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| Gartner Advises European Governments: Too Much Focus on 'E', Will Not Deliver Better Services To the Public |
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Egham, UK 26 November 2001 - Gartner today warned European governments that the race to provide as many services as possible on-line could be a mistake. In a series of reports released a week before the next e-government conference in Brussels on 29 and 30 November, Gartner presents a critical view of the progress and direction of most of Europe's Governments. It said that while 'e' in some cases is costing more to achieve less, Governments should focus on smart use of IT rather than 'e', to meet their objective of providing better service levels to the public.
Gartner said that while the key word for most public-sector IT initiatives over the last two years has been e-government, such online service delivery ethos is no silver bullet. According to Andrea Di Maio, Research Director with Gartner, "E-Government in Europe is an unlikely gold rush. Most governments have assumed that citizens want to have web interaction, but very little has been done to understand their needs and to define where delivering a service on-line will actually add real value." Di Maio added, "While e-government has sparked countless best-practice exchange and comparison initiatives which are useful in accelerating efforts in regions that are lagging behind, they risk missing the real point. Initiatives must be based on quantifying value and cost for constituents, as well as governments, and address service-delivery targets alongside the other aspects of e-government transformation. Progress must be measured against national needs, not on the basis of what other countries think and do". According to Gartner, better service levels can often be achieved without excessive reliance on web delivery. Sweden has achieved higher tax collection rates and service levels by dramatically simplifying paper forms and preferring stronger back-office IT processes to an electronic front-end. This means taxes cannot be filed online yet, but the effort to file them is much lower than in countries where online filing and payments are possible. A survey conducted by GartnerG2 in the UK in September also shows that face-to-face or telephone interactions are still preferred for several services. Gartner advised Governments to take a hard look at their priorities. In some countries the e-government challenge is compounded with ongoing decentralisation, which transfers responsibilities to local administrations. This is leading to even greater levels of complexity, with processes and services that were previously centralised needing to be replicated in different regions. Gartner advised governments that traditional application development, system integration and IT outsourcing deals are no longer sufficient to overcome funding and management challenges of increasingly complex IT strategies. E-government transformation calls for a different type of intermediary, where organisations deliver public services on behalf of governments (banks, accountants, employers and unions). Gartner said this will spur new kinds of intermediaries that will be able to bundle public and private sector electronic services to add value to their customers. Risk-transfer deals such as public-private partnerships will become a necessity. Additional information is available in a number of reports featured on Gartner's Government International Spotlight on www.gartner.com. About Gartner, Inc.
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenues of $952 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.
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Contact: Laurence Goasduf Gartner + 44 1784-267-195 laurence.goasduf@gartner.com |
