Sep 27, 2001 : EDS Keynotes at E-Government Conference

📅 September 27, 2001 - EDS (eds.com), one of the main sponsors of the eGovernment Conference held this week in Trinity, also provided a keynote speaker; Dan Swedberg, e.solutions practice executive, EDS Corporation.

In his presentation, Swedberg encourages e-government practitioners to makeuse of lessons learned by Internet start-ups about digital economyinnovation and change, to supplement their more incremental approach forimplementing e-government.
According to Swedberg, government leaders, through a system of "checks andbalances," are resigned to an incremental approach in changing theirinstitutions. This reality, in the face of high public demand for improvedservice, lower costs, and faster responsiveness, is driving e-government andresults in competing requirements for incremental and radical change.
Incorporating lessons learned from Internet start-ups with those fromexisting commercial and government institutions can help resolve thisconflict.
"The good news," says Swedberg, "is that the early research on digitaleconomy innovation in both the commercial and government sectors showssimilar change destinations- ie the creation of a digital economy enterprisemodel focused on customer value delivery and the principle of'coopetition.'"
That makes lessons learned by Internet startups and other commercialinstitutions directly applicable to government institutions. For the firsttime, government institutions can benefit from the experimentation ofstart-up businesses to move forward more quickly with their own changeefforts.
Swedberg urges an approach to e-government implementation he calls"transformation by design" to exploit this new opportunity. According toSwedberg, "transformation by design provides an approach to implementationthat marries a step-by-step change approach with directed innovation toprovide both the focus and energy needed to address requirements facinge-government practitioners today."
The "by design" part of that approach uses Internet start-up researchdescribing the new digital economy enterprise models to reverse engineerfour logical increments of change associated with reaching that destination:Internet, e- commerce, e-business, and digital business change.
Swedberg offers a maturity map that shows linkages among related digitaleconomy innovation initiatives at each of the four maturity levels. "Thematurity map," says Swedberg, "provides a tool for scoping increments ofchange that each provide benefits but also build the new businessinfrastructure required for e-government."
The "transformation" part of the approach uses lessons learned from existingcommercial businesses in mobilizing customer-facing employees and owners toadd energy to the change process.
Swedberg says, "you can expect to see corporate innovation programs becomethe "new, new thing" as corporations begin to actively enlist employees inefforts to innovate and spur adaptation to the digital economy. That, andeventually, efforts to merge e-government with the broader e-governancechange will be required to achieve the promise of citizen-centeredgovernment at the heart of the e-government ideal."