In its sixth annual report to be released Wednesday and seen by the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, Accenture found that electronic government services don't take the place of just plain government services. "E-government is an enabler but not an endgame," said Marty Cole, group chief executive of Accenture's Government Operating Group. While E-government "has matured quite a bit over the years, overall customer service delivery has not improved."
The survey is based on a study of online services of governments in 22 countries and interviews with 9,000 citizens.
Canada ranked first for the fifth consecutive year with a 68% score for efficiency in dealing with its citizens, what Accenture calls "service delivery maturity." The U.S. was second with 62% while Denmark and Singapore tied third with 56%. The average score was 48%. Five of the top 10 countries come from Europe.
Brazil was at the bottom with 17% ranking. South Africa was next worst with 22%. Portugal was the worst European country with 34% and Malaysia the worst Asian country with 46%.
Most countries have invested in making public services available on the Web but have failed to invest in other methods of communication, the study shows. Citizens prefer having several options to communicate with their governments, including more traditional channels such as telephone and fax.
Some 57% of citizens interviewed for the study said they used the telephone to contact government departments, while only 22% used the Internet.
In addition, the study found governments were failing to keep up with demand for new government services. In particular, citizens said they would prefer to have a regular contact person or have a log of their previous dealings with government agencies rather than start from scratch each time they were in contact.
Two countries were highlighted for implementing innovative solutions. Canada won the overall ranking by combining what the survey called "years of world leadership in its government online program" and expending "significant effort in informing and educating citizens." The U.S. was strongest in having different government services cooperate but faltered in its programs to educate citizens. Denmark also scored well in getting different agencies to work together.
Singapore ranked number one in providing the best mix of means to deal with different services, from telephone to Internet to agencies where face-to-face meetings are available. Its government is also using mobile phone technology to create a single short message system number which will be used to reach all government services.
Belgium received only a 46% rating, but was commended for being the first European country to start issuing electronic identity cards to its population, which will include a microchip containing personal data and a digital signature.
The cards can also include biometric data - such as facial characteristics and fingerprints - which makes Belgium one of only a few European countries that will be able to comply with stricter U.S. immigration rules which come in to force late October. From then, the U.S. will require the inclusion of biometric data for all newly issued European passports.
Autor: Sandra Plas
Quelle: Yahoo! Asia News, 06.05.2005
