e-Government

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 e-Govenment

The use of ICTs by the government in connection with a change in state operations and

management is commonly referred to as e-Government (Twizeyimana & Andersson, 2019).

States will be prepared to serve citizens, corporations, and other government agencies with the

implementation of e-government. Lachana et al (2018) also report that in order to boost the

efficiency and effectiveness of state operations internally and to enable people and businesses to

transact electronically with governments, the e-goal of governments has been to provide ICT-

based services (mainly through the Internet). Changing expectations and needs of people and

society necessitate a shift in the focus of e-Government as well as the consumption of ICT-based

services in light of developing ICT capabilities.

This means that both the external environment (such as, political, social and political

environments) and the technology environment (cloud computing) influence eGovernment's

development (emergence of new ICT). The landscape is also dotted with emerging patterns of

gradual improvements or more radical innovations that governments are trying to implement,

either by modifying the present services or adopting new ones (Janowski T., 2015). This paper,

therefore, focusses on importance, key technologies, and challenges of eGovernment.

Importance of eGovernment

eGovernment is a crucial public value. According to Twizeyimana & Andersson (2019)

in their study, the public value (importance) of the e-Government can be viewed from various

angles i.e., in terms on improved service deliver, improved administration, and perfected value.

Improved Services: The "Improved Public Services" factor relates to a variety of e-

government service enhancements. Examples include, the use of online platforms to improve
public service conceptions and achievements, access, and delivery (Twizeyimana & Andersson,

2019). According to several studies, improvements in public service delivery can be achieved

through eGovernment-enabled benefits such as responsiveness and efficiency as well as cost

savings as a result (Bannister and Connolly, 2014). Improved public services, transparency,

public participation, dialogue and the balance of interests are all part of these changes. According

to Rose et al (2015), other advantages have to do with enhancing government-citizen interaction

and communication, as well as providing citizens with easier access to state information

application.

Enhanced administrative efficiency: The goal of "Improved Administrative Efficiency" is

to make government operations, technologies, and services more efficient, effective, and cost-

effective. Making federal departments more responsive by increasing openness, engagement, and

inclusion are other ways to boost administrative efficiency (Twizeyimana & Andersson, 2019).

According to Bannister and Connolly 2014), human involvement in decision-making can be

minimized through the use of e-government and the formalization and incorporation of rules into

IT systems. By proactively disseminating current information to citizens, an honest environment

is created (Rose et al., 2015). Principles like these form the foundation of e-Governance and

policy. It is possible to reduce the need for human interaction between public workers and

citizens by using e-government services.

Upgraded Social Value through enriched trust in government: The Enhanced trust in

Government feature focuses on social trust, or trust obtained through citizens' private

information safeguarding and governance. With the usage of e-government, citizens access

information properly and gain increased opportunities to participate in government. For families,

communities, and other social interactions, governments construct values through this value
dimension, social value and well-being. Gains in socioeconomic class, partnerships, and

resources; a rise in stability, trustworthiness, and socioeconomic well-being; or a decline in

inequality and poverty are all examples of benefits (Twizeyimana & Andersson, 2019). For

citizens, the country's improving economic conditions can have a long-term impact on their well-

being. This can be accomplished by making it easier to conduct business.

Key technologies supporting e-Government

There are a myriad or e-Government supporting technologies. However social media

applications, voice prompted interface, and mobile phone SMS application have found frequent

use.

Social media: Web 2.0 tools like Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, in all their

incarnations, are still a foreign concept in the world of government-citizen interaction though

they are becoming populous among e-Governments (UN New York, 2011).

Voice prompted interface: One of the companies that converts Internet services to voice

commands and recognition has come up with a new solution. Because of this, the most common

mobile devices are now worldwide available, and the scenario can be changed to include voice

transactions. The ability to "talk" to a wide range of people is another advantage. Additionally,

citizens must be educated and able to visualize a transaction (UN New York, 2011).

Mobile phone SMS applications: As shown, SMS (text messaging) can perform various

e-government functions without a beautiful graphic interface. The positives are that newest

mobile handsets support SMS at a low cost. Mobile telephony coverage is practically universal,

and a significant majority of the population owns or has access to such devices. Disadvantages
include limited access to e-government services due to lack of a graphic interface (UN New

York, 2011).

Challenges facing eGovernment today

E-government in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) has a number of obstacles today,

compared to developed countries firm e-goverment (Twizeyimana & Andersson, 2019). To name

just a few, there is a significant digital divide, a dearth of suitable electronic infrastructure, and

an absence of knowledge and expertise required to create, implement, operate, administer, or

otherwise deal with electronic government systems as published in Twizeyimana (2017).

Digital divide: Globally, the digital divide is evident, especially in Africa and the Middle

East (Baker & Ellis, 2020).  There still is a financial, age, and economic disparity. Authors from

more developed economies will join to develop in advocating for free open-access publications.

Many older adults lack agility, cognitive skills, or desire to use new technologies. This could

lead to changes in how products are designed for seniors.

Technological advances may widen chasms. It's a frequent misperception that everyone

has equal access to technology. Governments should prepare for more divide while introducing

new technologies. People respond differently to technological advances: some adopt it quickly,

while others are wary. The digital literacy gap will mislead and frustrate citizens.   People are

increasingly assumed to have access to social media (and the internet), yet this is not true. People

would drag due to lack of knowledge or funds. As a result, there may be a cognitive divide.

Insufficient e-infrastructure: One of the most significant obstacles to the implementation

of e-government in poor nations is a faulty ICT infrastructure. For an e-government to succeed, a

developing nation's government must first build the necessary ICT infrastructure. Digital
technologies, Internet network penetration, and communication channels are all necessities for e-

government adoption. People in undeveloped countries are unable to use e-government because

of the lack of network coverage. Use of e-government web - based applications necessitates

access to a reliable Internet connection (Al Mudawi, Beloff, & White, 2020).

Porous information security: The formation of e-government in countries around the

world is fraught with privacy and security concerns (Arpaci, 2019). The deployment of e-

government in poor nations may be hindered by these factors. There is no policy in place to

ensure that people’s personal information is safe from an unauthorized third party in developed

countries. As a result, citizens in poor nations have limited faith in the privacy and security of

their personal information when using government websites and portals (Choi, Park, and Rho,

2017). As a result, the government should develop e-government security and privacy

regulations that encourage and instill public confidence in their own privacy and safety.

Insufficient expertise and knowledge of e-Governance: Due to a variety of circumstances,

stakeholder engagement presents a number of issues. When it comes to implementing E-

Governance, government agencies and officials lack the correct mentality and lack the

knowledge necessary to make the most effective use of their existing IT infrastructure. The

biggest challenges in implementing E-Governance projects are the lack of coordination between

government departments and solution developers, resistance to reengineering federal agencies

and related processes, and an absence of appropriate infrastructure for long-term E-Governance

projects at the national level (Moharana, & Rout, 2013).

References
Al Mudawi, N., Beloff, N., & White, M. (2020). Issues and challenges: cloud computing e-

government in developing countries. International Journal of Advanced Computer

Science and Applications, 11(4), 7-11.

Arpaci, I. (2019). A hybrid modeling approach for predicting the educational use of mobile cloud

computing services in higher education. Computers in Human Behavior, 90, 181-187.

Baker, D., & Ellis, L. (2021). Future directions in digital information: Scenarios and themes.

In Future Directions in Digital Information (pp. 1-15). Chandos Publishing.

Bannister, F., & Connolly, R. (2014). ICT, public values and transformative government: A

framework and programme for research. Government Information Quarterly, 31(1), 119-

128.

Choi, H., Park, M. J., & Rho, J. J. (2017). Two-dimensional approach to governmental

excellence for human development in developing countries: Combining policies and

institutions with e-government. Government Information Quarterly, 34(2), 340-353.

Janowski, T. (2015). Digital government evolution: From transformation to

contextualization. Government information quarterly, 32(3), 221-236.

Lachana, Z., Alexopoulos, C., Loukis, E., & Charalabidis, Y. (2018, September). Identifying the

different generations of Egovernment: an analysis framework. In The 12th

Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (MCIS) (pp. 1-13).

Moharana, C. R., & Rout, D. (2013). Barriers in Good Governance: A Study of Various E-

Governance Projects in India. Asian Journal of Business and Economics, 3(3.1).

positions and relationships. Information Systems Journal, 25(5), 531-571.

Twizeyimana, J. D., & Andersson, A. (2019). The public value of E-Government–A literature

review. Government information quarterly, 36(2), 167-178.

UN, New York. (2011). e-Government and New Technologies: Towards better citizen

engagement for development. Report of the Expert Group Meeting.

https://publicadministration.un.org/publications/content/PDFs/E-Library%20Archives/

2011%20EGM_e-Goverment%20and%20New%20Technologies.pdf