FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IDC Government Insights today announced the availability of a groundbreaking information technology (IT) maturity model to help government entities assess their current level of compliance with Open Government Initiatives, and to learn how governments are transcending these initiatives to better serve citizens and deliver their missions more effectively. Specifically, this new model outlines how government entities can progressively implement technology solutions to become "Smart Government."
"Smart Government" embraces processes that use "smart" technologies to deliver optimal citizen service. Benefits to government include real-time citizen feedback and information sharing, as well as increased efficiency and responsiveness.
IDC Government Insights' new maturity model was designed with stages of government maturation in mind, to help government agencies navigate the evolution to Smart Government successfully. Through government examples, the model assists government in learning about technology that increases government accountability, responsiveness, and transparency throughout the stages – solutions that can get the right information to and from citizens, enhance government's ability to listen to constituents, enable government to provide accurate and relevant information to citizens, and provide citizens with end-to-end processes that often cut across government entities and levels.
The study, Transcending Open Government to Smart Government (Document #GI227222) describes four increasingly integrated and productive stages of IT systems maturity, and provides examples of the kinds of initiatives associated with these stages of development. The four stages of maturity are:
Stage 1: Information Availability
Stage 2: Meaningful Information
Stage 3: Purposeful Action
Stage 4: Smart Government
To illustrate: In Stage 1 of IT systems maturity, information transparency may take the form of "open data," in which a set of high-value data is made available to the public. In Stage 4 of systems maturity, information transparency is personalized to the point that citizens no longer need to "go and get" data from the government; rather, the government proactively pushes relevant, unique data to citizens based on their profiles.
The model focuses on the use, management, and availability of information to improve information transparency, to increase citizen participation, and to foster collaboration across all levels of government to deliver citizen services. The evolution of a government environment from one stage to the next is somewhat sequential, and IDC Government Insights believes that government entities will move more rapidly from one stage to the next in both information transparency and citizen participation, but not as rapidly in collaboration to deliver citizen services.
"Agencies will achieve Smart Government by implementing collaborative strategic plans that drive cross-agency investments and deployments in technology solutions," said Adelaide O'Brien, research director, United States Government Services Delivery at IDC Government Insights. "The technology investments and changes required in culture and processes should not be viewed as episodic, but rather as continuous progress toward better mission delivery. The maturation of government to the Smart stage requires systems, software, services and business processes that are connected and seamless."
IDC Government Insights will introduce the model during a complimentary Web conference on March 29, 2011 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., US Eastern time. Visit: http://bit.ly/IDCGIMaturityModel to register.
For additional information about this study, or to arrange a one-on-one briefing with Adelaide O'Brien, please contact Sarah Murray at 781-794-3214 or sarahbethmurray@gmail.com. Reports are available to qualified members of the media. For information on purchasing research, contact info@idc-gi.com.
About IDC Government Insights
IDC Government Insights is uniquely qualified to track, analyze, and forecast government technology spending based on in-depth government budget and spending analysis globally. Expert analysts examine IT value based on government-defined key result areas; decipher policy and regulatory goals to identify game-changing government strategies and inform critical decision making; survey government decision-makers to determine effectiveness of IT vendors’ go-to-market strategies; along with government-centric metrics and rankings of suppliers’ effectiveness in addressing specific government business problems, all with absolute independence and transparency. IDC Government Insights analysts are located in the Washington, D.C. area and other locations worldwide. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-gi.com, email info@idc-gi.com, or call 703-485-8300. Visit the IDC Government Insights Community at http://idc-insights-community.com/government.