Accenture's fifth annual global e-government study

Kingdom and the Netherlands share ninth place; and
Ireland, Japan and Belgium share 11th place. Even
among those countries that do not share a ranking,
the differences are minor. A slip in rankings, then,
is not as telling as other data. More interesting is
a comparison of countries’ growth patterns (see
Figure 2), along with an analysis of what these
countries’ plans are for future improvement.
Overall, eGovernment maturity has risen dramatically
since the year 2000. For most countries, the most
rapid advances occurred during the early years of
their eGovernment programs. This trend is not surprising,
given the “quick-hit” opportunities that were
available to all initially. Figure 2 shows how progress
has slowed for most countries, particularly within the
past two years.
The rise and fall in the rankings of some countries
against a backdrop of no real stellar performances—
or obvious missteps—points out clearly how
eGovernment plateaus happen. Countries that do
not progress fall behind those that continue to make
steady progress. At a certain point, a course of action
reaches the limits of its utility and a lackluster
eGovernment program yields no additional value.
Consider the countries in this middle group of
maturity (50 percent to 60 percent) as an example
(see Figure 3). Germany and Belgium both experienced
drops in overall rankings. Both countries
continued implementation of an early eGovernment
plan and neither made the kind of transformational
changes that would have propelled them to a higher
stage of maturity.
However, Germany recently has refined the strategic
elements of its eGovernment plan. In particular,
Germany articulated a Deutschland Online vision
and a new action plan that truly focuses on integration.
This reassessment may provide Germany
with the starting point for a new upswing in
growth. Likewise, Belgium has hit a plateau after
two years of strong growth and a rapid rise through
the rankings. However, the country has been quietly
making improvements to a number of back-end
eGovernment enablers that may set the stage for
a burst of improvement on the customer-focused
end in future years.
Denmark will be another interesting country to
watch over the course of the next year. Like Belgium
and Germany, it too experienced minimal growth
Figure 3: Growth rates: 50 percent to 60 percent overall maturity
a. Overall maturity 56%–60%
25
b. Overall maturity 50%–55%
25
20
20
15
15
10
10
5
5
0
0
Y2001
OM Change
Y2002
OM Change
Y2003
OM Change
Y2004
OM Change
Y2001
OM Change
Y2002
OM Change
Y2003
OM Change
Y2004
OM Change
Australia
France
Belgium Japan Average
Denmark
United Kingdom
Germany
Netherlands
Finland
Average
Ireland
Norway*
*Although Norway’s overall maturity is slightly below 50 percent, it is included here to highlight the similarities in its growth pattern to the Netherlands.
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