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The Next Revolution:

E-Government By Michael C. Maibach, Former Vice President of Government Affairs, Intel Corporation

Successful e-Businesses today use IT to serve customers better and to attract new customers. Government will also be swept up by this wave of change. Indeed, any far-sighted public officials are already engaged in the transformation to e-Government service delivery.

E-Government is not simply “on-line government.” True e-government connects all forms of communication so that government has a “memory.” E-Governments use IT hardware and software to serve constituents better, no matter how, when or where they choose to interact. E-Government is in essence, ‘anytime, anywhere, anyway government,” where each communication is woven together in a seamless thread of information about your relationship with a particular agency.

As with business, people contact government in myriad ways, at all hours of the day. You visit an office today, phone tomorrow, send a letter or fax the next day. And now many governments have added e-mail and web communications to this mix. However, if government merely adds on-line services without connecting every service format it will only be adding two more layers of disconnection.

True e-Government is a seamless aggregation of every transaction, making sure the details of each are recorded and available for your next contract. Let’s face it, the most frustrating thing about dealing with government is often that Mr. Smith does not know what Ms. Jones has done on a particular matter.

E-Government will not only improve service, it will allow constituents to give constant feedback as to the quality and timeliness of service, no matter how it is received. Imagine a state’s governor running for re-election saying, “We increased citizen satisfaction with state services by twenty eight percent!” With the proper IT tools, funding and leadership, this can and will be the shape of things to come.

A second incentive to adopt e-Government is the attraction of investment. Governments compete and always have. For instance, Cincinnati competes with Cleveland, California competes with Oregon…and Malaysia competes with Singapore. Nineteenth century governments competed on the quality of schools, roads, canals and ports. Twentieth century governments built highways, airports, universities…and telecom systems to win investment. A twenty-first century comparative advantage among all nations will be the quality of e-government delivers on demand.

Now comes a new age, where IT will be used to improve Machine Age government in ways that should serve us all better. This is progress, And this is the promise of e-Government.

You may not reproduce any portion of this material without the express permission of Michael C Maibach (see www.maibach.us home page for contact information)