15 April 2005
The world wide web represents an essential tool for local authorities in their attempts to meet various government targets, a new report has claimed.
In particular the 'eCustomer Service' survey, conducted by British research group Transversal, revealed that the Internet should help save £1.2 billion of taxpayers money by 2007.
"E-Government offers councils an unprecedented opportunity to reduce costs while actually improving services to citizens," commented Davin Yap, CEO, Transversal.
The situation isn't entirely rosy just yet however. Mr Yap added: "While local government is moving in the right direction there seems to be a gulf between what is offered and what citizens actually want - clear, easy to access and jargon free information.
"Failure to provide this will drive people to expensive channels such as contact centres and council offices - negating the £1.2 billion efficiency gains promised."
The findings were sourced from 829,000 questions answered automatically online using eService during 2004 from a number of public sector websites including the British Army and the Metropolitan Police.© DeHavilland Information Services plc
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