According to an IDC‘s survey results and forecasts, e-government related IT spending by UK, French, German, and Italian public-sector administrations is expected to peak in 2004 and grow significantly by the end of 2006. IDC acknowledges that these countries are making significant progress towards meeting the EU 2005 deadline for the electronic delivery of a wide range of services to internal customers, partners, and citizens.
IDC estimates that the deployment of IT solutions will be made on three key areas:
1 – Deploying electronic service delivery, to improve interaction with citizens through governmental portals, call centres, and online counters centered on user rather than service type.
2 – Developing e-procurement, to cut purchasing costs and enhance procurement process transparency and price competition.
3 – Implementing/modernising nationwide networks that support information sharing among administrations.
United Kingdom
The IDC study reveals that, although the UK government sector is late on some 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.
France
Given the current situation and the continuous attention to these themes, IDC believes that France still has to work hard on egovernment and IT infrastructure, especially at the local level, but it is in a good position to meet most of its egovernment targets and become one of the most advanced countries in the implementation of the eEurope 2005 action plan.
Germany
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. The BundOnline 2005 programme, at the federal level, and local initiatives have turned egovernment into a top IT priority. IDC believes 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.
Italy
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 multichannel 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.
2003-04-14
Em Foco – Empresa