Infrastructure

The readiness of ICT infrastructure is critical to the e-government performance as the services are all digitalised, and hosted on the Internet. Hence, the quality and citizen’s satisfaction of government services provided are subject to a city’s digital maturity.

Leadership

The leadership with a clear vision plays a vital role in enabling the e-government initiatives^[6]. Policymakers must understand a digitalised government and be accountable to promote the digitalisation of all city authorities with a clear long-term vision.

For instance, to ensure the quality of services provided, the Seoul Metropolitan Government established its own telecom network linking 16 affiliated organizations and built a total of 477 types of information systems including all the municipal services housing for its 127 divisions. It also set up a specific e-government promotion group led by the chief information officer (CIO) with 195 employees in 4 divisions and 1 data centre. The Seoul Data Centre is built upon 89 information protection systems, 973 servers, and 272 telecom equipment for integrated control of the systems^[7].

Financial implication

The cost of e-government establishment varies on the services provision, size of programmes, and advancement of the digital system. Nevertheless, there is consensus that the more advanced forms of E government establishment represent significant upfront expenditures in technology and training. For instance, Kyiv’s e-procurement system, ProZorro, cost about 4.69 million Euros including the 2014 inception of the program to its 2017 implementation. Where the setup costs were about 1.23 million Euros, implementation costs 560,000 Euros, and operation for 2.90 million Euros^[8]. In the case of Decide Madrid^[9], an e-participation platform was established in 2015 aiming to improve transparency of government procedures and expand public participation in policy decision-making and spending. The annual budget of the platform is almost 2 million Euros.

Legal

Assurance of data security is fundamental for e-government. City governments should not only employ suitable technical methods and reliable tools, but also implement well-integrated regulations (solid security and privacy protocols) to protect security and privacy.

Other recommendations

According to 2001 UN Benchmarking E-government, the survey on 144 UN Member States suggests some of the following insights:

• Online service delivery is complementary rather than the ultimate replacement of all conventional service delivery.
• User interest is important in promoting the access to and usage of e-government.
• Single Entry Portals is a key factor in the success of local e-government.

Inadequate Infrastructure, High Costs and a Digital Divide ^[10]

Insufficient ICT infrastructure remains a major challenge to the establishment of e-government. Cities in particular, including those in developing regions without adequate ICT infrastructure (e.g., poor connectivity) face difficulties to implement new technologies. Another obstacle is the high costs to adopt new technologies. Shortages of financial resources deter cities from e-government initiatives.

Moreover, even if government budgets cover the expense of e-government establishment, the cost of internet access for citizens may prevent them from public online services, especially to those who do not find it affordable. Poor internet signals in remote areas is also a challenge, which results in a huge digital divide not only within a city but between regions and people.

Cloud services may be one of economical options for public services in a shared and coordinated manner. Cities can subscribe to or lease suitable services instead of purchasing hardware and software. Cooperating with the private sector is another way to reduce the cost pressure on e-government development. To lower costs for users accessing online public services, cities can provide free Wi-Fi in some public spaces (e.g., transport stations, tourist hotspots), kiosks, or the existing public facilities (e.g., libraries).

Lack of Skilled Workers, Paradigm Shift, and Managing Bureaucratic Processes

Having a sufficient number of skilled workers is essential to fully realise the benefits of a city’s e-government. Having enough qualified staff to manage e-government initiatives or daily operations remains a barrier for many cities. Another common obstacle is the staff's resistance to change in roles and responsibilities and showing reluctance to switch to new working approaches^[11].

Strengthening digital literacy and targeted digital skills among employees (either potential or existing) should be a priority. It can be fulfilled through knowledge sharing and training within government, or support from the experts of legal and technology in the private sector or local communities. To assist its staff in working through a procurement procedure, San Francisco introduced an internal procurement chatbot (PAIGE) to guide the process and clear up questions by the public^[12].