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3.1 e-Readiness tools
E-readiness is defined by (Sachs, 2000) “as the degree to which a community is
prepared to participate in the networked world; a world in which everyone , everywhere
has the potential to reap the benefits of connectivity to the network”. e-Readiness
measured is in 19 different categories covering the physical infrastructure such as the
bandwidth, reliability and affordability. It also considers other areas in the society such
as the integrated current ICTs throughout business (e-commerce, local ICT sectors),
communities (local contents, many organisations online, ICTs use in everyday life,
ICTs taught in school), and the government (e-Government); strong telecommunication
completion; independent regulation with a commitment to universal access; and no limit
on trade or foreign investment (Sachs, 2000).
Choucri, Maugis, Madnick and Siegel (2003) define e-Readiness as the ability to pursue
value creation opportunities facilitated by the use of the Internet. They highlight that the
capacity to pursue specific opportunities is a key feature of e-Readiness.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) “E-Readiness Rankings” defines “e-Readiness
as the “state of play” of a country's ICT infrastructure and the ability of its consumers,
businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit" (Unit, 2007). The model used
by the EIU uses an index out of 10 based on six weighted categories. The criteria set
within these categories cover both qualitative and quantitative means for measuring the
country's social, political, economic and technological development. The categories are
presented in Table 3:1 with their respective weightings and their description according to
the EIU.
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