Following major changes in March, 2003, Overhieid.nl - an initiative of the Dutch interior ministry - now offers some 2,500 e-government services to the public and private sectors, and a search engine that covers 1,200-odd government websites in the Netherlands. Accenture’s latest report is a complete reversal of its 2001 edition, in which it criticised the Dutch central government’s portal for its lack of utility - viewing brochures online was one of the few functions then available - and recommended changes.
Unsurprisingly, its publication coincides with a reported rise in Overheid.nl visits, from 2.5m in 2003 to 3.8m this year, and the recent announcement by Thom de Graaf, minister for government reform and kingdom relations, of his new goal to have 65 per cent of government services online by 2007.
On the other hand, a study conducted jointly by The Economist and IBM on ‘e-readiness’ - a measure of a country’s e-business environment and how amenable it is to internet-based opportunities (gauged by, for example, the level of e-government services) - has just revealed that the Netherlands has slipped to eighth place worldwide (from a tied-for-third position in 2003).
Quelle: DMeurope, 04.05.2004
