Introduction
M-government forms part of the advanced initiatives of promoting delivery of government services through deployment of mobile information technology tools. E-governance initiatives have dominated the idea of improving public management for quite some time now. However, the development of mobile technology based on the IT framework has necessitated the change from e-governance to m-governance. However, there are a lot of problems in the management and use of technology as has been identified in the discharge of e-governance. This raises questions on the ability of governments to fully enforce m-governance. This paper presents a model that can be used to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of m-government in the United Arab Emirates.
The goals of this research is to bring out the real challenges that are bound to be encountered in the discharge of m-governance and how these challenges can be identified and curbed in the course of delivery of government services on the mobile information technology platform. The paper begins with the exploration of literature on m-governance. This is meant to provide insights about the modalities of implementing m-governance. Of critical relevance is the identification of studies that have been done about models of assessing the workability of smartphone applications, which are vital in m-governance. This helps in the extraction of recommendations that are vital in determining the model of assessment for m-government in the United Arab Emirates.
Review of Literature
The rate of mobile penetration in the global market has kept accelerating from the beginning of the 20th century. The rate of penetration of mobile technology in the world was rated at 50 percent as at the end of the year 2008. The percentage is estimated to have shot to over 60 percent with acceleration of the pace of mobile phone penetration in the market over the last four years. Emerging economies like the United Arab Emirates have kept displaying their potential to develop and promote an enabling environment for mobile technology (Zukang, Hamadoun and GurrĂa 2011).
Georgiadis and Stiakakis (432) presented a framework for measuring the rate of delivery of m-government services that was adopted from e-government service delivery. This presents one of the desirable models upon which e-governance has been transformed to m-governance. This model is based on the European Union model. Some of the services that are brought out in this framework include: income taxes, social security services, health services, personal documents, job search, certificates, registration services, and security services among others. M-government, according to the framework, is a strategy that entails deployment of mobile service tools and technologies to promote the level of efficiency in the delivery of government services to citizens. Several features comprise the mobile technology.
These include wireless capabilities such as 3G network facilities and “Near Field Communication” (NFC) among others. The other important feature in the discharge of m-government is the software and applications that are used to support reception and discharge of messages that are coded in different ways. Different mobile tools accept different software applications that determine the pace at which the discharge of government services through the mobile tools can be done. The government has to detect and determine the nature of services to be discharged and the kinds of technologies that are embraced by the population before choosing on discharging services through mobile technology (Georgiadis and Stiakakis 434-435).
One thing that comes out in the m-government framework presented by Georgiadis and Stiakakis is the need to bring out the levels on which delivery of m-government services is based. These two authors bring out the four critical levels of m-government delivery. These include m-government – to – government services, m-government – to – employee services, m-government – to – citizen, and m- government – to – business (Georgiadis and Stiakakis 435). The classification of these services can aid in streamlining the mechanisms of communication to be deployed in each of the four categories of m-services. For instance, the government may choose to recommend a given type of mobile phone tool to be used by employees in transacting with the government in the delivery of m-government services in the m-government – to – employee category. The technology features can be easily identified this way, thereby making it easy for the government to implement improvements where necessary.
According to Georgiadis and Stiakakis (437), the progress of m-government services depends upon the mobile technology platforms that are used by the government. Not all services can be discharged on one platform because different users prefer different mobile applications, and not all services can be transacted on all mobile devices. For instance, the features of the Android software differ from the characteristics of Windows applications that are used in Windows phones. This implies either the need to unify the platform of mobile technology adoption for governance purposes or the diversification of technologies so that the delivery of services can be transacted using different mobile devices.
Empirical studies in the field of mobile technology adoption in communication show that people do not embrace the use of mobile devices for making transactions that are lengthy. Mobile technology is mostly used for enhancing social interaction and social communication. Therefore, focusing on the perceptions of the m-government from the people is vital in determining the antecedents of m-governance. Mobile services differ from one country to the other because of the variation in the number of mobile service operators across different countries.
It is important to note that the environment of mobile technology adoption in the delivery of services is pegged on the reliability of the mobile phone operators. Mobile networks and mobile applications determine the pace with which transactions are made using mobile technology tools. Classifying services can be used to detect the rate at which people can use technology for enhancing formal transactions, which often take more time. Therefore, the establishment of facts about the change in perception on the end-user side is vital in assessments of m-government. Some perceptions could be based on genuine observations from the users; for instance, the classification of mobile technologies based on deployment of the technologies on different platforms other than governance services. The level of assessment of mobile technologies that is presented by Georgiadis and Stiakakis (437) denotes the importance of assessing the availability of mobile tools, as well as the reliability of the available support networks.
Investigation
Based on the framework of m-governance presented above, it is critical to explore the following questions with relation to the discharge of services through the mobile technology framework in UAE. Therefore, five main questions are explored. These are:
- What kinds of mobile technology are embraced in the United Arab Emirates?
- Which kind of mobile technology is commonly used by citizens in the United Arab Emirates?
- To what level do the citizens approve of the existence and use of m-government services in the country?
- To what level has the government of the United Arab Emirates deployed mobile technology in the delivery of government services in the country?
- What challenges are inherent as far as the use of mobile technology to discharge services on mobile platform is concerned?
- What improvements can be deployed in the m-governance environment in order to increase the level of precision in the assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of m-governance in the country?
The aim of these questions is to ascertain the factors that are critical in the deployment of mobile technology in the discharge of e-government services and the determination of points that are critical in enhancing measurability of m-government service delivery. Effective assessment of m-government services depends on the responses that are attained by end-users and beneficiaries of the services, as well as the minimization of workload on by the government as a result of introduction of m-services. Such questions are often raised in the strategic initiatives on the discharge of services using the mobile technology by different firms, most of which lie in the private sector and are critical in establishing the modalities of assessing mobile technology deployment in service delivery by governments.
Discussion
The assessment of the m-government is a complex activity. The complexity emanates from the mere fact that the mobile environment is large and quite dynamic. The dynamism is enhanced by the fact that there are different mobile tools and mobile applications that are used as per the choice of individuals. Mobile technology adoption by the government is an exercise that entails a substantial number of stakeholders in the mobile industry (Ishmatova and Obi 39). The question that ought to be asked when applying mobile technology in the discharge of government concerns the level at which the stakeholders, including the mobile phone service providers and the users, are fully involved in mobile service structuring by the government. Moreover, the question as to which kind of services can be delivered on a given type of mobile technology platform is critical in offering government services using mobile tools (El-Kiki and Lawrence 1).
Research reveals that the mobile technology environment in the United Arab Emirates is quite advanced, with mobile phone usage being heavily deployed in marketing and delivery of e-services by a substantial number of firms. User satisfaction is an important factor in the application of mobile technology in m-governance because of the existence of problems of technology use, like information systems failures, and due to networking and connectivity problems. Connectivity problems are often detected by the end-users, thus feedback from end users is vital for dealing with the problems of networking and connectivity in m-governance (El-Kiki and Lawrence 2). The high level of satisfaction that is witnessed in the use of mobile technology to discharge services is based on six critical factors. These are: awareness, accessibility, availability, reliability, accuracy, and responsiveness (El-Kiki and Lawrence 4).
Recommendation
While there is no single model that can explore the means of assessment that can be used to ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of m-governance, it is easy to draw critical points from the various models that have been developed by different researchers. When implementing m-governance, it is important to make a distinction between the various categories of m-government services since these give room for effectively exploring the weaknesses of mobile tools and technologies used for enforcing m-governance.
Workability of m-governance depends on the interaction of many players. The critical players are mobile technology developers, end-users and developers of the platform on which technology works. Mobile network providers and mobile application developers ought to work in unison with intervention of the government to promote the level of integration and support for mobile phone tools and application by the users. Several questions are also raised about the inability of certain mobile applications to integrate with others because of the competitive factors that prevail in the information technology industry. In assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of m-governance, focus and emphasis has to be given on feedback that is provided by end-users, since these are the targeted consumers of mobile technologies. Models that focus on m-governance services often draw away the factors of utility and satisfactory levels by depending on the information and justification that is provided by the government and the service providers.
The success of information technology platform as related to m-government – to – business entails the input from both the IT service providers and the business professionals. This is based on the fact that business professionals have a responsibility to develop an IT receptive environment that can enable them to easily enhance a mobile technology receptive environment and m-governance. Security is also a factor that can be promoted through the development of cooperation between companies and the government.
References
El-Kiki, Tarek and Elaine Lawrence. Mobile User Satisfaction and Usage Analysis Model of mGovernment Services, 2007. Print,
Georgiadis, Christos K., and Emmanouil Stiakakis. “Extending an e-Government Service Measurement Framework to m-Governement Services.” Mobile Business and 2010 Ninth Global Mobility Roundtable (ICMB-GMR), 2010 Ninth International Conference on IEEE, 2010. Print.
Ishmatova, Diana, and Toshio Obi. “M-government Services: User Needs and Value.” I-Ways: The Journal of E-Government Policy and Regulation 32.1 (2009): 39-46. Print.
Zukang, Sha, Hamadoun I. TourĂ©, and Angel GurrĂa. M-government Mobile Technologies for Responsive Governments and Connected Societies. 2011. Web.