference.
He made the point that there are those in the public sector that have developed a very good reputation and must be commended for giving their greatest efforts when it comes to per- forming the business of Government. However, the majority of the popu-lation does not view the public sector in this way, and in his opinion, this is with good reason.
The adoption of ICT in the public sector, he hopes, would lead to the improvement of workflow, transparency, reduce unnecessary time consumption - physical trips to and from offices that result in time being spent out of the office all leading to an increase in speed and efficiency. In response to the question as to whether the introduction of ICT to perform certain tasks would make certain jobs redundant, and there- fore infringe on the Gov-ernment's role as an employer, the Special Envoy stated that he sees nothing wrong with this, once the Barbados economy grows as a result of the utilisation of ICT. This growth, he argued, would result in the development of other areas of productive activity, leading to the creation of jobs in these areas, which would subsequently facilitate a move by individuals from the public to the private sector.
Goddard also stated that he would want to see the "e" in what is being called "e-government" become invisible, and that the "e", this being the electronic or ICT system, becomes a process that is deemed to be as simple as a client or customer making a phone call to any agency with which he or she is looking to conduct any business.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Randy Howard
Quelle/Source: The Barbados Advocate, 23.10.2006
