Shifting Focus from the Supply to the Demand Side of Government Online

By Alex Langshur & Scott Proudfoot

June 2005

Demonstrating the linkage between policy and outcomes will be a prerequisite to achieving continued political support and investment for e-government initiatives.  Key to such performance measurement frameworks is measuring the degree of citizen �take-up� and adoption. This article first appeared in the April/May Issue of Canadian Government Executive Magazine.

The leaders of Canada�s push to move government online must be feeling good.  Following ambitious agendas, aggressive timelines and significant investments, they are nearing the e-government goals set forth in the late 90�s.  The results speak for themselves: Canada has consistently ranked at or near the top of the Accenture e-government survey in the five years since its inception.  

At the same time, Canadian use of the internet has grown steadily.  StatsCan reported fully 64% of Canadian households have at least one member of the family using the internet. 66% of Canadian online households have a broadband connection. Canadians routinely turn to the internet to read the news, purchase products (40% of households shopped online in 2003) and research products and services.  For all intents and purposes, it appears that Canadian e-government investments are coming on-stream just as the market demand for such services is maturing.  This indicates remarkably prescient policy making by public sector managers in developing and funding these initiatives since the late 90�s.

Time to break out the champagne?  Maybe not quite yet. A close read of the Accenture survey points to gaps in the development and implementation of robust performance measurement frameworks.  Such frameworks are critical for governments to tangibly measure, track and transparently report on the benefits, successes and value of their online initiatives.  Demonstrating the linkage between policy and outcomes will be a prerequisite to achieving continued political support and investment for e-government initiatives.  Key to such performance measurement frameworks is measuring the degree of citizen �take-up� and adoption.

This last point is far from trivial.  A recent poll in the UK found that 73% of the general public had not noticed the impact of e-government, this despite huge investments over the past five years.  Similarly, polls released by the Federal Computer Weekly Group and the Pew Foundation found very poor public awareness of e-government resources in the US. 

The reaction in the UK was swift.  Parliamentary committees pressured the Labour government to renew its focus on the take-up of online services and the government had to re-launch their main public portal.  The US government executed a high profile print and media ad campaign to raise public awareness and boost traffic to the firstgov.gov portal (but meanwhile Congress has cut back the funding of the GSA Electronic Government Office.) 

Recently Erkki Liikanen, the Information Society Commissioner of the European Union, warned too much emphasis has been placed on the e-government �supply side�, and that EU governments should switch to understanding and measuring the demands so the value for money and benefits can be assessed. Said Liikanen: �Meeting this challenge requires we develop the capabilities to define, measure, and benchmark�. 

Clearly, governments have done well getting online but there has not been the same level of focus on developing robust performance frameworks that provide the type of information that delivers insight on what citizens need, use and value. 

Gilles Morin, Vice President of IT Business Services at Export Development Corporation (EDC) puts it this way: �Understanding how to use the web and how it can help to redesign your service offerings is a big learning curve for those used to dealing in a traditional person-to-person fashion�.   EDC has made careful, targeted investments to create a robust performance measurement framework that provides detailed feedback on the impact and success of their online initiatives.  The results have been very encouraging, with the web channel now processing up to 74% of the 26,000 credit approvals completed each year.  Says Morin �There is a strong appetite at our Board for information related to the web.  They expect us to use this channel to serve more customers and generate growth.� 

The EDC example highlights the benefit of having an informed audience when reporting on site performance.  To this day, many senior public sector managers measure web site success based on the crudest form of traffic data, namely hits or page views.  For such managers there is a steep learning curve.  Many are unaware of the level of insight available from their web channel.  Few even realize the web channel can be considered a running �poll� that provides unique insight on citizen and stakeholder needs.

This ability of the web to deliver unique and detailed insight on customers has created a booming industry.  Lumped under the generic term �analytics�, private and non-profit sector organizations that consider the web a core communication channel have developed electronic dashboards to track key web site performance metrics.  They monitor customer behaviour to understand what works, why it works and then plow that learning back into the site through incremental improvements that lead to better outcomes. Unfortunately, many tools designed to support these initiatives, particularly commercial of the shelf (COTS) tools, are not well suited to the needs of the public sector.

While many organizations have a strong profit motive to invest in the web channel, this is not the only reason to do so.  Since user experience so often is equated with perception of the organization, delivering and demonstrating an excellent experience for a sufficient number of targeted users is an equally important objective. This is particularly the case for the public sector which has to demonstrate how their web channels help them serve Canadians better.

The experience of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) is a case in point.  �Through detailed measurement, we realized that our web site was a core information channel used by our stakeholders.  This provided the impetus to explore how we could use this channel more effectively to support our corporate goals.�  says Gene Nyberg, the NRTEE�s Executive Director and CEO.  �We decided to turn some of the outcomes identified in our priorities and plans into indicators tied to web site traffic patterns.�  The results surprised everybody.  Explains Nyberg �The insight we were able to gather helped us shift how we view performance reporting: it�s gone from being an end-of-pipe process, to one that is ongoing and integrated with program management.�  This has had significant value for program directors because it enables incremental course corrections, which in turn promote desired outcomes.

The concept of moving performance reporting from a once a year to one that is an ongoing part of the management agenda represents a paradigm shift for some.  In an environment where programs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate impact and relevance, having in place tools that provide �early warning� signals can be of significant value to program managers, and executives.  The unbiased and objective nature of traffic data from hundreds of thousands of visitors provides a clear-eyed perspective on which programs are connecting with their target audiences.  Daniel Breton, Director of Services for Fisheries and Oceans Operations Communications puts it this way �It�s a matter of priorities.  You need to be able to show that you are delivering the best you can to your stakeholders with the money you have.�

As we move further along the road towards integration of e-government service, we can expect the need to effectively measure and report on the overall efficacy and performance of these initiatives to increase.  Failure to have in place systems to incrementally report performance against goals in a near time context may increasingly represent a high risk practice. 

Based on the leadership demonstrated so far, we should expect the Canadian public sector to lead the way in transparently reporting to their citizens on the impacts, outcomes and societal benefits accruing from their taxpayer funded e-government investments.

Breton of Fisheries & Oceans concurs. �Looking ahead I see positive outcomes (from our GOL investments).  The government is sending the right signals about the need for better standards, more horizontal cooperation and increased integration based around services.  I believe that we�ll see Canadian government web sites improving much more in the next five years � quality is going to increase exponentially.�

Key Internal challenges to creating a performance measurement culture for the web channel include: Increasing Web Literacy � Many public sector managers do not know what to ask for because they do not know what they can get. Removing the Disconnect between IT and Program Managers � Both sides are looking to the other for leadership on what needs to be measured. Lots of data, too little information � Web traffic reports remain mostly unread because they are unreadable. The missing element is analytical skills to turn data into meaningful management information. Too much product, too little marketing � Government builds web site but often underfunds their marketing. If you build it, they may not come unless you effectively market. Greater integration of the service channels. The web will increasingly shape and drive call centre traffic; making the service between the two channels seamless is the challenge. Vendors can do better � The vendor community needs to stop telling government measurement solutions that work for typical e-commerce sites also work for the public sector. Most of them don�t!