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Adobe Systems' Alfie Taylor believes that making e-governance engaging is the way to take it forward
Nazia Khan

Alfie Taylor, government practice director, Adobe Systems Europe Limited, isn't a form filling enthusiast, particularly when it involves repetitive information exchange. "Isn't it simpler to have a system whereby the information you entered the first time you visited a government office is saved for future reference?" Taylor, who was in Oman to showcase Adobe Systems' engagement platforms for e-governance, in conjunction with BahwanCyberTek and the global consulting firm BSeen, has been dealing with the public sector for a long time now. And he sees a pattern to the progress charts for countries, when judged by their e-readiness. Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland round up the top three in Europe, leading Taylor to point out, "The smaller countries do better because they're light on their feet. They can change and adapt faster. I think that Oman, which is a young country, will be able to make a similar quantum leap into e-readiness."

For Taylor, e-readiness translates into efficient e-governance systems. "The systems have to be engaging, because if they are not engaging then they are not productive." Statistics indicate plainly that there's work to be done in the pursuit of productiveness. While 91 per cent of key citizen services are online in Europe, only 31 per cent of citizens use the Internet to interact with the government. The systems fall short because of worries about the security of data and confusion about user interface, among other issues.

Security issues find an echo in the challenges that governments face as well, along with web service integration, archiving needs, data retrieval, and accessibility requirements. But investments in sound e-systems are being viewed as cost-savers and efficiency-boosters. "Documents are the heart of everything that happens within government. So public sector organisations must plan to support intelligent document exchange for critical processes." And it is here that Adobe's intelligent forms and applications help make the connection between state and citizen.

"The PDF file is effective because it can be controlled. The files have policies. They have audit trails, which can be tracked back to see who had access to them. That's just one of the features making it perfect for government documents that are sensitive."

That's also one of the systems offering free rein to push the limits of citizen service. "In the Netherlands, the government knows the tax status of citizens from the information that they provide about their income. So the government informs citizens about the taxes that they have to pay. In the future, there are plans to devise systems so that the tax collection can be shifted to banks."

"The governments in the Middle East are keen on enriching the services that they offer. I've observed that the levels of awareness are high here, and I'm sure they'll translate into smarter systems soon enough."