EU study identifies barriers to e-government
An EU funded study on the deployment of e-government has identified several barriers for which it says no 'single-bullet' solution exists. Barriers range from leadership failures and poor coordination, to workplace and organisational inflexibility, and lack of trust. The study concludes that only coordinated action from across the EU and systematic analysis of the specific circumstances of e-government developments will lift these barriers. Funded under the eEurope 2005 MODINIS programme, the study is based on extensive reviews and analyses of existing e-government research. The project partners also surveyed 1,000 key public administration, business and expert stakeholders engaged in e-government activities at local, regional, national or pan-European levels, asking them to list the most significant barriers to e-government. According to Professor William Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute which is leading the project, the findings are 'shattering the very common view that there is one 'killer issue' - a single major barrier to eGovernment. To the contrary, we are finding a wide range of barriers at many levels, from individual resistance to change to regional economic constraints.' First among them is the failure by politicians to give consistent priority to e-government. Often political support goes through cycles of attention and inattention that lead to patchy, stop-go progress on e-government. 'Leadership requires an ability not only to manage complex ICT [Informational and communication technologies] -based projects but to motivate and support sustained commitment to eGovernment within public administrations and the use of eGovernment services by citizens. 'This requires effective management in addressing differences in interests, perceptions and understanding among different stakeholders to ensure such conflicts do not become blockages to eGovernment,' say the authors of the study. They point to the good practice of the EU's eCommission framework, which, they say, is leading by example by providing improved, more cost-effective, transparent and secure e-government services. Linked to leadership issues is the cost barrier. The study finds that, when competing with other critical demands on public resources, it is difficult to calculate substantive, tangible benefits that offset clear, often high, costs. This can lead to e-government funds being tightened or turned off, thereby severely hampering the speed and scope of e-government progress. When leaders do decide to provide the financial support needed to deploy e-government services, they must then tackle other difficulties, such reluctance of public administrative management and staff to adapt to the new system. Resistance to innovation can slow down, impair or prevent the necessary redesign of organisations and their processes, required to deliver a system that supports activities cutting across traditional administrative responsibilities. Such inflexibility is sometimes due to the legal employment framework that prevents changes in working practices. If and when an e-government system or services do finally get off the ground, their design has to stand the test of time. And as the study suggests, this in itself is a barrier. Incompatibilities in hardware, software or networking infrastructures, as well as difficulties caused by inappropriate user interfaces to e-government systems, can seriously hamper relations between public agencies, citizens and businesses. The study recommends that to promote better interoperability, the setting of standards through law and regulation should wherever possible be 'technology neutral', not favouring any particular supplier or proprietary brand. However, difficulties can also arise in setting these standards when there is a lack of coordination between regional and local government, and EU regimes. Legal mandate for directing public administration is with Member States, and while EU directives may seek to introduce more harmonisation, they are interpreted differently or implemented to different degrees across the EU. The study uses the example of the electronic signature to illustrate the problem. Despite the existence of Directive 1999/93/EC on electronic signatures, a lot of work needs to be done to establish a pan-European use of scheme, on account of different interpretations, and hence different rules. This has resulted in failure to agree and implement standards for electronic signatures, the authors of the study argue. Finally, while the successful deployment of e-government depends largely on a conducive legal and regulatory environment, the study finds that in the end the uptake of such systems and services cannot really be successful without addressing first the digital divide and gaining the public's trust. Factors such as health, age, gender, disability, language, culture, geographical location, size of business can mean e-government resources are used in very different ways (or not used at all) by different individuals, groups and organisations. The study notes that this becomes even more difficult at EU level where e-government initiatives need to be of a multilingual and multicultural nature. To overcome the divide, it recommends that e-government services satisfy a set of 'ease of use' criteria common to all ICT-enabled services. This was recently proposed in the 2006 eGovernment Action plan. Being aware of these barriers will direct attention to the many initiatives required to advance electronic government. 'The top challenge now is to use our knowledge of the barriers, such as their legal foundations, to speed up, rather than slow down the process,' says Dr Rebecca Eynon of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and project manager of the study. To provide more in-depth understanding of these barriers, the project is conducting a series of case studies on the following topics: digital citizen rights; e-consultation; employment; mobility; public registries; and cross border public tenders. The project's final report will be available in December.