The adoption of E-government has myriads of benefits. For example, it saves finances, reduces turn around times, improves quality of services provided to citizens and it is also convenient, easier to use and fast. However, these benefits may not be enjoyed if certain pertinent issues are not resolved in the establishment and management of E-government platform. This paper offers a brief discussion on the challenges that may be faced in the adoption of E-government platform.
To begin with, the technology involved in setting up an E-government portal is complex (Zhao, Annibal & Marie-France 2012, p.412). Most providers do not have the capacity to set an e-government system that has limited hitches. In addition, institutions and citizens have not fully embraced E-government systems and therefore the uptake is quite slow. Most of the e-government projects that have been undertaken in the past have grossly failed. Perhaps, it is imperative to explore why e-government projects often fail to materialize.
First, there are quite a number of social challenges that impede the growth and development of e-government projects and adoption (Dada 2006, p.6). For example, both the society and government agencies do experience cultural barriers that tend to impede the full and successful adoption of e-government.
As a result, citizens cannot sufficiently uptake e-government services. The government is also significantly impeded from providing crucial services to the people due to poor supply mechanisms. In other words, a delicate balance between demand and supply is created. This implies that accessibility and usage of e-government services are eventually hampered leading to the failure of the system.
Second, technical challenges have also been found to be detrimental towards the success of e-government adaptation. The issues of privacy and security as well as the ICT infrastructure still hamper the successful adoption of the e-government platforms (Dewan & Riggins 2005, p.305). It is pertinent to mention that internet penetration is still at a lower level in most developing and underdeveloped countries.
Even in countries that are already developed, broadband availability is not uniform across the board. As a result, there are several users of e-government platforms who cannot access vital services. Privacy concerns and security of both users and the government are still issues of concerns in all governments that have embraced this system. Cyber crime is rife bearing in mind that fighting online crimes is a challenging task altogether.
Organizational challenges are also hampering the delivery of efficient services to users of e-government (Carter & Bélanger 2005, p.11). For instance, there are no adequately trained and qualified personnel who can effectively operate the e-government portals. Individuals who are trained in this area are not enough to serve the growing number of users who would like to receive services through the system.
Worse still, lack of policy formulation and regulation on the usage of e-government services are also hindering the adoption of this program. As a matter of fact, there is need for programs that can support or promote the benefits derived from the e-government.
E-government adoption is also grappling with financial challenges. For instance, it requires substantial investment to set up an e-government portal. In order to recover from the mammoth expenditure, the demand of the services offered should be exceptionally high.
However, the poor uptake of e-government services has led to reduced revenue on the part of the government and increased expenditure when maintaining the system. This scenario has consequently worsened the level of interoperability of e-government platforms and poor integration (Bryer 2011, p. 345).
References
Bryer, T.A. 2011, “The Costs of Democratization: Social Media Adaptation Challenges Within Government Agencies”, Administrative Theory & Praxis, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 341-361.
Carter, L. & Bélanger, F 2005, “The utilization of e-government services: citizen trust, innovation and acceptance factors”, Information Systems Journal, Vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 5-25.
Dada, D 2006, “The failure of e-government in developing countries: a literature review”, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 1-10.
Dewan, S. & Riggins, F 2005, “The digital divide: current and future research directions”, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 298-337.
Zhao, F., Annibal, J. & Marie-France, W 2012, “Key issues and challenges in e-government development”, Information Technology & People, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 395-422.