ABSTRACT
Since the emergence of the Information Age a generation ago, e-commerce and digital technologies have been applied to enhance nearly every business process as well as many aspects of government operations. Expanded availability and new forms of communication, information transfer, education and training are driving forces behind the push for citizen-centric virtual government, detailed in Chapters 3 and 4. The benefits of collaborative business-government-citizen connections are becoming more apparent with faster broadband internet connectivity leading to higher levels of convenience in dealing with commercial and governmental enterprises. Even during the economic recession, sales grew steadily by more than 10 % per year in the technology sector, suggesting that further expansion of ICTs will improve productivity in the post-recessionary era. As more people use the internet to connect with government agencies — and more agencies link with each other, employees and businesses — society as a whole experiences a positive transformational effect.
