Digital – Governance

E-Readiness Part IV
Aarti Rani
School of Computer Applications
Babu Banarsi Das University
Lucknow -UP
Topics Covered
E-readiness
⚫ Data system infrastructural preparedness
⚫ Legal infrastructural preparedness
⚫ Human infrastructural preparedness
⚫ Institutional infrastructural preparedness
⚫ Technological infrastructural preparedness
⚫ Discussion on E-Governance and Developing
Countries
E-readiness of governments has become a vital policy
tool for all countries since it enhances the trust of the
citizens through applying the principles of good
governance. Recently, e-readiness is becoming more
accepted at the level of governments, organizations
and citizens especially in the growing global open
market.
⚫ e-readiness was defined with respect to a community that had
high-speed access in a competitive market; with constant access
and application of ITs in schools, government offices,
businesses, healthcare facilities and homes; user privacy and
online security; and government policies which are favorable to
promote connectedness and use of the network (Beig, Montazer,
& Ghavamifar, 2007).

⚫ Harvard University Centre for International Development’s

(CID, 2000) defined the term e-readiness as the degree to which
a community is prepared to participate in the Networked World -
a world in which everyone, everywhere, has the potential to reap
the benefits of connectivity to the network. McConnell
International comes out with their own definition on e-readiness,
which is the capacity of nations to participate in the digital
economy.
⚫ As e-readiness is considered one the main faces of
development for any country, it represents the
transformation of society including the movement from
traditional relations and methods to more modern ways of
thinking or dealing with health, education and production.

⚫ The key drivers of such transformation depend on scientific

ways of thinking that enable decision makers from
recognizing what they know and what do not, thus allowing
them to identify the crucial variables that influence the
outcomes while trying to make implications based on
accessible data (Babcock, 2005)
The purpose of e-readiness is ability to accept the use
and deployment of applications related to its in
community. Several factors influence how the use of
IT and e-readiness level of communities that it is
necessary be carefully studied and identified
(Movahedi & Yaghooti, 2009)
Technological Infrastructure Preparedness

Technology is fast changing in ICT domain.

Rapid obsolescence of hardware and software
and the maintenance and support they require
results in great financial demands from time to
time. Government organizations encounter this
situation especially as their procedures to procure
hardware. software. etc. are highly inefficient and
delayed.
⚫ In the case of developing and
underdeveloped countries. the latest
technological infrastructure including
computing and telecommunication is
conspicuous by its absence. As a result,
software and hardware also may not be
compatible or efficient.
⚫ The reasons are too many-cost of
technology. adaptability, obsolescence, so
on and so forth. This is a serious limitation
for e-governance implementation.
Innovative solutions to solve the problem
of funding are being explored by these
countries.
⚫ The new technology domains as fibre
optics enable low cost Internet bandwidth.
⚫ The relevance of technological
infrastructure for everyday modern life
easily can be made clear: Just imagine that
airports or railway stations or roads could
no longer be taken as standard as they have
become in our time. We expect our cellular
phones to work reliably as well as we
expect a letter we wrote will reach its
recipient.
⚫ If anything unexpected happens it goes
without saying that medical facilities are
available. We do not wish to spend many
thoughts on these public utilities, but take
⚫ Technology Readiness of E-Government

One of the challenges confronting governments that need to be

considered is the willingness of people to use technology. Parasuraman
(2000) in his research used the term technology readiness”. He defined
technology readiness as being “people’s partiality to embrace and use
new technologies for accomplishing goals in home life and at work”
(Parasuraman, 2000).

From a different point of view, readiness of e-government can be seen

as the preparedness of a country to develop and adopt e-government in
terms of its technology infrastructure, development of human
resources, as well as telecommunication infrastructure. It also denotes
the willingness of a government to use advanced technology to
improve the lives of its citizens (Mundy & Musa, 2010).
Technological Infrastructure
⚫ Technology is required for the digital preservation
program at many levels to:
⚫ create digital content
⚫ capture content and associated metadata as digital objects
⚫ transfer those objects to and within a digital repository
⚫ process or otherwise interact with digital objects in the repository
⚫ find and deliver stored objects
⚫ build and maintain the repository
⚫ define and implement the policies and protocols that pertain to the
repository
⚫ integrate the repository and the digital materials into the broader
organizational environment and the contexts in which it operates
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
The use of ICT means in Governance has impact on the following aspects:

⚫ 24/7 Service Model

Systems and processes have to be adapted to a completely new service model.
Intake processes are made self-service and even in the middle of the night a
citizen should get an immediate (automated) response about the status of the
application. Citizen’s expectations towards government’s response times will
change because of the new communication medium. E-mail should be seen a
new but serious channel besides the traditional channels such as telephone,
physical counter, post and fax.

⚫ Need for Content

Websites consist of content (information). Governments will have to collect
(buy), produce and update content daily. In phase 1 content will be static, but
in phase 2 content will be changing every day. Content managers in each
(large) department are responsible for the information on the website.
⚫ Human Resources
Effective use of ICTs in an organisation requires training of people.
People should feel comfortable with the tools they can use otherwise
they will return to their old working patterns and habits. Maintaining
technological infrastructure requires IT skilled resources. Governments
will have to compete with the private (commercial) sector to recruit the
necessary IT skilled people.

⚫ Security
Just about any computer system is vulnerable to external attacks. As
the government moves its core processes (information, communication
and transactions) to the Internet it is becoming far more vulnerable.
Internet increases the number of entry points exponentially. Protection
is possible with anti-virus software, firewall at gateways, encryption
technology, and authentic identification tools.
⚫ Privacy
In phases 3 and 4 governments possess detailed
information about citizens and businesses, which is
often held in multiple offices on many different
computer systems (or still in paper files). The
integration of data can result in situations where the
privacy of individual citizens is in danger. It is the
responsibility of the government to restrict the
utilisation of private information, and secure such
information from access by unintended parties. Due to
public concern regarding privacy several countries
have already passed data protection laws.
⚫ IT Department
With the implementation of e-governance IT is
becoming more and more important in government
operations. The need for a professional IT department
will inevitable increase, not only during
implementation, but also for maintenance of software,
hardware and infrastructure
 Discussion
⚫ E-Governance and Developing Countries