E-Government and Lessons from E-Commerce: A Preliminary Study

As businesses become more involved and savvy with electronic commerce (e-commerce), electronic government (e-government) can learn many lessons from them. The tremendous growth in e-commerce will spur many governments to launch comparable e-government services. The recent passage of federal law in the US has institutionalized e-government. Thus, many government bodies will become greatly involved with the Internet and its associated technologies in providing an array of government services that were once confined to brick and mortar operations. However, in deciding which applications will be most effective in serving their constituents and given their limited resources, governments might learn from the practices of businesses. As in the case of business to business (B2B) e-commerce, the exchange of information within and between government agencies will comprise the bulk of interactions or transactions. The results of a preliminary e-commerce survey suggest several areas that may prove to be more effective for e-government Extranet and Intranet applications