E-Government is more about government than about “e”. The rise of the information society has led to major changes in citizen expectations and organisational structures, cultures and working processes. Governments are following suit and adopting information society tools and working practices to remain responsive to citizen needs. The impact of e-government at the broadest level is simply better government by enabling better policy outcomes, higher quality services, greater engagement with citizens and by improving other key outputs. Governments and public administrations will, and should, continue to be judged against these established criteria for success. Governments are responding to new technologies, and are particularly attentive to time. Unlike other aspects of government, technologies evolve very quickly and equipment rapidly becomes out of date. The decisions taken today commit administrations to a future that is changing, and not fully understood. Errors are costly financially, but are especially worrisome in terms of losing the trust of citizens and businesses. The transition to e-government is an opportunity for countries to show their capacity to adapt and overcome barriers. Delays in implementing e-government reforms will penalise economic development in this competitive, rapidly changing world. E-government initiatives refocus attention on a number of issues: how to collaborate more effectively across agencies to address complex, shared problems; how to enhance customer focus; and how to build relationships with private sector partners. Public administrations must address these issues if they are to remain responsive. As long as these steps have not been successfully undertaken and the necessary tools put in place, the full potential of e-government will not be realised.

E-Government is more about government than about “e”. This study explores the reasons for implementing e-government, the barriers to implementation, and how to implement.

Well-timed and targeted innovation boosts productivity, increases economic growth and helps solve societal problems. But how can governments encourage more people to innovate more of the time? And how can government itself be more innovative? The OECD Innovation Strategy provides a set of principles to spur innovation in people, firms and government. It takes an in-depth look at the scope of innovation and how it is changing, as well as where and how it is occurring, based on updated research and data.

The first in a series of national e-government reviews, this book uses a common analytical framework that will assist countries in evaluating their e-government policies, ensure international comparability of findings and systematically build up evidence regarding good e-government practices.

Government at a Glance 2013 provides readers with a dashboard of key indicators assembled with the goal of contributing to the analysis and international comparison of public sector performance.

The report gives a broad description of the shift in governments' focus on e-government development – from a government-centric to a user-centric approach. It gives a comprehensive overview of challenges to user take-up of e-government services in OECD countries and ways of improving them.