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THE RILEY REPORT - June 2006
from Thomas B. Riley RTRiley6@cs.com
www.rileyis.com
Following is the Riley Report for June 2006. Please feel free to pass this on as you see fit. If you wish to use any part of the Report in an offline publication please acknowledge the author or contact the author for permission if it is to be fully republished offline. If you are not currently subscribed to the Riley Report (there is no charge) you may email RTRiley6@cs.com and simply put "subscribe" in the body of the text.
This month's report assesses the importance of e-governance in relation to achieving success in e-government applications. This phenomenon is resulting in new challenges to governments whose citizens want access to government through an array of technologies, not simply web access.
E-GOVERNMENT VS. E-GOVERNANCE
Differentiating the two Concepts
e-Government and
e-governance can be defined as two very distinct terms. e-Governance is a
broader topic that deals with the whole spectrum of the relationship and
networks within government regarding the usage and application of ICTs. e-Government
is actually a narrower approach dealing with the development of online services
to the citizen, more the e on any particular government service - such as e-tax,
e-transportation or e-health. e-Governance
is a wider concept that defines and assesses the impacts that technologies are
having on the practice and administration of governments.
It also includes the relationship between public servants and the wider
society, such as dealings with the elected bodies or outside groups, like
not-for-profit organizations, NGOs, academic institutions or private sector
corporate entities. e-Governance
encompasses a series of necessary steps for government agencies to develop and
administer in order to ensure successful implementation of e-government services
to the public at large.
The Basis of the Service
e-Government is an institutional
approach to jurisdictional political and program operations. e-Governance is a
procedural approach to co-operative administrative relations, i.e. the
encompassing of basic and standard procedures within
the confines of public administration. It
is the latter that acts as the lynchpin that will ensure success of the delivery
of e-services.
The "e" part of both
e-government and e-governance stands for the electronic platform or
infrastructure that enables and supports the networking of public policy
development and deployment. It is
by now widely acknowledged that the original impetus for acquiring and using
electronic apparatus in government and governance arose from the earlier
successes with the same kind of strategy in commerce.
e-Commerce had previously rested on credit and debit card processing for
purchases, and on faxing of bulk orders and subsequent invoices in
business-to-business transactions. In
Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, the emergence of
e-commerce by the private sector helped to stimulate and drive the evolution of
e-government within departments and agencies.
At the political leadership level it was clear that e-commerce was
reflecting the enormous changes taking place in the economies of countries in
the developed world.
The transformation of the Internet from
an academic research network to a publicly accessible information utility
prompted increasing numbers of businesses to create a "web presence".
The initial postings were mostly electronic advertising brochures and
product catalogues, with invitations to "order by phone".
As e-commerce came to the fore it became apparent to governments that
customer expectations were moving in the direction of greater speed and
convenience for transactions; so direct ordering through the Internet was
developed and launched. The only issue that still
inhibits the public from taking full advantage of e-commerce, is the concern
with security of information and funds, a challenge that is also reflected in
e-government and e-governance. The success of e-commerce drove governments to
realize that citizens were now able to
undertake transactions online, and were also
capable of using email as an important communications tool that sped up and
changed the way they communicated with each
other. The
evolution of the worldwide web in the early 1990s created expectations that if
businesses and the population at large could engage in online commerce and share
knowledge and information in ways never before conceived, then it was incumbent
on governments to provide online services. This phenomenon was a case of governments having to respond
to a cultural change in the way people dealt with each other and with groups in
society on an international basis. The
high expectations of change resulted, by the mid-1990s, in rapid development of
e-government services.
In essence, because the public liked
e-commerce when it worked properly, they began to want their governments to
perform in the same way. In terms
of services provided, e-government and e-governance developed along the same
trajectory as had e-commerce previously. The
internal operational aspects of e-commerce included rationalizing supply chains
and business rules. This aspect was
referred to as "back office" requirements in government, and it
focused around rationalized workflow and information sharing.
The external offerings of e-government
and e-governance started with making policy documents available electronically.
Both "stand-alone" studies and on-going series (newsletters,
press releases, etc.) were posted and could be printed out as hard copies or
stored electronically by whoever in the public was accessing them.
The second phase of electronic products and services consisted of on-line
electronic forms, either to exchange information (census forms, etc.) or to
conduct transactions (purchase documents, pay user fees, submit tax returns,
etc.). The third phase, now just
emerging, involves consultation on issues of concern, and participation in
policy making and regulatory administration.
The point of the above mini-history is
to demonstrate that, in terms of the electronic platform and its operations,
there are parallels between electronics for governing and e-commerce, and
between e-government and e-governance. The
computers, cables, software languages, and communications protocols, are
standardized products for any kind of electronic networking, regardless of its
information content or organizational context.
What differentiates e-commerce from electronic governing, and
e-government from e-governance is the purpose and functions that such networking
supports. e-Commerce is premised on
profitable transactions, whereas e-government provides public services, and
e-governance facilitates appropriate behaviour. So, in each case, the motivation and the mandate will be
distinct.
The
advancement and continuous growth of e-governance and e-government is reliant on
the abilities of governments to continually change and to take into account the
new technologies that are constantly coming onto the market.
This phenomenon is resulting in new challenges to governments whose
citizens want access to government through an array of technologies, not simply
web access. This is especially
difficult for public sector agencies in the developed world where, in many
jurisdictions, e-government is taken as a given and governments have moved on to
other priorities. But whatever the
reason, the important fact is that good governance implies that changing
priorities in our evolving culture require responses to the new technologies and
to the way e-services are delivered.
The
full paper on this subject, which goes into greater depth, written by Thomas B.
Riley and William Sheridan at the Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance, can be
found at: www.electronicgov.net/pubs/research_papers/SheridanRileyComparEgov.shtml
You
can also click here
to obtain the paper entitled 'Comparing
e-Governance and e-Government'
on this site.
Thomas Riley is available for consultations, preparation of reports, presenting workshops or delivering speeches at conferences and seminars on e-government, e-governance and e-democracy. Please contact me at the email address below for further details.
Thomas B. Riley
Executive Director and Chair
Commonwealth Centre for E-Governance
www.electronicgov.net
Visiting Professor, University of Glasgow
President, Riley Information Services Inc.
www.rileyis.com
email:
rtriley6@cs.com
Author: Time's End
www.amazon.com
(see under books: Thomas B. Riley)
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