The Citizen as Customer.

Customer service initiatives are fuelling the global, growth of e-government.

Citizen demand for better service is fuelling the global growth of "e-government" as government leaders focus on matching the new standards of service set by private sector advances in technology. A global study by Deloitte Research concludes that successful e-governments will focus on the citizen as customer and leverage technology to build long-term relationships with citizens.

The study, entitled "At the Dawn of E-Government: The Citizen as Customer," sets forth definitive stages that public sector entities will go through to achieve true e-government, and a checklist of recommendations to guide public sector entities through their e-government planning. "Public sector organizations are at the nascent first or second stages of their development into e-government entities," says Barbara Kieley, a principal at Deloitte Consulting's Canadian e-government practice. "With a clear strategic vision, traditional governments can evolve into true e-government entities, offering a level of service to citizens never before seen."

At the core of this transition is the revolution in how governments serve their citizens through the Internet. The study, which polled 261 senior managers of global government agencies, reveals that by 2002, nearly 34% of citizens will use the Internet as the primary access point to government services -- almost three times the current level of approximately 12%.

The study reveals that government use of technology today tends to focus on information-sharing, a fundamental element in the evolution of e-government. The report charts the following six stages government organizations must go through to evolve into integrated e-government organizations:

* Stage 1: Information publishing/dissemination. Government agencies use technology to provide increased access to information for customers.

* Stage 2: "Official" two-way transactions. Agencies begin using two-way transactions through such technologies as digital signatures and secure Web sites. For example, citizens in Lewisham, U.K. can claim income support and housing benefits using an electronic form provided by their local government's Web site.

* Stage 3: Multi-purpose portals. Agencies launch Web portals for customers and businesses to obtain services and transact business across multiple departments from a single point of entry.

* Stage 4: Portal personalization. Government puts even more power into the customers' hands by enabling them to customize portals with their desired features.

* Stage 5: Clustering of common services. Real transformation of government structure is now taking shape. As customers now view once disparate services as a unified package through the portal, their perception of departments as distinct agencies will begin to blur. Governments will now cluster services along common lines to accelerate the delivery of shared services.

* Stage 6: Full integration and enterprise transformation. What started as a digital encyclopedia is now a full service centre, personalized to each customer's needs and preferences. Old walls defining silos of services have been torn down and technology is integrated across a new enterprise to bridge the shortened gap between the front and back office. In some cases, new departments will have formed from the remains of predecessors. Others will have the same names, but their make-up will look nothing like they did before e-government.