Introduction
E-Government is the usage of internet technology in the delivery of government services. It is not uncommon to come across tedious processes used by governments in the accomplishment of very simple tasks. The bureaucratic nature of government makes the whole undertaking a nightmare due to the long time taken to perform certain functions. E-Government seems to be reforming the public service system. The usage of computer and internet technology now means that services can be rendered online as opposed to physical presence in offices. As one would expect, this situation has both benefits and shortcomings to both the government as well as the public that is receiving the services. Most governments in the world are moving towards e-government.
How is this shift towards e-government working for governments? What challenges are governments facing as they implement this new way of delivering services? The aim of this essay is to provide evidence in support of the thesis that e-government has introduced a far much better way of doing things for governments. In the course of doing this, the benefits of e-government, its draw backs as well as limits and challenges will be examined. Other aspects that this essay will cover include the classification of e –government applications, a brief discussion of the content covered in this essay and a conclusion. This essay takes a balanced format in that it does not look at the benefits of e-government only, but also examines the drawbacks. This way, the comparative lens is availed as a way of giving weight to the claim that e-government leads to benefits. What are the benefits of e-government that serve as the evidence to the claim that e-government is a far much better way of service delivery?
Benefits of e-government
E-Government is beneficial in that it improves efficiency in service delivery (Lau 2005, p.15).The term efficiency in the context of e-government has to do with time. The time that is required to serve a certain number of people under e-government is far much smaller than the time that is require to serve the same number of people using the traditional system whereby duties or functions are done manually by men and women who work in government offices. An example of this high level of efficiency that comes with e-government is the application process for teachers. Using the traditional model, the applicants have to go to specific offices and pick application forms which they must fill and then return to the same office. These forms have to be carefully examined by more than one employee who then sort them out by qualification such as the grade scored by each teacher or the points scored in college. This is a very long process that is time consuming for not only the applicants who have to cover long distances to carry out their application process but also the government employees who have to manually sort out the applications so as to recruit the best individuals (Hwang, Li, Shen & Chu 2004,pp.10-13).What does e-government do differently?
In the above case, e-government allows the applicants to log into a government website where they can create accounts and then carry out the application process online. The government then accesses the applications which will have been sorted out electronically and the best candidates are selected for the job. They are notified electronically after which they are ready to report to their places of work and start working. This is truly a very efficient process in that time wasting is avoided.
Apart from efficiency, e-government is beneficial in the sense that it improves service quality. It is not uncommon to come across shoddy government officials who handle documents carelessly, leading to damage. Some documents end up even getting lost in the process. But in e-government, service is of high quality because all these shortcomings such as document destruction or damage as well as lose are easily avoided as services are done online. The only mistake that can occur is for the person being served to enter the wrong information of the employee handling the computer in the government office to give the computer the wrong command (Lau 2005, p.15).Service quality is a crucial element in service delivery that leads to high levels of satisfaction among members of the public. Satisfaction is directly proportional to support for government policies and this is the target of any well meaning government.
Leaving the above aside, policy outcomes are easily determined and achieved in an accurate manner as a result of the employment of efficient and high quality means of service. If for instance the government has set its eyes on improving the levels of education among the people, it is possible to achieve this target given that the means to achieving the goal are prone to low levels of error. Put in another way, when the means to a goal are workable, hitting the goals becomes easy. Other policy outcomes that can be easily achieved with the help of e-government include healthcare and farming whereby farmers can be educated on how to access government communication from the government website dedicated to agriculture, and this will save them from the trouble of having to walk long distances to attend conferences or wait long periods for a government official to tell them what to do.
Governments also benefit from e-government by gaining the trust of the people(Lau 2005,P.15).Members of the public are usually skeptical about the operations of the government when tasks take longer periods to accomplish and the outcomes of policies are not pleasant or beneficial to the people. But as it has already been discussed elsewhere in this essay, e-government leads to efficiency, improved service quality and increased chances of realizing positive policy outcomes. These are sure ways to make the people know that their government is not only working but dedicated to achieving the best for the people. It is not difficult for such people to trust the government.
The rapid economic development that comes with e-government is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of e-government. There are numerous chain reactions that lead to economic development for the nation (Jeong 2006, pp.23-25).The economic standing of the nation is the sum of the economic position of the citizens. This means that if the citizens are doing well economically, then the nation is likely to do well economically too. As already discussed above, e-government enables farmers to access most if not all that they need within a short time. The other government offices are also in a position to serve the people at high speeds meaning that the people will be in a position to meet their economic targets without any problem. The businesses within a nation benefit immensely from e-government given the fact that the process of registering businesses is reduced and the relevant data is easily submitted to the government online. All these actions give the nation that is utilizing –government the ability to achieve a higher economic standing. Therefore e-government leads to a stronger economy for both the people and the country that is using e-government. What are the shortcomings of e-government?
Draw backs and Challenges of e-government
The top drawback of e-government is that it is expensive to implement (Lau 2005,pp.50-52).It is necessary to remember that e-government involves a transition from the manual system meaning that the personnel for data transfer must be trained and the machines such as computers must be procured. These undertakings need financial resources which will have a huge impact on the budget of the government that wants to make use of e-government.
Apart from cost, e-government can only work for the members of the public who have an understanding on how both computers and the internet work. This means that e-government is only applicable in countries where the population is computer literate. What is the use of e-government to a group of farmers who have never seen a computer in their lives? It is definite that e-government will be of no use to such a group of people. The cost of educating the entire public in basic computing and internet use is prohibitive and in some cases the people may not have the will to learn. This is a serious limitation or drawback for e-government. Are there any challenges facing e-government?
There are also challenges that e-government is facing. These include the requirement for continued innovation so as to keep the system current and the legislative hurdles since e-government cannot be implemented without the needed legal support (Lau 2005, p.50). There is also the challenge of evaluation which is not only tedious but sometimes unreliable (Lau 2005, pp.101-103).The security of information is also a major concern for e-government. The limits to e-government as shown by these drawbacks include the level of people it can serve and the level to which its objectives can be met based on the legal constraints and the budgetary channels. What are the main e-government applications?
The top e-government application is e-government for business. This application can be given such descriptions as commercial support by e-government. This application is available for the benefit of people in the business world. Other applications include consumer support by e-government, industrial support by e-government, and the services sector that deals with such concerns as healthcare, education and civic education. This is a simple interpretation of the applications of e-government in service delivery.
Discussion: The Challenges of e-government
As much as e-government seems to be the government of the future, the number of challenges it faces are not to be underestimated. The huge benefits identified above will come at a cost. Budgets will have to be strained so as to cater for the required infrastructure which includes machines such as computers and the training of personnel on the functioning of internet technology. This is not something that gets done easily as there are other commitments that require finances. Then there is the challenge of getting as many people as possible to the level where they can make use of the benefits of e-government. This is especially challenging due to the huge numbers of people who are not able to use both computers as well as the internet. It is also important to note that the security of information that is stored and accessed online is not guaranteed individuals (Hwang, Li, Shen & Chu 2004, pp.11-15). Hackers can easily interfere with online records that can place the security of the public in jeopardy. This is a challenge that confronts both e-government as well as other users of the internet. Overcoming these challenges will take a considerable length of time and resources. Note that raising the resources is a challenge in itself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that e-government offers a far much better way of doing things for governments. The e-government advantage is in the form of high efficiency in service delivery, the improved quality of services that the government offers to the people and the ability of the government to strike the targeted policy outcomes in areas such as education and health care. Also, the people are able to trust the government since it is in a position to deliver on the functions that the people expect it to perform. The challenges and drawbacks of e-movement include the cost and the fact that some people are not in a position to make use of services offered by e-government. These are few drawbacks compared to the benefits but they are a defining force in the success or failure of e-government. This means that the thesis stands. In summary, e-government is the way to go. The economic development that comes with it is a positive implication that every government wants. It is an endeavor that can and should be undertaken by any reasonable government.
References
Hwang, M, Li, C, Shen, J & Chu, Y., 2004. Challenges in E-Government and Security Of Information. An Internatinal Journal.15:1, 9-20.
Jeong, K., 2006.E-government, The Road to Innovation. New York: ebookleader.
Lau, E., 2005. Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development: E-Government for Better Government. New York: OECD Publishing.