Accenture's fifth annual global e-government study

Italy
2004 Rank: 18
2003 Rank: 17
2002 Rank: 21
Vision introduced: 2000
Vision title:
eGovernment Action Plan
Vision summary:
To create a structure whereby citizens can receive
services from any front office, regardless of territorial
jurisdiction. Citizens will not need to supply any
information already in possession of other state
administrations—services are citizen centered and
citizens need notify the administration once only.
Regular Internet users (percent of population):
31.04 percent
Regular Internet users who have ever visited an
eGovernment site: 85 percent
Italy
Italy’s pace of eGovernment progress has slowed
down and consequently, the country slipped one
place in this year’s rankings. Overall maturity
improved 5 percent (slightly below the average
across countries of 6 percent), compared to a 14
percent improvement from 2002 to 2003. Italy did
make modest improvements across the board, but
these were not enough to allow it to gain ground.
The country was particularly impacted by its poor
performance in service depth and in customer
relationship management maturity.
As reflected by its scores, there have been no
changes in Italy’s eGovernment vision or action
plan since 2003. The eGovernment team has simply
reinstated its original vision, first articulated in
2000. However, a reference document for the second
stage of eGovernment development in central and
local government was presented in July 2003 at the
European eGovernment Conference. The government’s
current high-level targets include reforming public
administration to make it more responsive to the
needs of users (individual citizens or businesses),
providing modern services and creating public value
while ensuring ease of access and interaction. These
objectives will build off a modern enabling infrastructure
that ensures services are provided securely
and efficiently. The reference document lists the
critical components of this infrastructure: a single
point of access to a set of high-quality services,
secure methods of digital identification, multiple
access channels, efficient and low-cost back-office
operations, interoperability and cooperation among
agencies, and a communications network across all
government agencies.
The focus on building interoperability and cooperation
is particularly interesting. The Italian public
administration has been moving to a model of devolution
to reduce the size of government and simplify
administrative processes. The transition is under
way so that most services are provided at the local,
rather than the national, level. The current existing
portals reflect the necessity of cooperation. For
example, the citizen portal, www.italia.gov.it, while
focused on citizens’ needs, primarily redirects citizens
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