M-GOVERNMENT: ESTABLISHING THE

FRAMEWORK

Barbara-Chiara UbaldiOECD E-Government Project ManagerReform of the Public Sector Division

Content overview

1. What is m-government?2. Why m-government : Origin

and context of OECD work 3. How to make it happen:

prerequisites, main barriers and challenges

4. Who can benefit? 5. Where to go: The OECD role

1. From e-government to m-government (the what)

• What is m-government?

• Differences between e-government and m-government services provision: more than a shift in technologies, a fundamental change (e.g. different relationship btw mobile state and mobile public officials, mobile state and mobile citizens, mobile citizens and mobile civil servants)

• Key role of mobile technology to pursue next generation of public services: citizen centric, integrated, measurable and transparent

• New technologies enable more open specifications, greater sharing of resources, interoperability, counting on future market trends

• Key question: will e-government be replaced by m-government?

• Early stage of m–government development and part of the overall strategy of Public Sector modernisation and integrated service delivery strategy

1. From e-government to m-government (the what)

Source: OECD Report on Mobile Government , 2011

2. Origin of OECD work on m-government (the why)

• Countries are looking for increased agility, ubiquity and responsiveness of public services: mobile and wirelsess services platform-independent and available anywhere, anyhow, anytime and for anybody.

• Strategic importance of wireless and mobile technology

• Evident trends and need to establish a sound framework and settings for successful m-government

• Purpose: assist governments worldwide for a coherent m-government framework and services

2. Mobile Internet takes off in OECD

Over 500 million mobile broadband subscriptions in the OECD, averaging 42 subscriptions per 100 households (December 2010)

Source: OECD Broadband Portal.

Subs

crip

tions

per

100

inha

bita

nts

Finl

and

Italy

Portu

gal

Austri

a

Luxe

mbo

urg

Estoni

a

Sweden

Germ

any

Czech

Rep

ublic

Nethe

rland

s

Polan

d

Unite

d Kin

gdom

Chile

Greec

e

Switzer

land

Denm

ark

Israe

l

Belgi

um

Irela

nd

Hunga

ry

Norway

Spain

Slova

k Rep

ublic

New Z

eala

nd

OECD (ave

rage

)

Icela

nd

Austra

lia

Slove

nia

Korea

Fran

ce

Japa

n

Unite

d Sta

tes

Turk

ey

Mex

ico

Canad

a

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

2G subscriptions 3G subscriptions Total (2G+3G)

Mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

2. …and in developing countries.

Over 300 million mobile broadband subscriptions in developing countries in 2010, more than double the amount one year earlier.

Source: ITU World Telecommunication /ICT Indicators database.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

2007 2008 2009 2010

Subs

crip

tions

per

100

inha

bita

nts

2. Underlying concepts and motivational factors

• Main reasons for the emergence of m-government solutions:– wide acceptance of these technologies

– penetration of mobile devices

– ease of use for the citizens

– easier interoperability

– can bring government closer to citizens and businesses

– m-government services can be cheaper than computer-based services

• Motivational factors...– Better service accessibility, availability, responsiveness, quality

– Service scalability (expanding coverage, size, broadening impact and enhancing organisational sustainability)

– Better stakeholder participation

– Integration, communication, interaction

– Efficiency gains: Reduced costs (operational and fixed)

– Better image and perception

– increased adaptability to future requirements

3. A framework for m-government (the how)

• Establishing an implementation framework...

– Analysis of the business requirements

– Establishment of conceptual architecture principles

– Coherence of the two: business requirements are met with the right solutions and principles are grounded in the business requirements

– Sorting out the challenges from the opportunities: impact (coordination of the strategic, managerial and operational levels) and responses (change or innovation that may need its own managerial process)

• The framework should incorporate the following principles:

• Interoperability

• Security

• Flexibility

• Scalability

• Openness

• Integrity

• transparency

• Alignment with public sector modernisation and integrated service delivery strategy

3. Main challenges...

• Careful analysis of challenges to avoid increasing the gap and creating new inefficiencies:

– Organisational

– Technical

– Financial and economic challenges

– Governance

– Legal and regulatory challenges

• Avoid enforcement but enable access to those who are willing

• Pragmatic strategic planning: Infrastructure strategy, service delivery strategy, organisational change strategy, : end-user (civil servant, citizen, business) and m-enabled solution focus of the planning and not technology

• Transparency

• Linked to use of other new technologies and open government data

3. Future steps for governments

• Technology few steps ahead of socio-economic and usability enablers necessary to make the transition

• Designing and constructing m-government services accepted and used by citizens and businesses : Careful analysis of perceptions and expectation (e.g. trust, self-efficacy in using mobile technology) prototyping, evaluation of services to avoid obsolescence and inefficient use of resources

• Evolutionary approach: small set of high-value services accessible from a range of technologies

• Flexible applications that can be changed with changing needs

• M-applications inclusive and with a national spread: from pilots to national scale projects

• Increased linkages btw hardware and content: linking the hardware to a content delivery platform

• Mid-term perspective and technology trends outlook taken into account

3. Future steps (2)

• Delivering m-government services implies change: habits, fear of the unknown, security and economic factors and civil servants might feel threatened

• Adaptation process needed: education, participation, interpersonal communication, motivation

• Widespread acceptance of mobile technologies in everyday life does not guarantee the acceptance of the technologies for the provision of public services: the risk of low levels of uptake

• Appraising the readiness of the society for m-government: maturity of technology, capacity of service providers, users’ interest

• Partnering with the private sector (capability and availability have reached a more mature status than the one in the public sector)

4. OECD help to formulate policies that leverage the potential (where to go)

• review existing m-government policies, frameworks and initiatives

• assess public sector maturity to deliver results through m-gov

• appraise alignment with other relevant strategies (OGD, E-gov, PS reform)

• help delivering results: – Provide more services with fewer resources

– Emphasis on priority in favour of activities (and not 7/7) to avoid proliferation

– Look at strategic state and social value, not only with a ROI perspective on how m-government enables to economize on the traditional costs of e-government

– Part of a multichannel delivery strategy to ensure appropriate combination of online and offline channels in a ubiquitous manner

– Consider the impact on digital divide

• Part of our digital cities?

For more information email: barbara.ubaldi@oecd.orgor visit our website: http://www.oecd.org/gov/egov

Thank

you!