27-01-2014
BAD 453 – Electronic Business
E-Governments
Mansour AssafCarla Chikhani
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Content
I. Introduction………………………………………………............... 3
a. Definition…………………………………………………… 3
b. Brief history………………………………………………… 3
c. The Basis of e-Government and its evolution…………… 3
II. Benefits of E-Government………………………………………… 3
a. Benefits of e-Government for government……………… 3
b. Benefits of e-Government for the citizen……………….. 3
c. Benefits of e-Government for business and investment
communities………………………………………………… 3
d. Benefits of e-Government for government employees… 3
e. Benefits of e-Government internationally……………….. 3
f. Benefits of e-Government for institutions……………..... 3
III. Evolution of e-Government in Singapore……………………….. 3
a. Brief history………………………………………………… 3
b. How has Singapore benefited from IGov2010?…………. 3
IV.
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I- Introduction:
In this research, we will be discussing in the first part the
definition of e-Government, its evolution, its purpose, and its benefits
to society.
After that, we will examine how Singapore (a developed
country) introduced e-Government plans and how they were for four
consecutive years(2010 till 2013) be placed second in the world in
connecting the power of infocomm technology (ICT) to increase
productivity and increase social development.
The Second part of our research focuses on e-government
in our home country, Lebanon.
a. Definition: What is e-Government?
E-Government is the implementation of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) to help improve services provided
by the government to its citizens in a more effective and efficient way,
by allowing the citizens of a country to have public access to
information online. E-government gives the opportunity for its
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services to be used and accessed online, anytime, anywhere, via the
internet, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, community centers or
any other electronic devices that have the capacity to connect to the
internet.
b. Brief History:
Throughout the twentieth century, public administration was governed
and controlled by bureaucratic structures constructed on rationale
principles, and these methods have failed to keep up with the
changing requirements of the present times.
Now the e-Government emerged during the early 1990’s, but if we
read about the computerization period (Early 1970s), we can see that
information technology (IT) was used within governments. Now the
difference is that in the seventies, IT was used more internally in
governments, while at the beginning of the nineties IT was started to
be used to improve the quality of services to the citizens.
And we saw how e-Government ideas and concepts started
developing, at which point there was a shift from the traditional
approaches in public services and administration to the more modern
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day approach. That shift created a revolution in the way services are
provided for citizens, raising the caliber to new standards and
improved quality.
Lots of benefits were presented because of this paradigm shift, as we
will see throughout this term paper.
c. The Basis of e-Government and its Evolution
The “E” in E-government stands for the electronic infrastructure
that supports and allows the networking of public policy deployment
and development. Now the original idea came from the successes
seen in e-Commerce whose main role rested on credit and debit
cards’ use for purchases, and on using faxing for sending and
receiving purchase orders from a B2B standpoint. In the UK, USA
and Canada for example, the use of e-commerce by the private
sector aided to stimulate and make the evolution of e-government
within departments and agencies.
The evolution and growing importance of e-Commerce in the
economies of nations stimulated the need for government to move to
the Internet to deliver e-government programs and services at every
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level of society. This has been an evolution over the past ten years
with most developed countries now having extensive e-government
programs and significant website presences now being used by
hundreds of millions of citizens worldwide. In Lebanon, the latest
statistics indicate that around 59% of citizens have access to the
Internet as of 2013, up from 24% since 2009. That number itself
represents an opportunity for both e-commerce and e-government to
be exploited to the advantage of the people. More will be discussed in
the section covering e-government in Lebanon.
The opportunity created by the fast flow of information through the
internet made sure that business were forced (for their own benefit) to
create a “web presence”. Here, through the fast evolution in the use
of the internet to conduct transactions and purchases (e-Commerce),
governments saw the potential of moving in that direction, and e-
Government started to evolve slowly for the benefit of the citizens,
and government realized the potential of offering online services to its
people.
And following the success of e-Commerce as well, and the
customer’s satisfaction from it, they began to want their government
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to act upon the same way.
So the first phase that was introduced was the offering of policy
documents online. Press releases, newspapers started to be
published and were available for print out as hard copies, or were
available to be saved on the electronic devices for later use.
The second phase consisted of enabling the exchange of information
(legal forms or surveys). It also enabled the possibility of conducting
transactions online (payment of fees due, presenting taxes returns…)
The third phase, which still being developed engages in online
consultation on issues of distress and concern, and the participation
in new policy creations and regulatory administration.
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II- Benefits of E-Government
We have many benefactors when it comes to E-government
implementation. Below are the most important 6 benefactors:
a- Benefits of E-government for Government
Better management of resources, since everything is electronic
and can be accessed more easily.
Restructuring all government processes in an electronically
system, providing much better efficiency.
Reduction in transaction processing time, and with it decreasing
transaction costs dramatically.
Less mistakes, errors and forgery arising from operations.
Transfer of information electronically between different
government entities is much faster, increasing revenues by
decreasing costs. (Less paper work, reduced costs of salaries,
transportation of documents…)
No need for storage rooms for files and archives, decreasing
costs of maintenance and improving archiving management.
Improved budget monitoring, analysis, and forecasting. (All data
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is easily accessible for any study or analysis needed)
Communication between all government staff through the use
of intra-government portals, thus providing better services both
for the public and internally.
b- Benefits of E-government for the Citizen
Citizens will gain more time in dealing with payment online for
government services or for access for information
The “one-stop-shop” model, a window that gives you access to
pay all your bills, taxes, dues…
The E-Citizen portal, a resourceful point of entry for access to
all information for easier conduct of business with the
government
Updating of a citizen’s life data (new home address, work
address, marital status). No need to go to different locations
and sign so many papers. All can be changed online.
SMS on the-go for all new updates and events throughout the
country, as well as special offers by the government.
Reduction of time spent at government offices and
departments.
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Training for ICT made easier online, mainly for citizen
awareness on the use of the internet and specifically, the e-
government services
More job vacancies can be opened for computer technicians
and IT graduates (Now that effect is balanced by reducing
governmental employees on the ground)
c- Benefits of E-Government for Business and
Investment Communities
Registration of companies made easier and much faster -
Payment of the registration fees also made available.
Also, The “one-stop-shop” services made available for specific
small and medium businesses (for example, request of
permits…).
E-Procurement services - whenever the government wants to
buy products or services, bids can be done online.
Secure Payments online.
New opportunities for private companies to be outsourced for
ICT jobs for the government. Basically, the creation of Public
Private Partnerships (PPPs).
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The encouragement of global investments and trade
The government becoming the largest consumer or demander
for ICT services, in other words, creating more jobs in that field
and improving the economy overall
d- Benefits of E-Government for Government
Employees:
Higher productivity through the new ICT systems installed (The
best corporation worldwide for that is Oracle, who produces
most of the world’s government systems).
Information made easily accessible from anywhere at any time.
HR activities improved through services like online requests,
performance analysis.
e- Benefits of E-Government Internationally (Donors,
Government, Banks…)
Intellectual Property Rights, Patent Registration and Public Key
Infrastructure (concerning digital signatures mainly) all made
available.
Coordination with global donor organizations (If it’s for grants,
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loans, assistance…) made possible, as well as the
management of all fiscal issues.
Foreigners have access for all information they need regarding
a specific country.
Improved sector statistics acquired through the IT system
installed.
f- Benefits of E-Government for Institutions (Social
Security, Health, Educations…)
Through benchmarking international specialized services,
improving the institution’s service quality.
Connecting all types of employees (Teachers, doctors,
lawyers…) with targeted services.
Improving career prospects through the integration of focused
training on a wide range of subjects and skills for the
employees of institutions.
Faster processing time and procedures.
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III - Evolution of E-government in Singapore
“The emergence of new infocomm technologies calls for fundamental rethinking
and transformational shifts in the way we look at e-government. Governments
must take on the roles of a facilitator and enabler - to collaborate with the public,
private and people sectors in creating new solutions, new business, and new
wealth” Mr. Teo Chee Hean
a- Brief History:
The Singaporean government started developing their e-government
programs around 30 years ago, which they call infocomm
technologies (i.e. ICT). Below is the evolution of the 4 plans adopted
by the Singaporean government since the beginning:
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1980 - Civil Service
Computerization
Program
2000 - 2006: e-
Government action plan I and plan II
2006 - 2010: IGov2010
Master Plans
2010 - 2015: EGov2015 Master Plan
b- How has Singapore benefited from IGov2010?
Using the iGov2010 Masterplan, new services have been created by
the Singaporean government agencies as well as the creation of new
channels for improved quality of service.
Noteworthy examples include the creation of OneMap which gives
you directions to specific locations (GPS); the improvement of the
channel of communication between the people and the government
through a system called “reach” which is the official government e-
engagement platform.
Better processes inside the government with the employment of more
than 50 shared systems and services (the alliance for corporate
excellence, a common HR system, finance and procurement system
for 11 government agencies, leading increased efficiency in data
analysis.
According to international benchmarking agencies, Singapore today
is considered as an e-government leader (Singapore topped the
Waseda University World e-Government ranking for three
consecutive years from 2009 to 2011)
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So, How has the IGov2010 enhanced the quality of service provided
to the citizens by the government?
The reach of e-Government services has increased substantially
under iGov2010. The Government has around 1,600 government e-
services that can be accessed online with more than 300 government
mobile services which they refer to as m-services have also been
employed. One service provided by the m-service for example is the
“annual SMS notification for the class of secondary 1 exam results,
which gives the students as well as their parents to receive their
results via SMS. 41,000 students benefited from it in 2010, all
receiving their grade results as soon as they were out. (No need to
keep checking online if the results are our or not).
Around 440,000 entities (Businesses, societies, embassies,
companies…) have benefited as well in transacting with the
government with the execution of a “Unique Entity Number” (a.k.a.
UEN) which mainly provides a unique ID number for each registered
entity (Singaporean entity in this case). What this means is that to
deal with any government agency (total of 84), all they need to use is
that ID number. This is a major contribution by the IGov2010 where it
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facilitates and speeds the processing time.
The reach system which is officially the government’s online feedback
portal dating back to 2006, has seen an increase in the participation
of the citizens and its use has been increasing continuously over the
years.
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References:
http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/internet/documents/
S4IN08%20Egovernment%20in%20India%20Opportunities
%20and%20Challenges.pdf
http://www.theinformationdaily.com/2006/07/03/comparing-e-
government-vs-e-governance
-http://omsar.gov.lb
http://www.egov.gov.sg
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