Why eGovernment?

We have all experienced frustration at one time or another doing business with the government: waiting on the phone to get information or to talk with a government official, standing in a long line to pay a traffic ticket or renew a driver's license, or waiting weeks or months for a permit to be granted.

Meanwhile, government agencies experience frustrations of their own, processing and storing massive quantities of paperwork and repeating tasks that could be made more efficient and convenient for individual citizens and businesses alike.

While governments around the world have taken steps to improve operations and provide better services, there are still significant opportunities to become more efficient and connect more directly with constituents by utilizing today's Internet technologies. The private sector has embraced the World Wide Web as a means of reaching out to and communicating with customers, yet many government Web sites still offer little more than a list of telephone numbers and addresses.

0ne reason for this is that the government information required to offer electronic filings, permit applications and other services is often locked up in many different and incompatible databases. For cash-strapped state and local agencies, the idea of making all this data available in a way that would provide useful, comprehensive online services to constituents sounds too expensive to pursue.

Many businesses have embraced information technology as the key to improving efficiency, by using low-cost technologies to connect the isolated "islands" of data throughout their companies and offer customers richer, more personalized service. A combination of widely available Internet access, advanced software, a growing range of PC-based, computing devices, and technology standards such as XML has already led to significant productivity gains in the business world.

Those same technologies can just as easily be applied to revolutionize how governments do business.

Some government agencies are already developing state-of-the-art online solutions- and enjoying greater efficiency and lower costs.

The Wise County, VA Government portal provides access to a wide range of government information. The Circuit Court allows access via a subscription based service to the entire instrument index from 1970 to the present. The Circuit Court also enables electronic filing of semi-government court documents. Residents of Wise County, VA will soon be able to apply for and receive building-related "e-permits" over the Internet. Other government services such as government job openings, public records and contact information for state and local officials are also available. These services are provided by efile.com a MIXNET application services provider.