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E-Government, Government

Canada remains e-government leader

By James Smith | 6 May 2004

A comparative study, conducted annually for the past five years by global IT and management consultancy Accenture, rates the quality of service governments in 22 countries offer their citizens.

Canada came first in all categories of e-government “maturity,” which Accenture calls service breadth, service depth and customer relationship management.

The ‘E-Government Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value’ study concluded that “Canada’s e-government programme continues to set the standard for the rest of the world.”

Following the leader Singapore and the United States shared the second-place ranking, followed closely by Australia, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which were tied for the fourth place. France ranked eighth, the Netherlands and the Britain tied for ninth, and Belgium, Ireland and Japan jointly held the eleventh position.

Accenture defines e-government as the ability to provide information about services and conduct government transactions over the internet. The study is based on results of a survey of 5000 regular internet users in 12 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, as well as a quantitative assessment of the maturity of e-government services in 22 countries.

The analysis firm said that in general, advances in maturity are slowing down because most countries have reached plateaus in terms of innovation, progress and impact of their services. This means that even the countries with the most advanced e-government services still have work to do to derive greater public-sector value, Accenture concluded.

Most regular internet users visit government web sites purely to gather information, on subjects such as tourism or health, Accenture said, but not to conduct online business, such as filing taxes and applying for passports.

Accenture credited Canada’s success in terms of its aggressive search for user interaction for its continued good showing.

Feedback fuels improvement “Over the past year, Canada’s focus on self-examination and its relentless pursuit of user feedback have allowed it to continue to build what is clearly one of the world-leading customer-focused government on-line programs,” Accenture Canada’s Graeme Gordon, said. “Canada’s e-government programme continues to set the standard for the rest of the world.”

The study noted that portals, or all-in-one websites, are fading quickly in popularity.

Accenture researchers in 22 selected countries conducted the study by attempting to fulfill 206 service needs that might typically be provided by a national government. They assessed web sites of government agencies to determine the quality and maturity of services and the level at which business can be conducted electronically with government.

Services were assessed across a dozen sectors, including agriculture, defence, e-democracy, education, human services, and immigration, justice and security.

E-govt is changing In general, Accenture noted some trends in e-government:

After a period of rapid expansion, the pace of e-government development is slowing and many countries have hit a plateau

E-government leaders earn savings by being able to deliver enhanced government services while making operations more cost-effective

Promoting e-government is becoming a growing priority in an effort to increase usage.

While some governments seek to integrate services across agencies and departments, which Accenture calls ‘horizontal integration’, the most successful e-governments integrate local, state, federal and even international services, or ‘vertical integration’

Governments are beginning to offer personalised online services. By identifying and segmenting their citizens and users, governments can provide them with more relevant services and information

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