Each country faces a unique set of challenges in implementing an effective e-government strategy.
Although the UK government sector is late on a few projects and has to deal with the hurdle of organisational change and complex relationships with private-sector partners, the well-formulated strategy, the organised supporting structure, and the fair economic outlook enabling government to allocate significant funds to IT will prompt growing investments over the next few years. Investments are expected to grow at a double-digit rate, with a peak between 2004 and 2005. However, central and local authorities have diverse needs and, most importantly, diverse structures that require IT vendors to differentiate their approach.
One of the major action fields of the French government strategy has been e-government. As well as promoting internal process modernisation, the French public sector has focused on enabling electronic transactions between central and local agencies and constituents. This transformation includes several initiatives, such as development of websites, deployment of full online transactions, and e-procurement.
Given the current situation and the continuous attention to these themes, IDC believes that France still has to work hard on e-government and IT infrastructure, especially at the local level, but it is in a good position to meet most of its e-government targets and become one of the most advanced countries in the implementation of the eEurope 2005 action plan.
The German government began its renovation effort with the modernisation of internal processes to make sure that a customer-centric view is supported by effective back-end activities. Therefore, the implementation of outward-looking IT systems started a little later than in other European countries. However, the BundOnline 2005 programme, at the federal level, and local initiatives have turned e-government into a top IT priority.
The analysts argue that IT vendors have the opportunity to bring in critical competencies to ensure that the 2005 deadline is met both centrally, where plans have already been formulated, and locally, where many authorities are still in the early stage of their e-government strategies.
Despite lagging in IT investment compared to other major Western European states, Italy has implemented some leading-edge solutions in the area of e-government. The early development of a successful e-procurement platform helped the Italian government to understand that improving accessibility, responsiveness, and the quality of services delivered to citizens through the implementation of multi-channel electronic solutions is a major opportunity to enhance social and economic competitiveness. Therefore, strategic plans and investments in e-government are set to rise in coming years.
Western Europe Links
- Links by Country
- Europages
- European Governments on-line
- European Internet Foundation
- OECD Information and Communications policy
- Showcase Europe
