Three reasons why it will take longer to achieve electronic government than many people expect it will take.

In Government circles around the world, everyone is an advocate of electronic government. Today in governments, there are thousands of exciting electronic government programs. Despite almost universal acceptance, however, electronic government in its full flower may come much more slowly than many people think. There are the obvious reasons including the needs for privacy and security. However, there are three less visible, but very significant reasons that will have a major impact on the speed and direction of the end-state electronic government.

There are many diverse players with the power to influence directions
On May 24, 2000, I participated in an Electronic Government Workshop in Washington, DC sponsored by the Federal government's Chief Information Officers' Council. We worked through a series of brainstorming exercises designed to help identify the role of the Council in electronic government. One exercise was particularly revealing. The task was to identify the influential players that will affect the direction and progress toward an electronic Federal government in the United States.
In ten minutes we identified 33 players that will help shape, delay, or accelerate progress toward the goal. If we had spent more time on the task, the list of players undoubtedly would be more than 33. Included on the list are such players as the new President, Unions, Congress, the President's Management Council, State organizations such as the National Governors Association, the regulated business community, and citizen advocacy groups.
To make the list of 33 players more manageable, we developed a list of categories of players. This list follows. It may be useful for all governments to review these categories of players because their views will need to be considered as governments move ahead into the more difficult phases of electronic government.

While I am aware of the flood of conferences, reports, articles, and discussions about electronic government, I am surprised by the large number of organizations that will influence the direction and speed of progress in all nations.

Resistance will occur when the balance of power is threatened
This is particularly important now because developed governments everywhere will soon leave the first and easiest phase of electronic government. This is the Low Hanging Fruit phase. For about seven years, governments have been doing the easy things. As examples, Procurement processes have been streamlined (in some governments), home pages in the millions have been developed by governments all over the world, and public officials are available via Internet.
The next phase in electronic government is Merging the Silo Functions. In this phase, governments will want to manage horizontally across functions in an agency. Or, they may want to manage across agencies and national governments; or, vertically in co-operation with state, regional, provincial, and local governments.
In this second phase, the possibilities for redistribution of power will occur. Changes in the balance of power brings resistance from those holding the power. At this point, the 12 categories of players becomes active. While most of the players are supportive, in general, of the concept of electronic government, they will want to shape the eventual direction to benefit their organization and its goals. The debate that will ensure will delay implementation of electronic government, perhaps by years. More importantly, the debates will remove from program managers in government, much of the ability to design the end-state electronic government.

Electronic government is more complex and offers more opportunities than most officials realize
Another factor that will affect the eventual electronic government is the multichannel nature of electronic government. There are at least five channels that are a part of the ultimate end-state. Some will be more difficult to achieve than others.
The five channels in order of increasing difficulty are:

When electronic government is viewed in terms of these five channels, the true complexity of the concept is visible. True electronic government across these five channels will take time to achieve. Another item to consider is that, most officials are in one channel or another. For example, officials in the 'government to industry channel' tend to see electronic commerceas the sum and substance of electronic government. Similarly, officials providing health services to citizens see the government to citizen channel as electronic government. Few individuals have the opportunity to stand above the five channels to observe the integrated directions evolving in electronic government. Compartmentalization of government officials suggests that electronic government will proceed unevenly in each government based upon the power base of officials in each channel.

Conclusions
In considering the subject of electronic government, there is no road to the future. We are building the road as we travel forward. As we move toward the end of the Low Hanging Fruit phase, the true complexities of the concept are starting to become visible. Much is being done today as developed nations progress as electronic governments. The road ahead is inevitable and exciting; but, the journey will be difficult and may take longer than many believe today.

FRANCIS A. MCDONOUGH
Head of the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions in the General Services Administration in Washington
frank.mcdonough@gsa.gov