New eGovernment models embrace crowd sourcing

As citizens, we should have access to government data. We should also have the opportunity to participate in government affairs by using the latest mobile and internet technology. These statements are almost a given, nowadays. What is not, is how to ensure that alongside government and civil society, the private sector can enter the fold of collaborative eGov in order to offer smart data delivery solutions and participatory tools.

Collaborative eGov

Collaborative eGovernment seeks to use information and communication technology to engage citizens in policy thinking and making, public service delivery and to stimulate the innovation capacity of civil servants. The rationale behind collaborative eGov - or open government, as some would put it - is that the more people use public services, the better these services get.

Business models for eGov

One of the findings of the Study on collaborative production in eGovernment study released on December 5, 2012 is that the majority of collaborative eGov services are based on voluntary work, with very little evidence of government or NGO funding, let alone private funding. Volunteering has the potential to empower and motivate citizens and civil servants, but can it make collaborative eGov sustainable?

The answer, the study shows, is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. “Although some individuals in industry personally believe in the business case of collaborative service delivery, the concept is certainly not yet embedded in the business culture,“ the study finds. As a result, existing business models are still largely immature. A few tried-and-tested models nonetheless exist.

The eGov premium model

A United States based IT company is currently running a web tool for collaborative eGov in 25,000 towns and 8,000 neighbourhoods worldwide. Based on “a progressive scale of sophistication,” the service allows citizens to report non-emergency neighbourhood issues to their municipality via a web-based map that displays all user comments. The complaints system is accessible via a web interface, a mobile phone and Facebook applications.

From a simple complaints system, the web tool can be upgraded to a more sophisticated management system, integrating complaints into larger organizational processes within the municipality. “This approach has a strong potential in gradually convincing the administrations of the benefit of co-production,” the study argues. With this premium model, public administrations can verify the benefits at any given level, before moving to the next step of sophistication (and moving up in the price scale).

The eGov seed funding model

One interesting model is that of a United Kingdom group, which crowd-sources public service ideas for services not currently met by the government. At first, the objective is to provide evidence of the public interest and the “market” for the specific service.

In a second stage, the new public service is handed over to the public sector, which assesses whether or not to provide seed funding and management. “This phase allows for the consolidation of the initiative and provides further expansion of interest for the service to other public organisations,“ the study states.

In a third stage, the delivery of the new public service progressively becomes autonomous. Provided the “customer base” is large enough, the operation of the service starts to generate revenue, thereby rendering the service delivery sustainable in the long term.

This eGov model is attractive for generating new service delivery and it can be viable financially, as it has been successfully applied in at least one context.
Several other business models for collaborative eGov have been applied in recent years, including more traditional advertisement-based approaches. Most are still in their infancy but with the advent of the open data momentum, space is bound to open up for entrepreneurs with a collaborative vision.