icegov2012 proceedings

Promoting user uptake of e-government in Colombia
Diana Parra Silva
International Consultant
Orinoco 5006
Montevideo, Uruguay
+598 97305822
dianaparra@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the key factors for the development of a
successful strategy for the e-government uptake in Colombia.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
A.0 [General]: Conference proceedings.
General Terms
Management, Measurement, Performance.
Keywords
E-government, "Gobierno en linea", Uptake, Marketing.
1. INTRODUCTION
In 2005, the OECD identified that having a strong brand, as well
as developing a solid marketing strategy, was a key factor in egovernment
successful cases. In 2009, some years later, the same
organization dedicated a publication to highlight the importance
of public awareness on e-government.
Raising awareness about the importance of user uptake has
become a pressing matter in the last years, to such an extent that
the UN E-Government Survey 2012 recognized it as a highpriority
aspect, when it points: "availability of online public
services ('supply-side') has been the primary focus of egovernment
studies and policymaking, but over the past years
citizens' usage of e-government services ('demand-side') has also
become a priority issue".
The fundamentals behind this fact have triggered a discussion on
two aspects: if citizens are not aware of the government's online
services and do not use them, are the efforts made by public
administrations valuable for the citizens? And, will the benefits
commonly associated to e-government and the social return of
investments be achieved without a critical mass of users?
"Gobierno en linea" is the Colombian strategy, led by a
Programme with the same name, that contributes on developing a
more efficient, transparent and participative government, which
provides better services by means of ICT. This strategy guides the
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ICEGOV '12, October 22 - 25 2012, Albany, NY, USA
Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1200-4/12/10...$15.00
206
Johanna Pimiento Quintero
Manager of "Gobierno en linea"
CR 8 12-00
Bogota, Colombia
+571 3442270
johanna.pimiento@gobiernoenlinea.gov.co
delivery of online services by public agencies, at both national
and local levels.
The Programme, taking into consideration the discussion
mentioned before has impelled the awareness of e-government
services in the country through the diagnosis, design, development
and follow-up of a marketing and outreach strategy in Colombia
from 2008 to 2010. Below you will find the most relevant aspects
concerning such experience, which gave Colombia the basis to
promote the citizens' awareness up to the present days.
2. BASELINE
In 2007, a study carried out in 21 municipalities allowed gathering
information about knowledge, use, needs and expectations. The
study consisted of face-to-face surveys conducted in 2,500
households which represented the total of individuals residing at
urban areas, selected according to age, socioeconomic strata and
education of the country's population. The following are some
highlights of the study's findings:
o Only 23% of Colombians had visited a website of the
government, which meant that there were nearly 4
million of Internet users at that time that had never
visited any public agency website.
o Only 4% had used a government online service.
o 77% had not used government online services because
they didn't know how they worked, they were
considered to be unsafe or unreliable.
o 54% of nonusers were willing to use them, representing
19 million of potential users.
These findings motivated the decision to develop the marketing
and outreach strategy for enhancing awareness and use of egovernment
services.
3. DIAGNOSTIC
In 2008, the work began by analyzing the desired positioning for
"Gobierno en linea": being efficient, participatory and transparent,
as well as a provider of high quality services, which was
transformed into the strategy's specific objectives:
o To increase the government's efficiency by optimizing
processes and sharing resources, as well as exchanging
accurate and quality information.
o To promote transparency and participation, by
increasing the visibility of public matters and enabling
new channels for participation and social control.