The Digital Revolution.

• Position: Brief Article

Information technology is revolutionizing organizations across the world. Quantum leaps in the quality and quantity of communication, information exchange, and commerce have taken place in the past decade. Those who lead our organizations are consumed daily with the complex task of translating technology innovations into lower transaction costs and greater productivity and economic growth. The Digital Revolution is also silently shaping a new model of government and governance.

This issue of Government Finance Review is dedicated to understanding the emerging technologies that state, provincial, and local governments are using to transact business with citizens and suppliers. Every article in this issue focuses on experts sharing with the public finance community knowledge of key technologies--enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-commerce, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and document management--that are reshaping government.

In the article, "Building Blocks of a Digital Government Strategy," the author describes the main areas that serve as the foundation for electronic government. By 2005, governments across the United States are estimated to spend more than $6 billion annually on e-government initiatives alone. The author points out that e-government and e-commerce projects must be coordinated with other technology initiatives such as ERP systems for maximum return on investment.

In "At the Dawn of e-Government," results from a global study by Deloitte Research are presented. The results show that governments across the world are using creative management approaches and new technology to establish "customer centric" governments. A key technology for electronic citizen service delivery is described in "Technology and Strategy for Customer Relationship Management (CRM)." CRM components include unified, interoperable, technology architectures; call center and citizen support features; case and complaint management features; and citizen self-service capabilities. The article "Racing to e-Government,"...