Shopping more than five miles above the earth while traveling at 600 miles per hour in the dead of night might be an extreme example of anytime-anyplace service delivery, but it illustrates what Americans expect nowadays, thanks -- in part -- to information technology.
It's no wonder, then, that the same citizen is unhappy at taking time off work to renew a dog license because the local government only serves citizens on weekdays, from one location, between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. "It's no longer an un -reasonable expectation of citizens to get government services at times and locations that are convenient to them," said Michael Langrehr, chief of information technology for Maryland.
Government has begun taking cues from the private sector and is investing in technology as a way to break down time and geographic barriers to public information and services. As Langrehr noted, the initial short-term costs of investing in technology can eventually lead to long-term savings. "Using technology [for service delivery] will reduce our need for employees to do the same job," he said. But unlike the private sector, which can target different segments of society for its services, government agencies must serve one and all. These unique requirements can drive up the cost of delivering services electronically or make the service cumbersome to use, leading to frustration and an unwillingness among citizens to use it.
"There's a lot of interest in technology that puts citizens in direct contact with agencies and their services," said Sharon Dawes, director of New York State's Center for Technology in Government, "but there are certain issues concerning the process of transferring information and transacting services between agencies and citizens that must be addressed first."
The Center was a winner of the 1995 "Innovations in American Government Award" from the Ford Foundation and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In the past five years, state and local governments have tested a variety of different technologies to see which works best at delivering different kinds of government information and services. Some, such as interactive telephone systems and electronic benefits transfer, appear to be winning propositions. Other technologies, such as kiosks and smart cards, have yet to fulfill their original expectations.
And looming over the entire spectrum of government service delivery is the Internet. Already a popular tool for providing public access to government information, the Internet, say supporters, will soon be the way cities, counties and states will be transacting business with citizens. But with only a small percentage of American homes and public libraries equipped with PCs, the question is, who gets served?
KIOSKS
QUESTIONED
Back in 1988, several local governments participated in a research project with IBM and Public Technology Inc., to see whether a PC with a touch screen, a videodisk player (no CD-ROM yet), and clips of video, audio and text could provide citizens with a new avenue for accessing government information.
The birth of the interactive kiosk, then dubbed "the 24-hour city hall," appeared to herald an entirely new dimension for service delivery. Citizens now could get access to information at their time and convenience. By the 1990s the first attempts at service delivery began with a kiosk in Long Beach, Calif., that allowed drivers to pay parking fines. The state of California followed soon after with Info California, which transacted drivers' license renewals as one of several kiosk services.
One of the key benefits of the kiosk is its ability to hide all the complexities of computer interaction behind an interface of touch-screen buttons and audio-visual instructions. People with less than a high school education can be instructed by the system on how to apply for welfare benefits or a building permit. One of the largest public kiosk projects in the country enables citizens to request information on thousands of job openings -- from construction and clerical to professional -- from 70-plus kiosks in Texas.
In Oregon, job seekers are looking up new positions on a 127-kiosk network across the state. But the dream of offering a wide range of government informational and transactional services on a kiosk remains just that: a dream. Despite a flurry of kiosk projects that have been unveiled around the country, most still are doing the same thing the 24-hour city hall did more than seven years ago.
"We are all still waiting to see what will come next," said Milford Sprecher, vice president of state and local government services at Federal Sources Inc. "For kiosks," he explained, "the big question is when will they eliminate the trip to the government office?"
In California, a state legislator got tired of waiting for the answer to that question and succeeded in cutting funds for operating the state's 100-kiosk project (see news, Government Technology, January 1996). Once considered the most ambitious and well-rounded of kiosk projects, Info California's death is a reminder of how experimental and immature interactive service systems still are. While hardware and software have become cheaper and better for presenting interactive services, the cost of developing and maintaining services in a kiosk is still high. As a result, other state agencies, local governments and federal agencies have been reluctant to buy into kiosks, making it harder to create the synergy of services (and economies of scale) that are necessary for the technology to succeed.
SPEAKING
OF VOICE SYSTEMS
The telephone has become one of the most indispensable ways for citizens to gather information from government agencies. So when cutbacks reduce the number of staff who can answer phone calls, citizens inevitably hear more busy signals than answers when they use the phone. Voice processing -- a catch-all term for three related technologies -- has given governments a handy way to dispense information, relieve pressures on overworked employees and transact business with citizens from their home or business.
Voice mail, probably the most popular voice processing technology, allows callers to leave phone messages in an electronic mailbox. Busy government employees can then take messages when it's convenient for them. Audiotex or audio attendant is a combination telephone bulletin board and electronic receptionist. It can either route calls to the correct party or give callers a menu of choices concerning the service, department or individual they are trying to reach.
Interactive voice response (IVR) is considered the most versatile form of voice processing. It allows callers to retrieve information from computer databases through the use of the telephone's Touch-Tone keypad. When a caller punches in a Social Security number or password on the keypad, an interface converts the signals into computer commands to search and retrieve pertinent data, which is then converted back into speech. For simple responses, such as a bank balance, IVR systems use an assembly of pre-recorded words to provide callers with the correct answer. For longer answers, some systems use a program known as text-to-speech, which converts textual information into synthesized speech.
In the past five years, voice processing applications have taken off, primarily in federally funded programs, such as child support, employment security and immunization. In New Jersey, IVR has been credited with helping to boost child-support payment collections by $50 million because caseworkers now spend more time enforcing payments and less time answering routine questions on the phone.
Recently, however, IVR has started to show up in revenue-generating programs. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has begun using IVR to allow citizens to file tax returns. Using their telephones and a simple worksheet, nearly 200,000 residents filed their 1994 tax returns. The IVR system has cut in half the cost of processing a return, saving the state nearly $1 million last year.
But voice processing is not without its shortcomings. The technology can quickly become a burden if the instructions and menu choices are too lengthy for people to remember. And as Dawes pointed out, "a complex and dynamic set of relationships exist between the number of phone lines, the number of callers and the type of information available." Agencies have to carefully watch call volume, which can rise with the popularity of the service. Too many calls and not enough lines can lead to the old problem of busy signals.
Another issue with IVR is the caller's ability to identify the necessary information and accurately assimilate it. The Center for Technology in Government tested an IVR system for business permit information and found there is a complexity threshold beyond which people cannot absorb and record information accurately.
ELECTRONIC
BENEFITS TRANSFER
The automated teller machine (ATM) has been a smashing success in the United States, offering customers an extremely convenient way to get cash, check on their bank balance or pay a bill. By applying the same principles, state governments hope to convert the inefficiencies of distributing food stamps and cash to the needy into a convenient and secure service. Known as electronic benefits transfer (EBT), the program gives eligible welfare recipients a magnetic stripe card, with which they can withdraw cash from bank ATMs and purchase food from grocery stores equipped with point-of-sale transaction devices.
EBT eliminates the need for checks and food stamp coupons which, in turn, reduces the amount of paperwork needed to run the programs as well as the fraud and theft that's long been associated with monthly benefit checks and coupons.
"EBT as a service delivery is going to explode," predicted Sprecher, who expects the entire country to be using EBT in the next five years. Reflecting that optimism is the growing number of state alliances established to break down EBT implementation barriers. The Southern Alliance of States and the Northeast Coalition have been formed to contract the financial services necessary to run EBT and to create economies of scale that should reduce EBT administrative costs.
Meanwhile, first Maryland and now Texas have gone ahead and implemented statewide EBT systems. In Texas, the Lone Star EBT system will eventually handle over $2.6 billion in benefits for more than one million households.
Able to impose its own guidelines and rules, Texas has moved quickly in setting up EBT, something the state alliances must spend more time on if they are to have interoperable systems and programs. However, the alliances have the advantage of providing portability, so that recipients living near state borders can access benefits where it's convenient and not according to political boundaries.
SERVICES
BY COMPUTER
If computers can help deliver services, why can't citizens use computers to receive services? State and local governments have been trying to answer that question ever since PCs became cheap enough for home use. Several years ago, some cities and states -- most notably Santa Monica, Calif., and Hawaii -- took the first steps toward PC-based service delivery. Both established networks that residents with PCs and modems could dial into and access government information. The networks also provided citizens with a means to communicate with government leaders and, eventually, transact services.
But these kinds of proprietary community networks are being rapidly superseded by the Internet. Hawaii, for example, recently cut funds for Hawaii FYI, the state's computer network connecting citizens to government (see announcement in news section).
Three years ago, the Internet was limited in terms of government activity. But starting with Gopher and e-mail services and now the World Wide Web, the Internet has become the networking phenomenon in government as well as the private sector. What makes the Internet so popular is its ease-of-use and open computing standards that have sped up its proliferation and use.
To understand the Internet's rapid growth and potential as a government tool for delivering services, one need only look at a single state. Thanks to a mandate from Gov. Parris Glendening, every agency in Maryland has its own information delivery home page on the Web. But that's only the first step in an ambitious plan that will eventually allow state residents with Internet access to purchase hunting licenses, search card catalogs for books and pay taxes, according to Langrehr.
"We're working on a prototype electronic service called the Maryland Electronic Capital, which will include access to services from the state, local government and the federal sector," he said. Down the line, Langrehr expects the Internet to become so pervasive as a tool for government, he even envisions every school in the state with its own Web home page, so that citizens can log on and check school schedules and lunch menus at their convenience.
But if the Internet is going to succeed as a means to deliver services, it must have content and affordable access. "There has to be a reason for people to use it," said Langrehr. "If there isn't any decent content, there's no reason they will keep coming back."
Langrehr expects issues concerning security and reliability on the Internet to be quickly cured as more businesses push to do business on the Internet. His other main concern is an issue all governments face: how to make the Internet affordable to everyone, not just the technologically advantaged. Right now, devices for accessing the Internet and line charges are cost-prohibitive for allowing the average citizen to interact with government over the Internet. "Get those costs down and then we may be able to really use the Internet for government use," said Langrehr. "But government should not step in and become an Internet access provider. That's a job for someone else."
For more information, contact Sharon Dawes, Center for Technology in Government, 518/442-3892,
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