The Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic-Government

The Advantages of Electronic-Government

The ultimate goal of the e-government is to be able to offer an increased portfolio of public services to citizens in an efficient and cost effective manner. It allows for government transparency because it allows the public to be informed about what the government is working on as well as the policies they are trying to implement.

The main advantage while implementing electronic government will be to improve the efficiency of the current system( Paper based system). That would in return same money and time. The introduction would also facilitate better communications between governments and businesses.

For example: E-procurement facilitates G2G and B2B communication; this will permit smaller business to compete for government contracts as well as larger business. hence the advantage of creating an open market and stronger economy. Business and citizens can obtain information at a faster speed and it is possible at any time of the day.

The society is moving towards the mobile connections and the ability of an e-government service to be accessible to citizens irrespective of location throughout the country brings the next and potentially biggest benefit of an e-government service as we live in what is now termed as the Knowledge era.

The anticipated benefits of e-government include efficiency, improved services, better accessibility of public services, and more transparency and accountability.

The Disadvantages of Electronic-Government

The main disadvantage concerning e-government is the lack of equality in public access to the internet, reliability of information on the web, and hidden agendas of government groups that could influence and bias public opinions.

Potential implications of implementing and designing e-government, include disinter-mediation of the government and citizens, impacts on economic, social and political factors, vulnerability to cyber attacks and disturbance to the status quo in these areas.

Hyper-surveillance: Once the government begins to develop and become more sophisticated, the citizens will be forced to interact electronically with the government on a larger scale. E.g This could potentially lead to a lack of privacy for civilians as their government obtains more and more information on them.

Cost: Although large amount of money is spent on the development and implementation of e-government the outcomes and effects of trial internet-based governments are often difficult to gauge or unsatisfactory.

Inaccessibility: An e-government site that provides web based access and support often does not offer the potential to reach many users including those who live in the remote areas, have low literacy levels and exist on poverty line incomes.