Current NZ e-service initiatives

In-depth research would be required to make proper comparisons between New Zealand and other countries with respect to progress against e-service goals. Currently a range of State sector organisations in New Zealand are moving to provide some of their core services online. These services largely complement other channels of delivery, and are designed to provide customers with greater convenience and more efficient service. The range of services available online includes, but is not restricted to, such services as:

• LINZ Landonline - online registration of land transfers
• IRD - business tax assessments and online payments
• LTSA - motor vehicle register
• Customs - lodgment of import and export entries
• Immigration - application for a visitor's permit
• MED - registration of a company; personal property security register.

This is not an exhaustive list, but provides examples of some of the emerging government e-services.

However, e-service development across the State sector does not appear to be guided by a consistent whole-of-government approach to service delivery investment decisions, or a set of principles or framework for assessing service delivery options. The development of government e-services appears at this time to be piecemeal, and subject to the varying levels of commitment that senior management teams may have to the e-government programme.

Discussion with representatives of a range of government agencies (refer: Key Informants' Workshop summary)] suggests that individual organisations are considering e-services alongside traditional channels as part of overall business plans driven by pressure for organisational efficiency. This is consistent with the current approach advocated by Treasury whereby e-services are seen as only one option open to agencies that must be accounted for in a business case according to the relative cost benefit value proposition to the organisation.

Where government agencies primarily work with business interests there are clear, strong, supply and demand efficiency drivers that support e-service investment decisions. Businesses are largely technically competent and there are real time and cost benefits to be realised by dealing with government agencies online. Where agencies provide services to individual members of the public, such business drivers are not so strong.

The feedback from the Key Informants' Workshop held for this assignment brought out a number of important considerations:

• There is a core group of State sector organisations that are very committed to e-government initiatives, and have secured a considerable amount of baseline funding to invest in e-service development
• The benefits of e-services to both customers and organisations are proving themselves in practice
• A number of organisations are looking to develop business 'channel' strategies, but these are largely being compiled independently without reference to any existing framework that may act as a guide for consistent service delivery investment decisions across the State sector
• Agency officials indicated that they saw significant benefits to be gained from inter-agency discussions on channel issues that might provide context for the efforts of their agencies, and
• The current 'leaders' of e-government initiatives will to some extent dictate the scope and nature of future collaborative efforts to develop e-services in the absence of any whole-of-government approach. The business efficiency priorities of these organisations will drive future development in the absence of any alternative guiding public management framework for the provision of citizen-centric services.

It would appear that the development of e-services in New Zealand can still be regarded as a fledgling proposition. Most, if not all, State sector agencies have websites that provide the public with core sets of information. However, the provision of e-services is less well developed. Some agencies enable the public to download forms only; others enable applications to be lodged online (e.g. student loans, company registration), but the transaction has to be completed manually. A small number of agencies enable transactions to be completed online (e.g. paying GST, registering changes in land titles, lodging import and export entries).

In the past, issues of authentication, technical interoperability, varying technical standards, data integrity, and access acted as inhibitors to the development of online transactions. These have largely been resolved and the fundamental platform for reliable and secure transactions has been put in place across the State sector.

What is less clear is in what circumstances government agencies would replace traditional modes of service delivery to the public (other than businesses) with electronic channels, how much real demand there is for e-services, and whether they can be a cost efficient option if they have to co-exist alongside tradition channels for reasons of access and equity.