When it comes to online services, governments across the world still think of computers as the primary tool for access. But what happens when the government of a small island country with just over 5 million people finds that its mobile phone penetration has reached a stupendous level (over 140 percent) and has the fastest rate of adoption for next-generation mobile telephony?
It quickly bypasses computers and starts developing feature-rich services over mobile phones.
While many first-movers -- including the U.S. and UK-are still taking baby steps in crafting e-government strategies around the mobile phone, Singapore is leaping ahead.
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“You don't need a computer to access government services online -- not when you can use a mobile phone,” is the Singapore government’s latest catchword, as the government is surging ahead deploying m-government services. "To date we are offering over 300 applications over mobile phones,” says James Kang, assistant chief executive, Government Chief Information Office.
The government embarked on its m-Gov program back in 2005, when it realized that its mobile penetration was reaching almost 100 percent.
“The notably high mobile penetration and 3G/smartphone adoption rates in Singapore made the mobile channel an exceptionally suitable and powerful medium for the Singapore government to extend personalized, timely and context-aware public e-services to citizens,” says Kang
M-Gov has two broad objectives;
- One, to leverage on the high mobile penetration rate to make government e-services more accessible to the people and reduce digital gap.
- And more importantly, to offer more convenient and timely e-services to the people, like searching information on-the-move, transacting on the spur of the moment.
A very important -- although secondary -- objective is also to deliver new and innovative services.
“While the Internet has enabled public services to be accessed round-the-clock, the complementary mobile channel has enabled public services to be accessed anytime and anywhere, enabling true ubiquity,” says Kang
For that matter m-Gov has also made the government’s arm longer. “Since not all government online services are suitable to be delivered over the mobile channel, the m-Gov Program focuses on the deployment of public services that leverage the unique propositions of the mobile channel -- simplicity, time-sensitivity and location-awareness -- to bring about relevant and value-added services to the people of Singapore.”
Not surprisingly then, the Information Office claims that m-Gov has been a big success. So much so that the number of government mobile transactions has increased significantly by 119 percent, hitting peaks of 3.3 million transactions per year.
Besides, m-Gov has also extended reach to those with special needs like those who are hearing or speech impaired.
For instance, the Singapore Police Force, along with a few voluntary welfare organizations, has developed a novel 911-like service called SMS70999, which gives registered members with disabilities like hearing and speech impairment, an emergency SMS helpline to contact the Police and emergency services via SMS. Prior to this, the ‘999’ voice helpline was not available to people with speech and hearing handicaps, says the Information Office.
“Singapore’s m-Gov Program is a whole-of-government initiative that focuses on the development of central platforms and infrastructure, sharing of best practices across government, and facilitating industry partnership and collaboration,” says Kang. “Our aim is to create the right environment to facilitate public sector agencies in their quest to deliver cost-effective, efficient and convenient mobile services.”
According to Kang, although the program is still evolving and faces challenges such as device fragmentation, privacy and security concerns, and lack of experience in mobile-specific design and implementation, the next wave of mobile services is already getting formulated.
Going forward, m-Gov would move on to enable simple mobile commerce applications like payment of train and bus fares, redemption of e-coupons, and even identity authentication like opening of doors with the tap of a phone against a wireless reader.
The Information Office claims that today, 7 in 10 persons in Singapore are “highly” satisfied with government information and services over mobile phones. Looks like the other 3 may join in soon.
( By Indrajit Basu |www.digitalcommunities.com)
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