Speaking at a conference in Singapore yesterday, Fung said that the Hong Kong government's strategy was to use incentives and penalties to encourage residents to use more cost-effective service channels. Fung pointed to the example of the Government Electronic Trading Services initiative, which covered the submission of common trade-related documents to government. Since 2001 there has been mandatory electronic submission of documentation, and the service counters were closed down in order to push companies to move the document submission process online.
"This substantially reduced the operating costs of the department," said Fung. "We need to strike a balance between incentivising citizens to use new government service channels, and finding suitable disincentives."
Fung explained that the administration expected e-government to deliver tangible service benefits to citizens, and gave the example of a two week extension to tax filing deadlines when tax returns were filed online.
"Secure and reliable infrastructure and the 'e-option' do not automatically migrate customers to e-channels," said Fung. "We have found it necessary to place incentives to encourage customers to use the e-channels, thereby achieving efficiency gains, cost reductions and other broader policy objectives."
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 28.10.2004
