Comments on: Organizational Interoperability is Key to a Successful eGovernment Strategy http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/ Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:30:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Stacy Baird http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-7609 Stacy Baird Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:33:51 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-7609 Jeff and Alaa: Your comments complement each other. Jeff, there are countless examples of eGov strategies that have failed because the cultural issues were not addressed. Alaa notes as part of the failing in his region the focus on technology and not, among the other social and organizational barriers, cultural issues. There is an enormous body of research and expertise that has focused on the impact cultural issues have on organizational change. Alaa, it seems all too common that the focus has been simplistically on technology where the organizational challenges are truly the greatest. I am optimistic that we are passing out of that phase of e-government, realizing the importance of other aspects of organizational change in the move to use technology to transform government to citizen-centric governance. Jeff and Alaa:

Your comments complement each other. Jeff, there are countless examples of eGov strategies that have failed because the cultural issues were not addressed. Alaa notes as part of the failing in his region the focus on technology and not, among the other social and organizational barriers, cultural issues. There is an enormous body of research and expertise that has focused on the impact cultural issues have on organizational change.

Alaa, it seems all too common that the focus has been simplistically on technology where the organizational challenges are truly the greatest. I am optimistic that we are passing out of that phase of e-government, realizing the importance of other aspects of organizational change in the move to use technology to transform government to citizen-centric governance.

]]> By: Jeff Abbott http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-7594 Jeff Abbott Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:13:15 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-7594 Stacy, Great article clear and concise. I have found the principle challenge in achieving interoperability is rarely a technical one, but is instead cultural. Organizations are motivated to adopt more mature levels of capability, but don't recognize the cultural obstacles in their way. In your view, to what extent is success dependent upon an organization's recognition of their own cultural obstacles? Stacy,
Great article clear and concise. I have found the principle challenge in achieving interoperability is rarely a technical one, but is instead cultural. Organizations are motivated to adopt more mature levels of capability, but don’t recognize the cultural obstacles in their way. In your view, to what extent is success dependent upon an organization’s recognition of their own cultural obstacles?

]]> By: Alaa alnajj http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-2168 Alaa alnajj Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:51:08 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-2168 Very interesting discussion. Briefly to introduce myself I sell and implement e-gov solutions in the Persian gulf for all gcc countries.am sorry beforehand if my post is a bit self publicizing I just think you guys might be interested in hearing about e-gov challenges in this part of the worldWe have been facing all the issues you guys raised above but we do have a lot of advantages to other countries which are a lot of funding, very high sponsorship all the way to the ruler the country, no government legislation required to implement certain aspects of e-government solutions which may delay the project like I think what happens in Europe, also small size of the country and the nature of the government makes thing happen a lot faster that's why we have extremely high growth in e-government like Bahrain for examples which jumped on the UN readiness index 20 or 30 places in 2 years time and shockingly rates better than japan. That doesn't mean it's all bed and roses our biggest challenges is the shift from the traditional vertical performance based government to the user centric based on collaboration model for government. The eternal fight between on the ownership of data and processes. Gov entities just don't want to work together they prefer complete decentralized model. With alot of funding and high expectations emphasizing on technology instead of the culture change,organizational restructuring,business process reengineering,user training because of this we have high project slippage Very interesting discussion. Briefly to introduce myself I sell and implement e-gov solutions in the Persian gulf for all gcc countries.am sorry beforehand if my post is a bit self publicizing I just think you guys might be interested in hearing about e-gov challenges in this part of the worldWe have been facing all the issues you guys raised above but we do have a lot of advantages to other countries which are a lot of funding, very high sponsorship all the way to the ruler the country, no government legislation required to implement certain aspects of e-government solutions which may delay the project like I think what happens in Europe, also small size of the country and the nature of the government makes thing happen a lot faster that’s why we have extremely high growth in e-government like Bahrain for examples which jumped on the UN readiness index 20 or 30 places in 2 years time and shockingly rates better than japan. That doesn’t mean it’s all bed and roses our biggest challenges is the shift from the traditional vertical performance based government to the user centric based on collaboration model for government. The eternal fight between on the ownership of data and processes. Gov entities just don’t want to work together they prefer complete decentralized model. With alot of funding and high expectations emphasizing on technology instead of the culture change,organizational restructuring,business process reengineering,user training because of this we have high project slippage

]]> By: Stacy Baird http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Stacy Baird Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:56:43 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-154 Ajit: I am referring to government enterprises, the departments and agencies of government, not private enterprise. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify. Ajit: I am referring to government enterprises, the departments and agencies of government, not private enterprise. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

]]> By: Ajit Jaokar http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Ajit Jaokar Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:50:53 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-152 Interesting post Stacy .. but I am a bit unclear .. when you say<br/>--- The government must make it a priority to develop proper training for, and achieve “buy-in” by, all who manage and work for the enterprise, these are the people who will or will not implement the eGovernment strategy.<br/><br/>These are private enterprises? yes? If so, why should governments try to train private enterprises? Sounds like more government intervention? or am I missing something? rgds Ajit Interesting post Stacy .. but I am a bit unclear .. when you say
— The government must make it a priority to develop proper training for, and achieve “buy-in” by, all who manage and work for the enterprise, these are the people who will or will not implement the eGovernment strategy.

These are private enterprises? yes? If so, why should governments try to train private enterprises? Sounds like more government intervention? or am I missing something? rgds Ajit

]]> By: Stacy Baird http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Stacy Baird Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:49:39 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-144 I am not suggesting that every citizen be involved in developing the eGov strategy, or implementation, but the breadth and depth of government should be, in appropriate measure. That said, there has to be an effective user feedback mechanism to improve services as they are delivered. Web 2.0 will provide government enormous flexibility to retool and grow the system more organically in response to user behavior and feedback. I agree, government can't get carried away with what is possible and must be mindful that even in a Web 2.0 environment, security and privacy are paramount. But Web 2.0 allows users to shape their experience, and understanding how they do that will inform government as to how to improve the delivery of services. I am not suggesting that every citizen be involved in developing the eGov strategy, or implementation, but the breadth and depth of government should be, in appropriate measure. That said, there has to be an effective user feedback mechanism to improve services as they are delivered. Web 2.0 will provide government enormous flexibility to retool and grow the system more organically in response to user behavior and feedback. I agree, government can’t get carried away with what is possible and must be mindful that even in a Web 2.0 environment, security and privacy are paramount. But Web 2.0 allows users to shape their experience, and understanding how they do that will inform government as to how to improve the delivery of services.

]]> By: Niklas Lindblom http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Niklas Lindblom Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:36:24 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-142 The need for public support of a new service to be successful cannot be debated. But difficulties arise with the technological complexity of e-services. Web 2.0 technology offers users the opportunity to contribute directly to development of service features. This might actually prove to raise security as many of the world's top programmers are not contracted by any governmental authority. I also agree that it is important that "regular" citizens feel engaged in the development, and that the end product actually facilitates their everyday communication with public administration. As always, eGov policy formulation and implementation must find the ever so famous balance between large scale participation and too many cooks...<br/>//Niklas The need for public support of a new service to be successful cannot be debated. But difficulties arise with the technological complexity of e-services. Web 2.0 technology offers users the opportunity to contribute directly to development of service features. This might actually prove to raise security as many of the world’s top programmers are not contracted by any governmental authority. I also agree that it is important that “regular” citizens feel engaged in the development, and that the end product actually facilitates their everyday communication with public administration. As always, eGov policy formulation and implementation must find the ever so famous balance between large scale participation and too many cooks…
//Niklas

]]> By: Stacy Baird http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-140 Stacy Baird Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:25:00 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-140 Martin, you have it right - engaging administrators isn't simple, with departments competing for funding, having conflicting missions and competing and seemingly irreconcilable uses for information, as well as all the traditional resistance to change. But you are also correct in drawing them into the process of building - including administrators early will give them greater opportunity to develop a sense of ownership and, particularly given a key goal is greater cooperation, to develop new lines of trust between administrators, vertically and horizontally in government. As to your observation about usability and convenience, people are becoming accustom to extremely elegant user experiences, whether on the Web or on mobile platforms. Government can learn from business, and most significantly, entrepreneurs who are innovating in this arena. Someone recently observed to me that eGovernment shouldn't be compared to the traditional way of delivering government services, eGovernment has to compare well to Facebook and home banking. Martin, you have it right – engaging administrators isn’t simple, with departments competing for funding, having conflicting missions and competing and seemingly irreconcilable uses for information, as well as all the traditional resistance to change. But you are also correct in drawing them into the process of building – including administrators early will give them greater opportunity to develop a sense of ownership and, particularly given a key goal is greater cooperation, to develop new lines of trust between administrators, vertically and horizontally in government. As to your observation about usability and convenience, people are becoming accustom to extremely elegant user experiences, whether on the Web or on mobile platforms. Government can learn from business, and most significantly, entrepreneurs who are innovating in this arena. Someone recently observed to me that eGovernment shouldn’t be compared to the traditional way of delivering government services, eGovernment has to compare well to Facebook and home banking.

]]> By: Martin Sutinen http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-137 Martin Sutinen Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:05:05 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-137 Stacy,<br/>Engaging the administrators in the government will certainly not be a simple task. I believe that trying to involve the people that are to use the services is a good way of building acceptance and reducing resistance. People might be more averse to change if they don't feel they have a say in what's happening.<br/>From a user perspective the problem is to encourage and finally convince enough people to use the new services enabled, otherwise the serices will not realize their potential and in the end result in wasted resources. One thing that should be paramount is marketing of the services. Awareness is a foundation for usage. One should not expect that citizens will go and find information on new services by themselves and of their own volition, wherefore information, support and guidance for the public on eGovernment services should be a focus.<br/>Usability and convenience in eGovernment services should also be important, otherwise people might just stick to what they have always done. Here I've noticed that Japan has an interesting perspective on the convenience part. In their national eGovernment policy it is stated that services should be reachable through service portals through no more than three clicks of the mouse. This is taking convenience quite literally, but it highlights the fact that using eGovernment services should rather be simpler, not harder, than using the traditional equivalent. Stacy,
Engaging the administrators in the government will certainly not be a simple task. I believe that trying to involve the people that are to use the services is a good way of building acceptance and reducing resistance. People might be more averse to change if they don’t feel they have a say in what’s happening.
From a user perspective the problem is to encourage and finally convince enough people to use the new services enabled, otherwise the serices will not realize their potential and in the end result in wasted resources. One thing that should be paramount is marketing of the services. Awareness is a foundation for usage. One should not expect that citizens will go and find information on new services by themselves and of their own volition, wherefore information, support and guidance for the public on eGovernment services should be a focus.
Usability and convenience in eGovernment services should also be important, otherwise people might just stick to what they have always done. Here I’ve noticed that Japan has an interesting perspective on the convenience part. In their national eGovernment policy it is stated that services should be reachable through service portals through no more than three clicks of the mouse. This is taking convenience quite literally, but it highlights the fact that using eGovernment services should rather be simpler, not harder, than using the traditional equivalent.

]]> By: Stacy Baird http://www.talkstandards.com/organizational-interoperability-is-key-to-a-successful-egovernment-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Stacy Baird Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:52:10 +0000 http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=2182#comment-135 It's the same as has happened in the business world. In the golden days of big mainframe computers, the computers replaced humans doing tasks to meet the internal needs of the enterprise. Now, business look outward to their customers, as government must. It's Service Oriented Architecture, or a similar paradigm applied to the enterprise as well as the ICT infrastructure. The outside customer may be the citizen, a small business, regulated industry or another department of the government. This is more important now as the broader population moves online. And it will be easier to accomplish from a technical standpoint because of the rapid and astounding pace of innovation in computing, the Internet and telecommunications. As to ownership and control of information, it's a complex question, the answer to which depends on many factors outside the scope of this discussion. But paramount in any eGovernment strategy is the assurance of the protection of privacy, security. Generally too, the ability to access and correct information the government maintains about you. The government should have clear rules in place to assure these and other information management policies are adhered to from the outset. It’s the same as has happened in the business world. In the golden days of big mainframe computers, the computers replaced humans doing tasks to meet the internal needs of the enterprise. Now, business look outward to their customers, as government must. It’s Service Oriented Architecture, or a similar paradigm applied to the enterprise as well as the ICT infrastructure. The outside customer may be the citizen, a small business, regulated industry or another department of the government. This is more important now as the broader population moves online. And it will be easier to accomplish from a technical standpoint because of the rapid and astounding pace of innovation in computing, the Internet and telecommunications. As to ownership and control of information, it’s a complex question, the answer to which depends on many factors outside the scope of this discussion. But paramount in any eGovernment strategy is the assurance of the protection of privacy, security. Generally too, the ability to access and correct information the government maintains about you. The government should have clear rules in place to assure these and other information management policies are adhered to from the outset.

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