Although governments hardly stand at the forefront of Internet innovation, their use of the Net to deliver services has experienced something like a quiet explosion over the past five years. During that time, more than 500 electronic-government initiatives have been launched around the world—up from 3 in 1996.1 In many cases, the early results have been very promising. A few years ago, for example, obtaining an import or export license in Singapore required applicants to fill out 21 different forms and then wait 15 to 20 days for 23 government agencies to process the request. But since the government launched TradeNet, applicants have had to submit only one on-line form, and they receive a license as soon as 15 seconds later.
To gain a better understanding of e-government's potential, we examined major initiatives around the world and undertook a significant amount of research. We found that the real value of e-government derives less from simply placing public services on-line than from the ability to force an agency to rethink, reorganize, and streamline their delivery before doing so, much as the redesign of core processes in the 1980s transformed many businesses. And it isn't just the Internet–savvy industrialized nations...