E-government is regarded as one of the ICTs used in everyday life responsible for managing public services. E-Government system aims at using ICTs to improve the performance of the public sector. Apart from e-government, you will be provided with basic concepts and applications of e-voting and e-banking.
E-Government
What is e-Government?
E-Government is the use of ICTs to improve the activities of public sector organizations. The e-Government (short for electronic government) is also known as e-gov, internet government, digital government, online government, or connected government. It consists of the digital interactions between a citizen and their government (C2G), between governments and government agencies (G2G), between government and citizens (G2C), between government and employees (G2E), and between government and businesses/commerce (G2B).
Focal Domains of e-Government
There are three main domains of e-government, which are
improving government processes (eAdministration), connecting citizens
(eCitizens and eServices), and building external interactions (eSociety). These
three are the focal domains for e-Government initiatives.
The administration improves the internal workings of the public sector. The eCitizens and eServices provide citizens with details of public sector activities by making public servants more accountable for their decisions and actions and improving the services delivered to members of the public along dimensions such as quality, convenience, and cost. The eSociety deals particularly with the relationship between public agencies and other institutions such as other public agencies, private sector companies, non-profit and community organizations.
E-Voting
What is e-Voting?
Electronic voting (e-voting) refers to voting using electronic means to either aid or take care of the chores of casting and counting votes. E-voting can also be defined as an election system that uses encryption to allow a voter to transmit their secure and secret ballot over the Internet.
Depending on the implementation, e-voting may use standalone electronic voting machines (also called EVM) or computers connected to the Internet. It may encompass a range of Internet services, from the basic transmission of tabulated results to full-function online voting through common connectable household devices. The degree of automation may be limited to marking a paper ballot or maybe a comprehensive system of vote input, vote recording, data encryption and transmission to servers, and consolidation and tabulation of election results. In general, two main types of e-voting can be identified:
(i) e-voting which is physically supervised by representatives of governmental or independent electoral authorities (e.g. electronic voting machines located at polling stations);
(ii) remote e-voting via the
Internet (also called i-voting) where the voter submits his or her votes
electronically to the election authorities, from any location.
Advantages
of e-Voting System
In this century, many countries use e-voting systems. E-voting claims convenience, flexibility, and less cost. Voters can simply use their own equipment with minimal time and skill to finish the voting process. Also, voters use mobile to vote any time anywhere. The use of e-voting saves money from reducing personnel expenses. The e-voting also allows to go-green (eco-friendly) by saving paper usage from using online solutions. It is much faster in counting votes and tallying election results compared to traditional ballots.
Furthermore, e-voting provides empowerment where voters have
a voice in the leadership from fair and open elections. Accessibility allows
voters to cast their votes from anywhere at any time, provided they have an
Internet connection. This makes casting a vote convenient and fast. The system
is cost-effective due to the significant reduction of the election budgets in
staffing, printing, and postage costs. Another advantage is on security and
confidentiality. A properly designed, secure online voting system has safeguards
in place to protect voting information and voter identities. It is fast and
offers accurate results due to the automated counting system, so the election
managers can quickly announce decisions and results.
Disadvantages of e-Voting System
Despite advantages, critics of e-voting argue about the
security issue and the unequal access chance to the internet. E-voting is
vulnerable to security threats because attacks might have happened from the
network to the server’s database. Also, e-voting requires voters to be able to
use computer facilities.
E-Banking
E-banking (internet banking) is a method of banking in which the customer conducts transactions electronically via the Internet. E-banking allows users to have control over their accounts by viewing balances and transactions, performing transactions from one account to another, credit payment, payment of bills, shopping vouchers for mobile phones, etc. The benefits of e-banking include saving time from long waiting in (queues) lines, lower service fees, and access from anywhere, anytime. E-banking can be done through gadgets like laptops, phones, tablets, and desktops. The biggest advantage of internet banking is convenience.
E-banking provides customers a way to make transactions
from anywhere, any time using any device with internet access.
Some of the major challenges of e-banking include acceptance of customers, costly technology, security issues, legal issues, business restrictions, transparency in the offering, and adoption of proper organizational structure.