WITH THE ONLINE age well and truly upon us, governments worldwide have increasingly embraced the concept of e-governance, with mixed results. From multi-purpose information portals to buying a TV licence, governments have recognised the need to offer their citizens online services. The SAR Government's attempts to go online have been fairly successful so far. Apart from the info.gov.hk portal which amalgamates all the departments, the Government recently unveiled its esdlife.com Web site. Produced in conjunction with Hutchison Global Crossing and a product of the 'Digital 21' initiative, the site allows users to perform a variety of tasks online. With the Web site, users can register as voters, file their tax returns and even register their business online. Efforts such as these have landed Hong Kong with a leadership mantle in e-governance across Asia. However, this role is coming under increasing threat from other Asian countries. This is the view held by Deloitte Consulting partner Mike Lisle-Williams, based on a Deloitte Research report entitled 'At the Dawn of e-Government'. 'Hong Kong certainly has a leadership position,' said Mr Lisle-Williams. 'The big question is: where will Hong Kong be in two years?' Mr Lisle-Williams based his views on one of the key findings of the report - that governments will not see the benefits of going online until their back-office operations become completely integrated to take advantage of the automation technology can achieve. 'Hong Kong has done very well to go live and the range of online services on offer is very comprehensive,' he said. 'We've seen the move from individual Web sites to transaction-based services, to the establishment of a multi-purpose portal. 'One of the challenges for Hong Kong is to streamline the services so that the processing done behind payments is actually automated rather than still being done manually.' This, in fact, is a challenge facing a number of governments. The Deloitte report identifies the need to fully integrate technology across the new enterprise so that 'old walls defining silos of services' are torn down. In other words, governments must do more than simply put up a portal, Mr Lisle-Williams insisted. Deloitte Consulting senior manager Bronwyn Dredge compares this to the process of applying for a restaurant licence. 'Everyone knows how complicated it is to get a restaurant licence - all the different departments that you need to go to individually,' said Ms Dredge. 'What we've got to do is to get all the departments integrating their functions behind a portal.' It was important for these steps to be taken in order for governments to fully reap the benefits of going online, said Mr Lisle-Williams. 'The real opportunities to gain efficiency and convenience for the community only come with further development,' he said. 'There's a little bit of a job ahead for Hong Kong.' Mr Lisle-Williams said the state governments in the United States also were facing the same challenges as Hong Kong. 'Behind the portal, you still go into the departments and [the processing is] still managed manually,' he said. 'Automation is the next great challenge and the next phase for Hong Kong. 'Hong Kong is not alone in facing the challenge. But I'm not sure the challenge is very well understood here.' The experience of the state government of Victoria, Australia, could help illustrate the pitfalls lying ahead for the SAR, said Mr Lisle-Williams. The Victorian Government was among one of the first governments to go online, but its Web initiative is now seen as stagnating. 'They made the move to online service provision very quickly,' said Mr Lisle-Williams. 'But each government department in Victoria resolutely maintains its independence, so the processing remains fragmented behind the scenes.' It was also important for the SAR to ensure the technology remained up to date, he added. For instance, Victoria invested in technology five years ago but much of its software and hardware is now out of date. According to Mr Lisle-Williams, several prerequisites were needed to drive back-office integration and the first was to dismantle the legacy systems that had been in place for years. These systems aim to ensure the government agencies remain distinct from one another and use different systems of operation. 'All governments have invested heavily in legacy systems and have built workforces to maintain them,' said Mr Lisle-Williams. 'The challenge is going to be if those systems will be replaced by non-mainframe systems.' Another requirement is to ensure the front end, or the portal, is well linked to the back-office operations. 'This requires specialist software,' said Mr Lisle-Williams. But whether the Hong Kong Government is ready to make these changes is another matter. Politicians are not noted for their foresight, and many may simply view e-governance initiatives as a way to boost their own political stock. Of course, much will depend on how readily people take up the services. According to the report - which surveys Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the US, where Internet penetration is relatively high - only 12 per cent of citizens use the Internet as their primary means to access government services. In Hong Kong, where Internet penetration is still under 30 per cent, this number is likely to be significantly lower. Therefore, it is important that people see sufficient benefits in going online. The report identifies two major advantages for citizens of e-governance. The first is that service times are significantly reduced, which is sure to appeal to Hong Kong residents. Secondly, people do not get caught in the aggravating cycle of repeating personal information in each interaction with the government. Staffing concerns are also likely to crop up at some point. It has long been difficult to attract skilled techies to work in the public sector. The report outlines a number of initiatives that governments are using to recruit manpower, including bonuses for learning or upgrading employees' skills. The SAR Government's present approach to the problem is outsourcing, but this method may force the authorities to cede control to the private sector. Graphic: mousegwz