ABSTRACT
As electronic government comes of age around the world, leadership remains at the core of success, beginning with the definition of e-government itself. Leaders who define e-government in a narrow sense-simply moving services online-miss larger opportunities which will determine competitive advantage in the long run. Indeed, by the end of the decade, what will constitute competitive advantage? Certainly not renewing a licence online. By then, online government services will be as commonplace as ATM machines are today. Online services will no longer be noteworthy, distinguishing one government from another, but will have become part of a baseline expectation of service delivery. Given such a scenario, governments today have no choice but to aggressively pursue an all-encompassing shift from traditional to online service delivery. To do nothing places them in jeopardy of falling below minimally acceptable standards of service.
