E-Goverment in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen's adoption strategies.

Nowadays, many countries include Malaysia are implementing electronic government, also known as “e-government”. E-Government is the use of IT and e-commerce that provide access to government information and delivery of public services to citizens and business partners.
The Electronic Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. The implementation of e-government started since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996 by the Malaysian government. This implementation has improved on how the government operates internally and how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses

At the same time, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement. This enabled the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens. The implementation e-government would bring benefits to the public administration and Malaysian in several ways. It can generate savings on data collection and transmission.

To accelerate the objectives of Vision 2020, a path has already been defined through seven innovative Flagship Applications. These applications are engineered to start the MSC initiative and create a multimedia heaven for innovative producers and users of multimedia technology. The Multimedia Super Corridor offers a Malaysian initiative for the Information Age. Under the e-government flagship, seven main projects were identified to be the core of the e-government applications.

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

Citizen’s Adoption Strategies

Generally, new technologies are forcing governments to be particularly considerate to time. In order to make right decision and avoid falling behind, governments must identify and resolve the different issues that have arisen from the transaction period during which traditional and e-government co-exist. Government should guide and control the transformation of government into e-government rather than just focusing on introduction of ICTs. Meanwhile, the use of ICT to strengthen the involvement of citizens and businesses in public decision must be progress at the same time.

Customer satisfaction

• E-Government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-Government adoption. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

Service Quality

• Online service quality for e-Government could be measured in terms of quality of content provided on the website, the speed of the response to the citizens concerns with problem solving approach, and the availability of names. Other important measurement factors are telephone and fax numbers of personnel with whom citizens might need to get in touch, and the integration of an offline channel with online channel so that citizens could interact with government departments through other means if necessary. Higher quality of service will lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction and thus can increase the use of e-government services.

Website Design

• E-Government adoption is affected by website design elements that provide perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Personalization of websites, customization of product offerings, and self-care are the three key features that could be used not only to build relationship with the visitors, but also to improve their experience. These features give visitors a sense of control and participation and could potentially enhance their adoption.

User Characteristic

• User characteristics such as perceived risk, perceived control, and internet experience can have a direct impact on internet adoption. Experience influences a citizen’s trust of e-Government. Users with prior experience, especially if satisfied, would be more likely to return to use e-Government services. Perceived risk leads to security and privacy issues that could discourage the use of online services. It is important to ensure that citizens can transact online securely and their personal information will be kept confidential to increase the level of trust and the e-government adoption rate.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The government should be able to propose an effective strategy to encourage citizen’s adoption of e-government by focusing on these 4 areas.