Definition of channels

The concept of 'channel' was used in three different and distinct ways in the literature reviewed for this assignment. For a large part the meaning is dependent on who is using the term, and for what purpose. Those writers who were discussing the means by which governments deliver services to the public tended to use the word 'channels' to describe the varying modes of service delivery such as face-to-face, written, telephone, and computers. Technical writers on the other hand regularly used the word to differentiate between different forms of electronic delivery (e.g. web, kiosk, video link and email) each of which was referred to as a 'channel'.

Thirdly, the term 'channel' was used to describe a set of packaged information and/or services. For example, the government of Victoria (Australia) defined channels as a particular way of arranging information and services within a web-based portal. In this sense the definition being used for 'channels' was:

"A logical collection of information or services that will:

• meet the majority of the needs of a specific group of customers (e.g. Business channel), or
• meet the needs of people interested in a specific subject area (e.g. Education channel)" [Victoria: Government On-line] [Victoria: Government On-line, The Channel Concept, Multimedia Victoria, November 1999] .

The latter use of the word is based on a particular conceptual framework regarding the transformation of government services. However, this paper has been commissioned by the E-government Unit to look at the need for a strategy to address the development of electronic service delivery in relation to other forms of delivering services to the public. The first definition of the term 'channels' described above, will therefore be adopted for use in this paper (i.e. to describe the varying modes of service delivery available across the State sector). It should be noted that consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of deploying different modes of electronic channels is outside of the scope of this assignment.

Existing channels include:

• Mail (correspondence)
• Face to face (contact centres; off-site visits)
• Phone (call centres (0800); agency based; locally based)
• Online (especially non-transactional information)
• Other forms of electronic interaction (fax; text messages; email; video link; kiosk).