[LINK] Effect of New Government on ICT in Canberra

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Thu Sep 12 10:52:14 AEST 2013


>At 8:23 +1000 11/9/13, Tom Worthington quoted:
>>Last night Scott Cass-Dunbar, Director, IT Advisory, KPMG, [who said]:
>>  ...  the use of the Internet in place of physical delivery of 
>>services. This is not just for access in remote areas, but also in 
>>cities to replace face-to-face government services.

Roger replied on Wed, 11 Sep 2013 15:03:01 +1000
>That's been the dream of every government since the late 1990s.
>It always founders on:
>[1] diseconomies of scale and scope (i.e. it's superficially attractive,
>     but economies of scale and scope are quickly overwhelmed by the
>     complexities)
>[2] incompatibilities among agencies
>[3] different stages of the investment life-cycle in different agencies
>[4] NIH syndrome, aka inter-agency rivalry
>[5] fears of monolitic government breaking down the vitally important
>     silos which are all that protects data privacy from the State

At 9:13 AM +1000 12/9/13, Tom Worthington wrote:
>  ... with the citizens now used to interacting with companies
>and other organizations on-line, they are more likely to be receptive to
>eGovernment.

So the intensity of [5] may be (unjustifiably) decreased, although by 
how much, and with what further impacts, is hard to judge.

But it doesn't address the major impediments, which are [1] to [4].

-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University



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