The Impact of Information Technology(IT) in Trade Facilitation on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka

This paper examine the extent of automation of trade facilitation in Sri Lanka and to assess the impact of automation on SMEs in the country.Impace of Information Techonology, SMEs, Sri Lanka

Studies in Trade and Investment: The Development Impact of Information Technology in Trade Facilitation

This chapter examines the extent of automation of trade facilitation in Sri Lanka and assesses the impact of automation on SMEs in Sri Lanka. The focus of the study was on the experiences of the garment industry, which has been an important driver in the Sri Lankan economy in recent years.Trade facilitation, automation, garment industry, IT, SMEs, export, customs, Sri Lanka

Where to go in the near future: diverging perspectives on online public service delivery

Although the electronic government is under heavy development, a clear vision doesn’t seem to exist. In this study 20 interviews among leaders in the field of e-government in the Netherlands resulted in different perspectives on the future of electronic public service delivery. The interviews revealed different objectives and interpretations of the presuppositions regarding citizens’ desires. Opinions about channel approaches and ‘trigger services’ appeared to vary. Furthermore, the respondents didn’t agree on the number of contact moments between citizen and government, had different opinions about digital skills, pled for various designs of the electronic government and placed the responsibility for electronic service delivery in different hands. Conclusion is that there is a lack of concepts on how to do things. Everybody talks about eGovernment, but all have different interpretations. \u

Bedarfserhebung Digitales Leistungsportfolio bei Zürcher Gemeinden : eine Studie des Instituts für Verwaltungs-Management der ZHAW

Der vorliegende Bericht enthält die Ergebnisse einer Studie des Instituts für Verwaltungs-Management (IVM) der Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW), welche in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Verein Zürcher Gemeindeschreiber und Verwaltungsfachleute (VZGV) und der Staatskanzlei des Kantons Zürich zum Thema «Digitale Dienstleistungen in der öffentlichen Verwaltung» entstanden ist. Die Ergebnisse einer Befragung von 987 Personen aus rund 23’000 eingeladenen Haushalten in vier Zürcher Gemeinden zeigen, dass diese Befragten insgesamt mit den aktuell angebotenen digitalen Dienstleistungen (im Folgenden eServices) zufrieden sind, jedoch auch ein deutlicher Bedarf nach vermehrten eServices besteht. Insgesamt stossen eServices auf eine grosse Unterstützung und Akzeptanz in der Zürcher Bevölkerung. Im Hinblick auf die Präferenzen bei der Ausgestaltung von eServices zeigt sich, dass die digitale Bereitstellung als solche für die Befragten zentral ist. Hingegen fällt die Präferenz und Unterstützung von eServices durch die Verwaltung je nach den untersuchten sieben Merkmalen (Registrierung, Infrastruktur, Kommunikation, Datensicherheit und Datenschutz, Bearbeitungsstatus, Zeitaufwand, Preis) unterschiedlich aus. Dem Merkmal Zeitaufwand wird von den Befragten die geringste Wichtigkeit beigemessen. Was jedoch für die Beurteilung bzw. die Präferenz von eServices als sehr wichtig identifiziert werden konnte, sind zum einen das Merkmal Datensicherheit und Datenschutz und zum anderen der Preis für den Bezug von eServices. Hinsichtlich Datensicherheit und Datenschutz deuten die Ergebnisse zudem darauf hin, dass deren Bedeutung als umso grösser eingestuft wird, je vertraulicher die Daten eingestuft werden. Im Hinblick auf den Preis zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass Preiserhöhungen als besonders negativ bewertet werden und Preisreduktionen im Verhältnis als weniger attraktiv beurteilt werden. Die Ergebnisse aus den Workshops und aus den offenen Rückmeldungen offenbaren seitens der Befragten und Teilnehmenden an den Workshops einerseits ein Interesse zur Mitwirkung, andererseits eine besonders grosse Sorge wegen möglichem Identitäts- und Datendiebstahl sowie dem Missbrauch der eigenen Daten im Allgemeinen. Letzteres ist auch vor dem Hintergrund, dass die Ergebnisse der Befragung ein hohes Vertrauen der Teilnehmenden in den Staat offenbaren, zentral. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der Conjoint-Analyse lassen sich Handlungsempfehlungen für die Praxis dahingehend ableiten, welche Merkmale und Merkmalsausprägungen in der Konzeption von öffentlichen Dienstleistungen aus Sicht der Bevölkerung besonders wichtig und welche vernachlässigbar sind

The Development of eServices in an Enlarged EU: eGovernment and eHealth in Estonia

In 2005, IPTS launched a project which aimed to assess the developments in eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning in the 10 New Member States at national, and at cross-country level. At that time, the 10 New Member States were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia. A report for each country was produced, describing its government and health systems and the role played by eGovernment and eHealth within these systems. Each report then analyzes, on the basis of desk research and expert interviews, the major achievements, shortcomings, drivers and barriers in the development of eGovernment and eHealth in one of the countries in question. This analysis provides the basis for the identification and discussion of national policy options to address the major challenges and to suggest R&D issues relevant to the needs of each country ¿ in this case, Estonia. In addition to national monographs, the project has delivered a synthesis report, which offers an integrated view of the developments of each application domain in the New Member States. Furthermore, a prospective report looking across and beyond the development of the eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning areas has been developed to summarize policy challenges and options for the development of eServices and the Information Society towards the goals of Lisbon and i2010.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

The Development of eServices in an Enlarged EU: eGovernment and eHealth in Lithuania

In 2005, IPTS launched a project which aimed to assess the developments in eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning in the 10 New Member States at national, and at cross-country level. At that time, the 10 New Member States were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia. A report for each country was produced, describing its government and health systems and the role played by eGovernment and eHealth within these systems. Each report then analyzes, on the basis of desk research and expert interviews, the major achievements, shortcomings, drivers and barriers in the development of eGovernment and eHealth in one of the countries in question. This analysis provides the basis for the identification and discussion of national policy options to address the major challenges and to suggest R&D issues relevant to the needs of each country ¿ in this case, Lithuania. In addition to national monographs, the project has delivered a synthesis report, which offers an integrated view of the developments of each application domain in the New Member States. Furthermore, a prospective report looking across and beyond the development of the eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning areas has been developed to summarize policy challenges and options for the development of eServices and the Information Society towards the goals of Lisbon and i2010.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Business Model Design and Implementation for eServices

Electronic Commerce (eCommerce) is becoming widely understood in the business-to-consumer market due to earlier market awareness and success stories like amazon.com. New challenges lie ahead to extend eCommerce business models. One area is the extension of simple eCommerce shop solutions to offer more integrated eBusiness solutions and include eServices (Plummer and Smith, 2000). While lacking required capabilities within one company, networks and alliances are becoming an attractive means to achieve that (Chisholm, 1998). A prerequisite to reap the potential benefits is to define an adequate business model that enables decision makers to decide upon these new opportunities. This paper proposes an initial framework for business models. It applies it to the area of eServices in eBusiness. It aims to provide both business executives and researchers with a means to facilitate the definition of new business models and to reduce uncertainty in eBusiness. Further research should focus on refining the framework and on providing design recommendations for business models. This will be achieved by focusing on in-depth case studies on the design and implementation of eServices

Designing Universally Accessible Networking Services for a Mobile Personal Assistant

At present, a tendency towards smaller computer sizes and at the same time increasingly inaccessible web content can be noted. Despite the worldwide recognized importance of Web accessibility, the lack of accessibility of web services has an increasingly negative impact on all users. In order to address this issue, W3C has released a recommendation on Mobile Web Best Practices, supplementary to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This paper presents the design and prototype development of universally accessible networking services that fully comply with those standards. Validation and expert accessibility evaluation on the XHTML Basic prototypes present 100% compliance. The followed design process is presented in details, outlining general as well as specific issues and related solutions that may be of interest to other designers. The results will be further verified through user tests on implemented services