Governmental Incentives for the Application of the Developed e‐ Services
Igor Pihir, Katarina Tomičić‐Pupek and Darko Andročec Faculty of Organization and Informatics, Varazdin, Croatia ipihir @ foi. hr ktomicic @ foi. hr darko. androcec @ foi. hr
Abstract: The introduction of e‐Government has been a priority for the development of information society in many countries. In order to achieve these goals governmental institutions encourage initiatives for defining e‐Government strategies and aid the implementation of those strategies by endorsing projects in e‐connectivity of the state administration, e‐Government infrastructure and services. However, the common beneficiaries do not bother themselves with strategies or infrastructure; they care about something else. The beneficiaries from business as well as citizens have a different perspective and they want to know: Is it easier or / and cheaper for me? Would that fix the problem of public administration inefficiency? Would that speed up my processes? Implementation of new technologies often implies additional costs for beneficiaries. Two paradigms which may hinder the anticipation of e‐business benefits among beneficiaries are lack of appropriate IT knowledge and cost awareness. This makes the introduction of e‐Government or e‐ services difficult and slow. The similar situation is in all countries. Our work is inspired by an event which marked the beginning of 2013 in Croatia. Namely, Croatia had legally obligated all businesses, retailers especially, to implement retail“ fiscalization” e‐service. All contractors must have solutions that govern secure e‐communication with the tax authorities, public web services, electronic signature procedures, electronic certificates( this is the infrastructure that serves as a prerequisite for usage of services in e‐Government) to adjust to the legally prescribed process. This paper will explore the possible impact of these legislation changes on the creation of knowledge and competencies that these measures implies for small software companies and entrepreneurs at all levels especially and particularly for small businesses that have previously never or rarely used e‐Government services in Croatia. A similar strategic model could stimulate usage of e‐ Government services in other countries, because the knowledge and awareness as the potential for adaptation of e‐ services / e‐Government is the most important driver of its spreading at a large magnitude. The work brings experience from Croatia and surrounding countries. This paper will present incentives made by government in non e‐Government projects that are mandatory by the law and indirectly help in faster introduction of e‐Government services in practice assuring the basic prerequisites for e‐business at beneficiary side.
Keywords: e‐government, e‐services, implementation spreading, strategy
1. Introduction
The introduction of e‐Government services has been a priority for the development of the information society in many countries. In order to achieve these goals, governmental institutions encourage initiatives for defining e‐Government strategies and endorse projects in e‐connectivity of the state administration, e‐Government infrastructure and services. The European Commission( EC) has made various efforts to ensure development of information society such as: the eEurope strategy ‐ An Information Society for All ‐ European Commission EC( 1999), Lisabon strategy of EU ‐ EC( 2000), i2010 ‐ A European Information Society for growth and employment – EC( 2005) and the EC A Digital Agenda for Europe – EC( 2010). The aforementioned strategies and frameworks have promoted the positive contribution of information and communication technologies( ICT) to the economy, society and personal quality of life of all citizens and enterprises in the European Union. In Croatia, development and implementation of information society was encouraged by Strategy for development of e‐business RH 2007‐2010. – Government of Croatia( 2007). Development and implementation of e‐business and especially government e‐services is a theme in many related governmental projects EFZG( 2008), FER( 2009), FOI( 2009).
In this paper we propose following research question: What is the possible impact of obligatory e‐Government projects such as our case study project“ fiscalization” on beneficiaries’ readiness to embrace e‐services? We conducted an extended SWOT analysis of the“ fiscalization” project as a method to identify strategies and their possible reusability as impact factors to the implementation of other government e‐services. Also, we want to know how these legislation changes impact the creation of knowledge and competencies for small software companies and entrepreneurs at all levels especially and particularly for small businesses that have either never or rarely used e‐Government services in Croatia.
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