Accenture's fifth annual global e-government study

ehavior on eGovernment sites, will now be carried
out quarterly (effective November 2003). Results
from a Swedish government study showed that
between February and April of 2003, close to twothirds
of all active Internet users in Sweden visited a
website of a government agency or a local authority.
It is important to note that while usage is measured,
very little has been done within the Swedish government
in terms of rating the content and maturity of
public-sector websites.
The central government is also supporting the agencies
and local governments by developing models
that can be used for measuring tangible benefits of
eGovernment if they choose to do so. This project
will also provide guidance for apportioning funding
contributions when agencies make joint investments
in information technology infrastructure.
In October 2003, the government appointed a delegation
of members from central and local government,
the industry and academia to increase the cooperation
between the public and private sectors in developing
e-services for the public sector. The delegation is
seen as the cornerstone of the government’s plans
to accelerate the development of online public services.
Its main task will be to promote cooperation
and provide visionary and innovative thinking, while
focusing on concrete actions (including proposing
funding arrangements for helping agencies and local
authorities to implement the 24/7 Agency concept).
Simultaneously, the government presented an information
technology political strategy group with the
task of advising the government on how to create
an information society that includes all citizens. This
group also has members from the private sector and
will report to the Ministry of Industry, Employment
and Communications.
While eGovernment services are dispersed in Sweden,
the central government has made some effort to
bring access to these services into a central location.
The Swedish portal, www.sverigedirekt.se, is not
categorized by user intention, but rather by government
organization. While there are plans to make
the portal more intentions based, the Swedish
Agency for Public Management wants to keep it as
an orientation portal. There are no plans for making
it the entry to the public sector for all citizens; the
Swedish Agency for Public Management claims that
portal usage is very low, as people tend to know
their agencies and authorities and thus go directly
to these sources instead of using the central portal.
A number of individual services in Sweden are highly
innovative. The Swedish National Market Board online
service (www.ams.se) not only advertises vacancies
but also allows job seekers to upload their curricula
vitae. Potential employers can then match skills and
competencies to their vacancies through a range of
databases covering such specialist areas as education,
art, photography and the performing arts.
A few interesting examples of short messaging service
use in Sweden can be found in the City of Stockholm,
which has piloted two such services that will be
implemented on a wider scale. In one project, substitute
home-helpers who take care of disabled people
are contacted through group short messaging service.
Previously, coordinators spent approximately
two hours every morning calling possible substitutes
for regular staff who were absent. Now, a group
message is sent out to all persons in the substitute
pool and those available usually call within 10 to 15
minutes. In another pilot, some schools in Stockholm
regularly send a short messaging service message to
parents whose child has skipped a class.
Promotion of eGovernment services in Sweden is
very sparse. Interestingly, however, some studies
indicate that Sweden has one of the highest usage
levels of eGovernment globally. Our own citizen survey
found that three out of four Swedish Internet
users have visited an eGovernment website, with
just under one in five doing so regularly. These numbers
are significant. Sweden has a very high Internet
penetration rate, which means a very large portion
of the general population already has had some
experience with eGovernment.
Sweden has one of the most different eGovernment
programs of any of the 22 countries surveyed in
this report. The noninterfering policy of its central
government means that the program is highly
decentralized; yet this does not seem to have posed
many problems for the citizenry to date. Usage of
government websites is still quite high. However, the
government may be underestimating the potential
of a well-designed user-centered portal. If more
focus were spent on aggregating and enhancing
services, more people might use the portal on a
regular basis for an overall improved experience.
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