The delay in the establishment of a central Public Service Broker (PSB), the centerpiece to Ireland's e-government strategy, has slowed the growth of e-government in Republic, according to management consultancy and technology services company Accenture. Once this fundamental enabler is in place, growth could take off once again, said the firm's fifth annual e-government report. When completed, the Public Services will serve as a kind of central nervous system for Irish e-government services, linking practically all government departments and agencies so that information on citizens can be shared. Once in place, citizens will be able to, for example, sign up for multiple social services such as child benefit, unemployment assistance and rent allowance at the same time on a single Web site.
In this year's study, Ireland was tied with Belgium and Japan in 11th place, the same position the Republic held in the 2003 report from Accenture. In 2002, Ireland had the number 10 spot. Topping this year's list for the fourth consecutive year was Canada, followed by Singapore and the United States, which tied for second.
E-government is defined by Accenture as the provision of information about services and the ability to conduct government transactions via the Internet. A total of 12 government services, including defence, education, immigration, justice and security, agriculture and revenue, were investigated by the consultancy firm. Governments that seek to move beyond their current state of e-government maturity are actively looking for ways to build the cross-agency integration that will create seamless interactions for their customers, according to Accenture.
While the Irish government's vision for e-government has not changed since its introduction in 2002, the government is now aware of what steps it needs to take to move forward, said the global study.
"We are now on the cusp and people should take heart from that," said Ger Daly, Accenture partner with responsibility public sector practice. "When Reach [the government agency responsible for the PSB] is up and running, we will see a great stitching together of the various departments and agencies," he said.
The report also shows that there is a lot of innovative work being done here in Ireland. The 112-page document lists the Irish General Register Office in Ireland as an "excellent" example of how integrating services can add value for both citizens and government. The office aims to streamline the civil registration process, covering all life events, such as births, deaths and marriages, notes the report.
This year, for the first time, Accenture conducted both quantitative and qualitative research to learn about attitudes and practices regarding e-government. Despite the fact that about 50 percent of Ireland's population are regular Internet users, only 60 percent of Ireland's on-line citizens have ever even visited a government Web site, according to a survey in the report.
"Ireland has a relatively Internet-savvy population and many sophisticated on-line services," notes Accenture. "The low take-up points to a real need for increased marketing," according to the report.
The quick e-government wins have been won in Ireland, said Ger Daly. "To get to next level we need to take a leap forward into integrating across departments and this is a harder thing to do than has been done so far," he told ElectricNews.Net.
The average e-government maturity rating increase across all countries in 2004 was 5.6 percent, in comparison to an average of 7.4 percent in 2003 and 11.5 percent in 2002.
Quelle: Electric News, 04.05.2004
