A new report by Accenture notes that leading governments are moving beyond using traditional technologies to strengthen their relationships with citizens and modifying conventional models of service delivery in innovative new ways.
The report, called "From e-Government to e-Governance," stressed the importance of spurring innovation within the government workforce, largely by encouraging employees to take greater responsibility for the efficiency and effectiveness of information workflows, business processes, programs and delivery channels.
Accenture also encouraged agencies to enable their workers to take risks, generate ideas and share learning, and demonstrate to employees, through effective performance management systems, the value they create for citizens by developing innovative solutions. The report also called on government leaders and decision makers to commit to cultural transformations and to invest in Web 2.0 technologies to empower the workforce to innovate and develop applications that enable them to collaborate, share learning and access real-time data.
"To maximize the level of internal crowd sourcing and new community-based software development models, decisions makers at the top of public service organizations need to open up the decision-making process to employees at every level and encourage them to contribute," the report states.
Aside from investing in the workforce, the report identified three other key components for strengthening governance through the use of technology: developing a citizen-centric vision of governance; tailoring services and communications to meet user needs and preferences, and aiming for success in terms of improved service quality and increased citizen trust in the government.
For a full copy of the report, click here.
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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