electronic services including trustworthiness (both technology and govern-
ment), user friendliness, and the positive user experience (also Bélanger &
Hiller, 2006).
Cases presented are considered according to their functionality and
operation process. There are three main components, each of which is rel-
evant for electronic government and governance including (1) provision
logic (solution and responsibility), (2) customer potential and target group,
and (3) technology interface, including the functionality (particularly user
interface, data security and reliability) and potential of technology transfer
to other locations.
2 ELEMENTS FOR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Provision
Solution and Responsibility
The production of public electronic services involves four alternatives:
public sector in-house; cross-administrative collaboration; public–private
partnerships (PPPs); and fully outsourced private sector productions. These
mechanisms are the main means to enhance public sector operations. West
(2004, p. 25) analyzed the importance of sectoral co-operation within the
government to create more user-friendly online services. Issues of citizen
trust in government (e.g., Carter & Bélanger, 2005) and the potential that
e-government has to increase the service functionality and citizen activity
in participating public aff a
ff irs are closely linked to provision arrangements
as outsourcing has resulted in some cases in a jurisdiction debate about the
use of public power by private companies.
Close collaboration between the private sector and public organiza-
tions is identifi
fiable in the three cases. This is a functional division in
order to understand public sector electronic services. For example, PPP
service production is a common alternative (Yescombe, 2007). Thus, the
organizing of the provision of public services involves profi t-
fi seeking pri-
vate companies and public sector involvement in planning and managing
Examining Successful Public Sector Electronic Services 93
the service in question. Companies that are owned by public sector enti-
ties (such as cities) and non-profi
fit organizations are included in service
provision (see Heintze & Bretscheinder, 2000). Thus, electronic public
sector services are rarely a pure “public” issue in organizational terms.
The subcontracting (provision arrangement) and production of the actual
service almost always include segments created or produced by a private
or publicly owned company.
Provision responsibility signifies the interrelations between and within
public organs and refers to the service requirements identified in Finnish
law for public entities: the organizational responsibilities diff
ffer greatly in
the service production (implementation solutions diff
ffer according to legisla-
tions) of the military, the police, the rescue services, and the health services
as well as the maintenance and development of the transport infrastruc-
ture. The distinction between public and private sector responsibilities
in the production of these services has been under discussion for decades
(e.g., Osborne, 1993; Bryson, 2004; Reddick, 2010). The changing mode in
service production responsibilities involves a theoretical connection to the
widely debated issue of “new public management” (e.g., Hood, 1995; Mar-
tins, 1995; Dunleavy et al., 2006; Williams & Lewis, 2008). The definition
evidently extends beyond that of traditional government organizations:
public sector services also include services that are fundamentally linked
to societal structures including private contractors and non-governmental
organizations (Kooiman, 2005; Bang, 2007).
For example, public transport (and electronic information concerning
it) is considered here as a “public service.” National variations are consid-
erable in this regard: In Finland and in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
(HMA), public transport is organized by a local transport authority. Thus,
public sector involvement is extensive, but the majority of transport is pro-
vided by private companies as subcontractors (compare to the U.K. rail-
road act of 1993 and privatization: Yvrande-Billon & Ménard, 2004). The
overall HMA transport systems also involve local train services that are
currently under the monopoly of a stated owned corporation (VR). Produc-
tion responsibility is therefore relevant when considering the actualization
of the services off
ffered and their functionality.
2.2 Customer Potential and Target Group
Lean et al. (2009) and Carter and Bélanger (2005) have empirically
tested factors leading to higher e-government adoption. Their analyses
indicate that a service’s usefulness, need, and trustworthiness are the
most important user-point-of-view elements resulting in higher adoption
levels. Therefore, this case based study includes the number of users is
estimated in order to give an indication of the extent of the service poten-
tial. The user friendliness and the actual customer need, together with
customer potential, are the main building blocks to develop a successful
94 Tommi
Inkinen
new service. The recognition of customer potential is extensively present
in the identifi
fied case services. Separation into business-to-government
(B2G) services and citizen services is needed. Private individuals interact
less with the government than business organizations.
The role of the end-user, considered either as a citizen (Lean et al., 2009)
or a consumer (Felix & Sutherland, 2004) is therefore essential: how has
the service provider taken the user (adoption) potential into consideration
in the service process? and how is the created service expected to change
or modify the end-user experience and the provision effi
c
ffi iency for the pro-
ducer including aspects of lower costs, higher service quality (i.e., shorter
total or response time), or smaller number of transactions?
The issue of trust is elemental in the consideration of the willingness
to use and interact with public sector organizations. Considering service
interfaces, Tolbert and Mossberger (2006) studied the essential aspect of
trust in the e-government process through a survey analysis of websites.
Their results suggested that technical reliability and provision responsibil-
ity (local or national government) are elemental if trust building is to lead
to a functional service. A key technological element is the identification
process and reliability of secure information exchange between the client
and the service provider.
2.3 Technology Interface and Transferability
Implementations of electronic services requires an effi
c
ffi ient physical net-
work structure (hardware), user-friendly service design (software develop-
ments), and also non-technological dimensions, for example, networking
tools and other collaboration models that aim to bring together profe
s-
sionals and developers in order to collaborate and work together (see Bry-
son, 2004). Hardware solutions including the provision of physical (e.g.
computer kiosks or screens) or WLAN access points are just as essential
as the more common software based services. They are significant in cre-
ating universal and transferable technologies that will increase service
quality. This is particularly noticeable in Finland, where cities (e.g., Oulu
and Turku) are providing free of charge WLAN city networks to residents
and visitors (Inkinen, 2011). Standards and interoperability are common
notions in technology-society integration but several problems concern-
ing technical reliability and interoperability still exist particularly in soft-
ware development.
Finally, the potential for the technology transfer (universality) of the
service is considered. Technology transfer is to a large extent dependent
on technology platform as well as national arrangements of private–
public sector relations. Chan and Chow (2007) discussed the particu-
larities of public management policies in China and elaborated on the
problematic of national contexts and generalizations based on national
cases. National governments and their functions have significance in the
Examining Successful Public Sector Electronic Services 95
“sphere” of the Internet. The specifi
fic national context signifies for the
extent and content of online information. The mixture and intertwine-
ment of provision responsibilities, competition legislation, and customer
adoption (based on national and local cultures) together with the avail-
able and viable technology platforms together determine the potential of
technology transfer to other countries and locations.
In a universal sense, we may consider the enablement of technol-
ogy transfer, direct or indirect, and the fl
flows of material or immaterial
resources. In addition, contextual foci relate to computer and Inter-
net skills concerning citizenship and the politics of rights in terms of
egalitarian opportunities to live in a contemporary information society.
This form of digital divide (Graham, 2002; James, 2008; Dobransky
& Hargittai, 2006) incorporates a socio-economic structure and end-
user needs/capabilities into the challenge of electronic service design and
their transferability.
As a summary, the studied cases are applied as illustrative examples
of public sector-service provision. Arguably, the politics of building a
service provision structure have relevance for electronic government and
public sector online service provision. National legislation matters as
electronic services are always produced in a spatial context (Kellerman,
2002; Chan & Chow, 2007; Lean et al., 2009). They are designed to meet
customer needs together with adequate quality requirements. Therefore
they have a predetermined purpose within the administrative process,
which fundamentally aims to increase effi
fficiency and reduce costs. The
automation of data management is targeted at enhancing data security
(both in terms of individuals as well as organizations), reliability, and
effi
fficiency (time) in services provision (Wimmer & Traunmuller, 2000;
Gauld, Graya, & McComba, 2009).
3 CASE
STUDIES EXPLORED
3.1 Case
Selection
I present three selected cases to clarify and “open up” diff
fferent types of
projects and eff
fforts that were awarded by the Finnish Information Soci-
ety Program. Innovative projects were awarded on two occasions (years
2004 and 2006) based on open call applications. In total the Policy Pro-
gram rewarded 281 projects from various fi eld
fi
s of technology–society
integration on the recommendation of experts (for quantitative analysis,
see Inkinen, 2012). Thirteen of them (excluding three special mentions)
received a “prime minister’s award” identifying them as the best of the
best (Appendix 8.1). Three of these projects have been selected for closer
analysis: An online Journey Planner; a short message service (SMS) tick-
eting for public transport; and the palkka.fi fi
financial online service for
96 Tommi
Inkinen
small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) provided by the Ministry
of Finance.
The decision to use these selected cases is based on the extensiveness of
the available project information focusing on electronic service develop-
ment. The data source is, as far as Finland is concerned, unique and pro-
vides an extensive overview of the variety of development projects in this
fi el
fi d. The data are nationally bound, but their provision logic and technol-
ogy implementations are repeatable in other locations (for qualitative meth-
ods, see Miles & Huberman, 1994; Coff
ffey & Atkinson, 1996). Therefore,
the cases have international relevance and provide an insight into opera-
tional and successful services. The data are considered the best available
collection of project descriptions including information concerning their
provision. The cases are from the years 2004 and 2006, but they are still
relevant today in terms of their functionality and high user adoption. In
addition, they have embedded themselves as integral parts of the overall
service provision. Thus, the electronic (virtual) services contribute to physi-
cal (material) activities. These services are therefore complements and not
substitutes for physical services.
3.2 SMS
Ticketing for Public Transport
The fi
first case “SMS Tickets in Public Transport” was the fi
first in the
world to off
ffer the opportunity to buy metro and tram tickets via SMS.
The service was launched in 2003, and it is still active. It represents
an interesting combination of mobile phone technology with daily rou-
tines and business logic. The SMS ticketing service is for the Helsinki
Metropolitan Area’s public transport. The production logic follows the
traditional PPP model in which a public sector authority outsources and
collaboratively produces the end-service with a private sector company
(see Langford & Roy, 2009). Approximately over 2,875,000 SMS tick-
ets are sold annually, which amounts to a daily total of 8,800 tickets
(HSL, 2010).
The provision arrangement behind the SMS ticketing service is a tra-
ditional combination of networks: local public transport is organized
by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL), which is respon-
sible for the metropolitan area’s transport including the municipalities
of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. HSL organizes the actual
transport through contracts with carrier companies. The SMS ticketing
also involves the collaboration of telephone operators indicating the sec-
ond business network structure behind the service. Thus, the service is
operator bound but in practice all the major mobile telephone
operators
participate in the service. The service is designed to be as easy to use as
possible. The ticket requires one sent SMS message with a certain code
and in return a ticket SMS is automatically sent in response. The service
process is visualized in Figure 8.1.
Examining Successful Public Sector Electronic Services 97
Ordering: ticket valid
Serves and receives
Ticket pricing is the
Issued ticket and
for 60 minutes.
SMS and creates an
same with the paper
travel documentation
automated response
ticket. Invoicing is
on the customer’s
Order by sending
message (ticket).
through mobile
mobile device.
SMS code A1 to a
Response wait time
operator (requires
num
ber 16355.
varies from seconds
HSL and operator
to minutes.
agreement).
Figure 8.1 SMS ticketing process.
The technical solution is provided by a private company (plusdial.
com), and the target customers are individuals. The service may be con-
sidered transferable to other locations if the public transport organiza-
tion, as the local contextual arrangement, is suitable. The service has a
problem with multi-channel ticket provision: the SMS tickets are valid
only within the city of Helsinki, and there are some carriers that do not
accept it, thus it is not fully equivalent to a paper ticket. Such limitations
are found in particular bus connections, causing confusion. This is also
one of the reasons why the English language information (for tourists) is
limited—it would cause confusions and problems for people not famil-
iar with the “common practices” of the city transport.
3.3 Getting
There: An Interactive Online Journey Planner
The second awarded service is the “Journey Planner” (Figure 8.2), also steered by the HSL. The service provides “door-to-door” information on
how to plan your trip. It estimates walking times to the nearest (time dis-
tance) bus or train stop, calculates the scheduled travel times and provides
a total distance in time and in kilometers (and meters). Thus, it provides
information on the best (fastest and/or shortest) public transport connec-
Public Sector Transformation Through E-Government Page 17