E-gov slowly gaining acceptance, but must mature.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: News, Trends & Analysis

Accenture's fifth-annual e-government study found that the world's governments are at a crossroads with their online programs. With a few exceptions, e-government advances have slowed over the past few years. The average maturity increase across all countries in 2004 was 5.6 percent, compared to an average of 7.4 percent in 2003 and 11.5 percent in 2002. According to the Accenture study, the top three maturity spots were taken by Canada first, followed by Singapore and the United States, which tied for second place.

The study noted that "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 online programs." The study said that the United States, while still a strong performer, "seems somewhat less ambitious in comparison."

Accenture's study, which can be found at www.accenture.com/xdoc/en/industries/government/gove_egov_value.pdf, identifies the progress 22 national governments have made in the past 12 months and highlights the trends emerging in e-government. Five major trends identified in the study were:

1. E-government advances are diminishing. The pace of progress of early leaders has now slowed to the point where many other countries have caught up.

2. E-government leaders are reaping tangible savings. Governments' initial objectives for their online programs were to provide service improvements and alternate channels of delivery. Cost savings were a hoped-for result rather than a certainty. Now there is a decided trend that the focus for many governments is specifically on the cost savings potential of e-government.

3. Promoting use is taking hold, but the challenge remains. Accenture's survey shows that e-government currently is far from being used to its full extent.

4. The integration challenge is changing. Interest in horizontal integration has been apparent for some time; what is new are decided efforts to integrate vertically across national, state/regional, and local government levels.

5. Personalization is emerging. Some governments are working to maximize the amount of services that can be matched to citizens' interests and needs based on a minimum amount of confidential information.

   Accenture's study revealed that governments are now trying to drive high performance better outcomes more cost effectively--through e-government. However, e-government is far from reaching its maximum potential and...