Electronic government conference sets the tone for the future.

• Author: Vieceli, Jeffrey

The E-Gov 99 Conference and exposition was held recently in Washington, D.C. This three-and-one-half-day conference and exposition brought together all levels of local, state, and federal government information technology and administration officials from a variety of departments, agencies, and bureaus with technology industry experts. The conference centered around ways governments can apply emerging technology to transform government including the way government communicates information, provides services, and interacts with citizens, industry, and other government partners. These efforts involve using technology to the advantage of government to accomplish anything from increased constituent satisfaction to cost savings on procurement.

The conference was organized and presented by the E-Gov Journal, which is published by I.T. Direct, Inc. The underlying goal of the conference was to provide a complete education on how to plan, implement, evaluate, and refine electronic government objectives. The underlying goal of the exposition was to allow the government representatives the opportunity to explore options and strategies with the leaders in electronic technology.

Increase Services, Reduce Costs

The keynote speeches were presented by leading government and industry professionals. All of the speeches had a common theme - providing increased constituent services and reducing the costs of government by using new technology.

The Honorable David J. Barram delivered the first keynote address. As the top official at the United States General Services Administration (GSA), Barram is responsible for directing all of the functions of the GSA including their recent efforts to streamline their processes and become more customer focused. Barram spoke about the future of government agencies - their integral use of the Internet and emerging technologies; partnerships between federal agencies, governments, and contractors; and, offering integrated services. Barram said that in the past, governments were slow to adopt new technology but now it is in their best interest to use technology to their advantage to reduce the costs of government.

Charles B. Wang, the founder, chairperson, and CEO of Computer Associates International, Inc. spoke about Computer Associates' current direction towards integrating Internet applications with fundamental business functions. Wang discussed how using technology in conjunction with clear business goals would enable...