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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