Reports: E-Government Success Hinges on Citizens

New online services offered by government must be marketed to citizens in order to succeed, according to a new report from the Arlington, Va., PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government.

A "build it and they will come" strategy won't work, said Brian Moura, assistant city manager of San Carlos, Calif., a city whose electronic government efforts are the subject of a case study in the report, "Commerce Comes to Government on the Desktop: E-Commerce Applications in the Public Sector." Moura does traveling road shows to city groups whenever major changes are made to the city's Web site.

A second PWC report, issued March 29, "The Use of Internet in Government Service Delivery," provides 11 steps government should follow to implement Web-based services. They include benchmarking against similar services in other jurisdictions and organizations, and developing a pilot project to test Web use in one district or in one element of the service.

Both reports focus on case studies of federal, state and local government efforts in e-commerce and use of the Web in service delivery.

"Rapid growth in technology has led to an explosion of Web-based services by government. These reports provide significant insights into how to plan and design applications that provide value-added services to all citizens," said Paul Lawrence, a PWC partner.

Copies of the reports are available by calling (703) 741-1077 or at www.endowment.pwcglobal.com.