Much has been said in recent months of the revolution beginning to occur in the US Government Agencies with the more open and accessible stance that Obama is taking. Notwithstanding the dearth of activity on his Twitter account post election, news of his blackberry, the new websites, the ability for citizens to contribute and the use of YouTube as a communication channel have all been heart-warming to those who believe in the value of open and accessible communication channels.
Not to be outdone, and despite the barriers that poor to mediocre broadband penetration and high mobile data charges put up, New Zealand too is doing some very cool stuff in this area.
The New Zealand Companies Office is the agency that is charged with looking after a number of different functions including company registration and the registration of trusts, personal security information, retirement homes and incorporated societies. All pretty ho-hum stuff that one wouldn’t expect to be leading the way in technology adoption. But they are…
The companies office contact page has a plethora of web 2.0 goodness. Some specifics include click to call Skype integration and Google maps and street view integration. However the office isn’t resting on its laurels. It is now active on Twitter (follow them here) as well as having a Facebook presence.
Company incorporation, a process that only a few years ago took weeks and lots of paperwork, is now entirely processed online. As well as that the office has an extensive mobile presence that allows companies to search and transact on the office registers from their mobile devices.
And such obvious, but until now impossible, developments such as automatic communication between government departments is now possible. As an example one can register a company with the companies office and obtain a tax number from the Inland Revenue Department all at the same time.
Not wanting to be outdone, the NZ Police are porting status updates to twitter, yes you to can follow the excitement that is policing in Christchurch, New Zealand!
Like all changes, and especially those involving public money, there needs to be a bottom line result to justify the move. The new communication channels have decreased response time, increased customer engagement and decreased the costs involved in running the office. Now that’s a win all around!
It must be some simplistic view on e-government if all that is called to be it is about public relations: twitter accounts, Youtube etc. And it is definitely not about specifically Web 2.0 but so much about the old good 1.0.
Take this relatively unknown 1.3 million inhabitant country of Estonia “somewhere in Europe”. More and more communication with the authorities happens just on the internet without ever seeing the tablemasters in the government offices.
Want to submit your tax reports – most companies and people do it online, want to apply for child support, apply online; want to register a company – do it online, takes 2 hours; want to inquire about the property you own, taxes you owe, cars registered on your name or your company, about your army service status (the list just goes on and on) – you just do it online.
You can vote on elections with your ID card (no, it is not even close to having the issues like with the Seybold machine). Next elections, using your mobile phone with Mobile ID.
Using your national identity card (a credit card size chip card) that is the de facto standard document instead of old-style passports, you log on to http://www.riik.ee (www.”state”.ee) and right away you have access to all information in the electronic registers the government has about you. Submit your applications and tax reports, inquire about this and that.
This is the country where Skype comes from and where for the last 10 years or so, 98% of bank transfers, both personal and corporate have been initiated electronically (mostly through web-based internet bank solutions). Visiting a bank office is something to celebrate.
Of course it is not without its woes. Problems of integration of different, now already “legacy” systems, issues with IT subcontractors. In-spite of re-launching of a citizen portal to submit your own proposal for legislation, for different reasons it doesn’t seem to take off.
There are issues (mostly regarding social control and politics) with e-elections, there is opposition from hospitals to join the global medical records system, but well, who does not have problems.
This is what e-government is all about, not just the Web 2.0 gizmos.
http://www.eesti.ee/eng/
Hotjug – fantastic example, you guys are world leaders.
But it’s still good to see the door opening, however slowly….
you guys are world leaders
Not entirely true. There are better examples.
The Global Information Technology Report 2007-2008
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm
This report concentrates on overall evaluation. What I described before is more about the practical outcome for ordinary people and the perception of having IT helping ones communication with the authorities.
However, if you index the list using some multplier to consider over-all living standards like say GDP per capita then yes, we pop quite high up despite of coming from a recent, not so glamorous past.
Some late feedback but as the World Economic Forum just published their latest report
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm
then it is worth updating. Estonia ranks globally number 18, but it is worth mentioning that by availability of government information services Estonia ranks number one
Rank Country Score
1 Estonia 6.6
2 Singapore 6.43
3 Denmark 6.18
4 Sweden 6.11
5 Malta 5.97
http://www.insead.edu/v1/gitr/wef/main/analysis/showdatatable.cfm?vno=9.15