Understanding the role of e-Government and e-Governance

Understanding the role of e-Government and e-Governance Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your website or in your print publication provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required. By S. Maurer The past few years has seen significant growth in the number of e-government services available over the Internet. The potential for the Internet to significantly enhance the way that individuals and organisations conduct business with e-Government is now more evident than ever before. Many e-government IT investment planning processes now require some analysis of the costs and returns expected from that proposed investment. Unfortunately, public sector managers often lack models that can guide them through such analyses. To develop an understanding of the role of e-Government and e-Governance in today's society and in public organizations, with an emphasis on the effective management of information and its flow. Customer Relationship Management CRM will play a key role in giving citizens access to information, so enabling organisations to achieve this deadline. Widely adopted within the private sector, it has been pinpointed by local authorities as a key component of their e- government strategies. The CRM will help local authorities to realise their ambitions to deliver better services, modernisation and e-government. >From an industry perspective, improvements need to be made to the customer/supplier interface, if e-Government is to continue to flourish. In particular, the concept of partnering needs to evolve and develop into a "'modern relationship"'.