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"Today the UK government published its Digital Government Strategy, a vision for how it will deliver government services online. Why, you may ask, should anyone care? It is a good question. Governments have been talking about how they will deliver services online for over two decades. (Anyone up for some e-government?) The sad truth is, at the national level, few users of online government services believe governments have succeeded - most citizens' experience with government websites are marked with frustration, a sense of loathing, and pretty much the opposite of whatever we imagined e-government would be."

GOOD BASIC DATA FOR  EVERYONE - A DRIVER FOR GROWTH AND EFFICIENCY. THE DANISH GOVERNMENT / LOCAL GOVERNMENT DENMARK OCTOBER 2012.

"The Government Digital Strategy sets out how government will redesign its digital services to make them so straightforward and convenient that all those who can use them prefer to do so. This strategy: Follows the March 2012 Budget commitment to digital services being the default Has been developed collaboratively across government, as part of the Civil Service Reform Plan Will be followed up with departmental digital strategies, to be published in December 2012 The strategy also describes how delivering services digitally will result in savings of £1.7 to £1.8 billion each year, and commits government to the following actions:"

This year, the Stratford Institute has prepared a  detailed evaluation of provincial and territorial  eGovernment initiatives (provision of online  services, online information and online citizen  engagement). The methodology was developed  in collaboration with Brainmaven Research from  other recent assessments internationally, tested  with a trial run last year and then reviewed and  modified with input from the provincial CIOs. The  intent is not to stress the relative ratings of the  jurisdictions but to identify and feature the best  practices emerging across our governments. This  is only a portrait of what our researchers saw at  one point in time this year. Websites constantly  evolve and some jurisdictions are embarking on  significant changes. Our intent is to encourage and  inspire advances, not so much amongst the CIOs,  who are well aware of the potential, but amongst  the departments and ministries which must adjust  their processes to accommodate escalating online  demand 

"Today, Wi-Fi is nearly everywhere in Estonia-- you could walk 100 miles and always have an Internet connection-- and it is free. In 2011, 94% of taxes were done online-- usually within five minutes. Cabinet meetings are paperless. Prescriptions are issued electronically. In the larger cities, you can pay for bus tickets and parking by texting-- you can even text for your beer in some establishments. You can sign legal documents from your smart phone. You can vote from your laptop. President Toomas Ilves voted in the last election, presumably for himself, while he was visiting Macedonia. Ninety-nine percent of bank transactions are online. It is possible to start a business in a few hours by logging onto a government web site and filling out a form."

TALLINN?IT titan Estonia is exporting its e-government technology and expertise across the globe, currently preparing new projects for the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and Haiti. The Baltic state of 1.3 million people has already helped fellow ex-communist democracies Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, plus a total of 40 states, to implement Internet-based government and services common in Estonia for years, but still not widely available elsewhere."