The issues being discussed mostly revolved around government websites and its lack of functions despite its many colourful interactive tabs, said Sarinah Hj Abd Hamid, a secondary school teacher from Kuala Belait.
Based on her experience of visiting government websites, most are still just pages of information for the department or ministry while those that do have a proper website posted on the Internet have features that are still under construction.
Hj Azhar Hj Ahmad, who also holds the post of Overall Government Chief Information Officer (CIO), said that in terms of e-government, change management was an "underestimated risk".
"We have seen the results of weak change management in the implementation of projects, such as weak adoption by end-users. The root of this really comes from weak adoption of project management discipline," he highlighted during an open forum discussing e-government at the THiNKBIG Technology Forum on Thursday.
Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT and E-Government) at the Prime Minister's Office Hj Azhar Hj Ahmad explained this to reporters yesterday in light of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's recent titah.
During the 17th Civil Service Day celebration earlier this month, the monarch questioned why, after more than a decade and over $1 billion spent, was the e-government initiative lagging behind and its services under-utilised. His Majesty had then called for investigations into the cause of problem and for efforts to be made to jumpstart the process.
The landmark agreement was reached where EGNC would house BSP Disaster Recovery System at the department's Data Centre facility.
The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Awang Haji Azhar bin Hj Ahmad, Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT and E-Government) at the Prime Ministers Office and as Brunei Overall Government Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Read more: Brunei: E-Government National Centre inks agreement with Prime Minster's office and BSP
Following a technology forum yesterday at The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Hj Azhar Hj Ahmad informed reporters that the e-Government National Centre (EGNC) is currently working on the first of three stages for the national portal, which will eventually enable the public to access the services offered by the government online.
The first stage of the portal's implementation will see the available "e-services" listed on the portal, while the latter two stages would provide for citizen-to-government transactions and incorporate public interaction features.