Implementing egovernment solutions may be a slow process but research shows that the benefits accruing to all sides will see its growth continue, writes FRANK DILLON

THE NOTION of digital or egovernment has been around for many years but over the past year there has been a concerted effort to make progress on its implementation – both in Ireland and globally.

Irishman Seán Shine, who works with governments in countries as diverse as Brazil, Russia, Mexico and South Africa, says that there was a lot of discussion about the subject in the early years of the millennium without huge progress in many cases and it went off the radar for several years, but now the bias is clearly for action.

“In the meetings I’ve attended in Europe and elsewhere this year the mood is very different. It’s very much on the agenda for governments now and it’s seen as a priority,” says Shine, who heads up this field globally for Accenture. “The need to be more efficient with fewer resources is the key driver and that’s a common need for all governments at the moment.”

In general, citizens seem to be enthusiastic about government initiatives, particularly where there are benefits, a fact borne out in a recent survey of around 1400 people globally. When asked how they would compare e government services with those in the private sector, 42 per cent rated them about the same while 29 per cent reported that it was easier to access government services than those in the private sector.

This result was seen as surprising given the stereotypical view that government services are about long queues and cumbersome processes, while the private sector is often held up as a model of speedy and streamlined services. As the report noted, while there is work to be done, governments in many countries may have come further in their game of catch-up with the private sector than many observers have suspected.

Shine says that there is now a concerted move away from the ‘if we build it, they will come’ school of thought into one more focused on the desires of citizens. “There’s a recognition now that collaboration should be based firmly on the needs of the citizen as this will facilitate a positive impact and improve take-up rates,” he says. “The focus is on high value transaction areas as that is where the greater efficiencies lie.”

Incentives also play a role in encouraging greater uptake of electronic processing of applications, either in the form of discounts for those who do their business online rather than in traditional paper form, or other benefits such as extra time for filing tax returns online, as it is practice here by Revenue.

“The principle is that if there are savings to be made some of the benefits of those savings should be shared with the user,” he says.

While the Accenture survey does not cover Ireland, other evidence suggests that Ireland is making progress in egovernment. A PwC survey last year, for example, suggested that Ireland was one of the cheapest countries in the world for tax compliance, largely because of the development of the Revenue Online Service (Ros).

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has also set out its stall in an eGovernemnt 2012-2015 Plan. Among its promised initiatives is an electronic channel allowing citizens and businesses an opportunity to suggest new egovernment services and to track the progress of their suggestions.

Egovernement is not without its challenges, however. There is a concern that the social divide in many countries across Europe will only be exacerbated with the digital divide, thereby resulting in a two-tier citizenry, as not all citizens have the skills or resources to access online services.

To be effective, different government systems need to be able to work together, linking data such as pensions, health and taxation to provide a rounded view of citizens. Governments are often burdened by legacy systems, with data held in discrete silos, and making different egovernment systems work together can be expensive and technically challenging.

Other concerns exist about data security and in some cases the availability of the talent to implement egovernment, given the top level IT skills shortages that exist in some countries.

While much of the emphasis in egovernment is on the collection of data and the processing of payments such as taxes, another key area is open data – the notion that non-sensitive information be made available.

“As the proprietors of the largest open data sets, local and national government agencies are immediate beneficiaries of releasing open data and there is international evidence of efficiency in areas such as energy, transport and town planning,” notes Joan Mulvihill of the Irish Internet Association.

However, those seeking information are often disappointed with what they find, with legacy issues and accessibility acting as barriers to the free flow of useful information. Mulvihill says that apart from greater citizen transparency, open data represents a significant business opportunity for those who can leverage the data available.

“We should see public information as an untapped resource, one that developers could do a lot of clever things with, given the opportunity,” she says and initiatives such as fixmystreet, where the public can interact online with relevant public authorities, highlight what is possible.

Mulvihill also points to a European Commission study that suggests that where charges for public information are either minimised or eliminated, usage levels increased by between 1,000 per cent and 10,000 per cent.

It also found that lowering charges reduces barriers to market entry and may attract new types of re-users, in particular SMEs. A number of case studies in the report illustrated increased tax revenue as a result of lowering or eliminating charges, and delivery of a high return on investment for the public sector.