IDC Government Insights releases guide for governments transitioning to smart government

By eGov Innovation Editors | Mar 28, 2011

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MASSACHUSETS – IDC Government Insights recently announced the availability of an information technology (IT) maturity model to help government entities assess their current level of compliance with Open Government initiatives, and to learn how governments are transcending these initiatives to better serve citizens and deliver their missions more effectively.

IDC said the new model outlines how government entities can progressively implement technology solutions to become "Smart Government."

"Smart Government embraces processes that use "smart" technologies to deliver optimal citizen service," IDC explained. "Benefits to government include real-time citizen feedback and information sharing, as well as increased efficiency and responsiveness."

The new maturity model was designed with stages of government maturation in mind, to help government agencies navigate the evolution to Smart Government successfully.

The study, "Transcending Open Government to Smart Government" describes four increasingly integrated and productive stages of IT systems maturity: Stage 1: Information Availability; Stage 2: Meaningful Information; Stage 3: Purposeful Action and Stage 4: Smart Government

"In Stage 1 of IT systems maturity, information transparency may take the form of "open data," in which a set of high-value data is made available to the public. In Stage 4 of systems maturity, information transparency is personalized to the point that citizens no longer need to "go and get" data from the government; rather, the government proactively pushes relevant, unique data to citizens based on their profiles," IDC said.

The model focuses on the use, management, and availability of information to improve information transparency, to increase citizen participation, and to foster collaboration across all levels of government to deliver citizen services.

The evolution of a government environment from one stage to the next is somewhat sequential, and IDC Government Insights believes that government entities will move more rapidly from one stage to the next in both information transparency and citizen participation, but not as rapidly in collaboration to deliver citizen services.

"Agencies will achieve Smart Government by implementing collaborative strategic plans that drive cross-agency investments and deployments in technology solutions," said Adelaide O'Brien, research director, United States Government Services Delivery at IDC Government Insights.

"The technology investments and changes required in culture and processes should not be viewed as episodic, but rather as continuous progress toward better mission delivery. The maturation of government to the Smart stage requires systems, software, services and business processes that are connected and seamless," he said.

IDC Government Insights is introducing the model during a complimentary Web conference on March 29, 2011 from 12 n.n. to 1 p.m., US Eastern time.