5th sas tech_slides_fatemeh ahmadi zeleti

Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti MSc in Software Engineering

MSc in Business Administration PhD Student in Tampere University of

Technology

5th Symposium on Advances in Science and Technology (5thSASTech) 12-17 May 2011, Mashhad, Iran

E-Government in Islamic Republic of Iran: Identifying the Obstacles of Implementing

and Strategies for Improving E- Government

During recent years government of Iran is moving its governmental information and activities into the online world.

- Information privacy

- Ability for individuals (citizens) to - Receive and collect government information - Use and process the information - Receive, update, and use government services E-Government: delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and government organizations through internet, web based applications, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).


Background of the study

Iran as a developing country is now encouraging its government organizations to get more interaction with citizens and governments to improve businesses and citizen focus needs. Therefore, e-Government promises and ICT provides the possibilities (the authorities aim) to: - Decrease the administrative size, effort, and costs - Increase communication and services transparency and therefore: - Increase the functionality and productivity of government bodies + citizens satisfaction


Background of the study

However, for such objectives to be accomplished; various obstacles exist RQ: What are the obstacles of implementing; and strategies for improving e-Government in Iran? Methodology: Qualitative Research Method Comprehensive study of the relevant literatures


Research Question (RQ) and the Method


The Obstacles and Strategies (IT infrastructure)

Categories Obstacles Strategies

IT infrastructure - Low internet connection, Limited accessibility of citizen to internet networks in which result decrease the users’ motivation - Insufficient PCs of citizen and government organizations - Lack of efficient banking system for having e-Payment - Limited telecommunication infrastructure for connecting schools and universities to the national internet

- More IT activities in IT department of the organizations - Access to more expert IS analyst, IT, and network employees - Increasing the quality of internet connection, and connectivity to network - Increase the sufficiency level of the personal computers - Improve the efficiency of banking system for e-Payment


The Obstacles and Strategies (IT Knowledge)


IT skills, education, and knowledge

- Shortage of computer literacy among the citizen and government Employees - Lack of IT and ICT education Centers - Unfamiliarity to English language - Inadequate understanding to e-Government - No young and knowledgeable university graduate in placed - Lack of government authorized representative to observe and evaluate the IT, and ICT training Labs

- Increase awareness toward IT and ICT - Allocate budget for establishing IT and ICT education centers - Diversity of employees IT and ICT educational qualifications and skills - Increase the availability of online sources and information for self study - Observing and evaluating functions of the IT, and ICT training labs - More Farsi websites

Most Striking Obstacle

The Obstacles and Strategies (Legal)


Legal - Lack of strong security policies and laws to support e-Government implementation - Lack of knowledge of copyright law - Lack of vast investment needed for the establishing more ICT centers and applications in addition to banks systems in order to establish efficient e-Payment

- Secure and strong rules, regulations, and policies - More secured ways to guarantee the privacy of the citizen and government data and information - Allocating expert staff on e-Payment projects - Request for feedbacks on such systems from citizens



Security - Lack of adequate codification of critical information and digital signature - Lack of citizen and government employee’s network security experience - Lose attention of citizens in making authorization and authentication (login info)

- Codification of information and using digital signature - Increase awareness toward network worms and decent security

The Obstacles and Strategies (Security)


The Obstacles and Strategies (Social and Culture)


Social and Cultural

- Lack of confidence in dealing with e-Government services and online transactions - Resistance of the government employees against the changes (fast IT advancement and technologies), especially with new concepts - Government employee’s paper based habits and resistance against paperless jobs

- Increase the attitude toward IT and ICT - Confidence-building through education and promotion of managers’ culture and awareness - Announcement of a clear vision of IT, ICT, and e- Government development in Iran - Use of mass communication to promote benefits of IT, ICT, and e-Government - Increase users’ innovativeness which means “acceptance of a new idea” - Increase awareness toward “innovation in retail service delivery” - Positive perception about use of Technologies - Upgrading the employees about the IT and ICT advancement



The Obstacles and Strategies (ICT Applications)


ICT applications among government agencies

- Lack of ICT master plan in some agencies - Lack of enough and adequate web-based Applications - No efficient interoperability and interconnectibity across systems, ICT applications and networks *

- Using variety of software and ICT applications in the agencies - More ICT plan and projects - Existence of Local and Wide Area Networking (LAN, WAN) in the majority of government agencies

* Very Essential



Economy and society

- High cost of training - High cost of hardware and software - Lower national income compare to the developed countries

- Youth tendency to use computer and internet - Equal distribution of income among the society - Widening the market and increase the national income - Increase national communication in order to exchange technology and knowledge - More national transactions and businesses connections

The Obstacles and Strategies (Economy and society)


The Obstacles and Strategies (Workforce)


Workforce - Low salaries for the IT and ICT expert people - Expert immigrants and educated graduates leaving Iran for abroad

- Increase the salary in IT and ICT areas - IT promotion and admission of more IT students - Regional conferences and workshop to promote advanced technologies => Increase workforce - More IT and ICT experts in the businesses, and government organizations



Software and hardware market, export and import

- Lower quality of in-house hardware due to the lack of technology, and hardware ingredients exchange - Lack of essential expertise among in-house hardware producers - No affordability of government to purchase costly expert systems and software - Lack of adequate and professional planning for importing and exporting hardware and software

- Increase the budget and foreign currency to import software from abroad - Lower the computer hardware and software accessories cost - More hardware technicians training and more brand branches

The Obstacles and Strategies (Software and hardware market)


Discussion

• United Nations Maturity Stages

E-Government of Iran said to be in the “Transactional Stage” of the United Nations five maturity stages.

• Issue of Trust

Government authorities should be trusted, available, easy accessible, and open to every comments, feedbacks, requests, ideas, and drawbacks. E-Mail should be the formal channel of communication.

• People and Technology Advancement

People are becoming increasingly aware of benefits of ICT,

IT, and e-Government in their life. Besides, majority of young people are now willing to do all their tasks online.

• Governments in developing countries face new opportunities and challenges toward e-Government implementation and development.

• E-Government initiatives should be well planned and established to meet the satisfaction of the government and citizens.

• The decent strategies proposed in the paper can enable the Iranian authorities to comprehensively plan and run the e-Government initiatives and plans.

• Therefore, considering these strategies can lead to resolve various challenges in years to come and help to improve e-Government of Iran.


Conclusion

E-Government in Islamic Republic of Iran: Identifying the Obstacles of Implementing and Strategies for

Improving E-Government

Q&A


Thank You For Your Kind Attention

5th sas tech_slides_fatemeh ahmadi zeleti

Documents

egovernment services

government data

government information

policies lack

ict centers

cultural lack

governmental information

various obstacles