ABSTRACT
The advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have provided the technical foundation for providing citizen-centric online experiences with public information and services. One prominent example in this area is the citizen-service hotline (usually referred to as 311 in the U.S.) that is supported by customer service representatives as well as a sophisticated citizen service information system connected with phone and other communication devices. Such citizen service information portals have increasingly beenmade available viamultiple platforms such as social networking platforms, websites, smart phones, and others. One of the aspirations of citizen-centric digital government service is the
notion of personalized and responsive service (Goldsmith and Crawford 2014). Citizens receive customized public information and services from government delivered right to them. South Korea, a leading nation in e-government (United Nations 2010, 2012, 2014), has touted Government 3.0 that embodies this exact idea (Creative Government Planning Division 2013). For instance, a disabled citizen has his/her own portal of information and benefits individualized to the government’s assistance to him/her. The United Kingdom won the top ranking in 2016 with the provision of full transactional capability and whole-of-government integration to better serve users (United Nations 2016, 83). The responsibility rests with the government to fully integrate its information and services with needs from the customer/citizen perspective. The realization of the promise of a personalized citizen service requires
standardization of government information, sharing of information across agencies, design of appropriate interfaces (i.e. voice command or live assistance for visually impaired), etc. (White House 2012). The real challenges are more aboutpolicies,management, andgovernanceand less about technology as suggested by studies of e-government (Ahn and Bretschneider 2011; Dawes, Cresswell, and Pardo 2009). For instance, for an integrated citizen service information system (a sophisticated form of 311), city departments need to agree to use the same information system and standard ways of
codifying and routing services. The investment of resources both in terms of time andmoney,which is essential for a citizen service information system, is a key political and managerial decision. To convert the promise of citizen-centric digital government into a
reality, this chapter will focus on the challenges facing public managers in providing citizen-centric digital services as well as management strategies to address them. It will begin with a definition of citizen-centric digital governance.Next, itwill articulatemanagement challenges associatedwith conducting citizen-centric digital governance. Then, the chapter will present management strategies and techniques to further improve digital governance.
