Presentation by Mr. Alan Wong, Director of Information Technology Services at the Hong Kong International Computer Conference 2002
19 - 09 - 2002

Mr. Lai, Dr. Siu, Dr. Ng, Dr. Chu, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great honour to be invited to speak at the Hong Kong International Computer Conference 2002. Today, I would like to talk about what the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has done, and is doing, in building an effective E-government in the Knowledge-Based Economy. To start with, let me share with you some of my thoughts on the relationship between government and economy.

[Government and Economy]

Government plays a significant role in the economy. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), government represents around 20 to 40 percent of gross domestic products (GDP) in most of their member countries. This percentage can be as high as 55 percent in the Scandinavian countries. In Hong Kong, our public expenditure as a percentage of our GDP is around 20 percent in 2002-03.

Government is a big business. To maintain competitiveness, governments in the world are unanimously looking for opportunities to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. This leads to the development of our E-government vision - the vision to transform the traditional government into a citizen-centred E-government.

[E-government's Contribution to Economy]

An effective E-government will not only improve the administrative aspects of governing, but also significantly improve the overall efficiency of the economy and foster a better environment for doing business.

With E-government, citizens and businesses will be able to get services from government more easily and rapidly. This will significantly save their time and cost, thus enabling them to re-deploy their limited resources to other important tasks.

With E-government, government will be able to deliver more accurate and timely information to citizens and businesses. Through providing the information of great interest to the citizens and businesses, such as the government property information, government can act as a catalyst to facilitate the development of a more open, efficient and free market.

An effective E-government will be able to respond to citizens' or businesses' needs more readily. Through integration and streamlining of the functions provided by government departments, citizens and businesses will be able to interact with government in a single customer-centred manner. Moreover, they will also be able to leverage on the latest technologies for better communication with government. As a result, it will enhance public confidence in conducting electronic transactions and promote wider adoption of IT in the community.

Through developing innovative E-government initiatives, government can also take the lead in the exploitation of the latest technologies, resulting in the reduction of total cost and transfer of technology.

Indeed, the competitiveness of an economy depends increasingly on the extent to which IT is adopted by its businesses and its government. The challenge is how we can leverage on IT to enhance our productivity.

[Digital 21 Strategy]

The HKSAR Government is committed to developing Hong Kong into a leading digital city in the globally connected world. As a practical realisation of this vision, we formulated an important policy document, the Digital 21 Strategy in 1998. The strategy set out the initiatives and programmes that aimed to enhance and promote Hong Kong's information infrastructure and services.

Since 1998, we have substantially enhanced our information infrastructure. We have also created a business environment conducive to IT adoption in business, government and daily life. But we cannot stand still. In 2001, we fine-tuned our strategy and issued another policy document, 2001 Digital 21 Strategy, to cope with the technological changes and the world e-commerce development. In the new strategy, we reaffirmed our commitment to E-government, recognising its instrumental role in the promotion of IT applications in the business sector as well as in the community generally.

[E-Government Policy]

We have been implementing a comprehensive policy to build an efficient and effective E-government. To display our strongest leadership and highest commitment, our E-government initiatives are overseen and steered by our senior management at Permanent Secretary level.

As an executive arm, my department, the Information Technology Services Department (ITSD), provides both operational and technical support to other bureaux and departments in their implementation of the E-government initiatives. We will place great emphasis on further developing our information infrastructure and its security; exploit new IT and communications technologies; and assist our clients in embedding business process reengineering in the implementation of IT projects.

A dedicated E-government Co-ordination Office, headed by our senior staff at Deputy Secretary level, is set up to drive and co-ordinate E-government initiatives. The office also initiates the necessary cultural changes within the government; co-ordinate different agencies; address inter-departmental issues; and explore innovative implementation models for E-government initiatives.

[E-government Target]

Through implementing E-government, we aim to use IT to modernise government operations to meet the increasing aspirations of the community. We will move away from the conventional approach of service delivery on individual department basis. We strive to break down bureaucracy between departments to facilitate the provision of more customer-oriented, value-added and one-stop government services. We also hope that we can drive the adoption of e-business in the community.

To achieve our goals, we have set out clear target to provide more government services online to the community. Our target is to increase the percentage of e-option of government services to 90% by end 2003. At present, over 78% of government services amenable to the electronic mode of delivery are already provided with an e-option.

[Transactional Processing Capability]

Our E-government services are characterised by their customer-centred transactional processing capability. They are not just disseminating information, but are "usable". With these transactional E-government services, our citizens and businesses can actually interact with the government and get their required services at their fingertips with an user-friendly interface.

[Private Partnership Approach]

We have also adopted a pioneering public-private partnership approach in driving the E-government initiatives. It enables the government to capture the best available services in the market in the development, operation, maintenance and marketing of government IT services. Certainly, the most noticeable tangible benefit is that it optimises the cost on the government side.

[Electronic Service Delivery]

The Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme is a good example of this innovative public-private partnership approach. Under this approach, both the government and the contractor have to invest. The government will have to pay for the system on transaction basis only after the contract period or after the cumulative number of chargeable transactions exceeds an agreed volume.

With ESD, our citizens can renew their driving and vehicle licences, book government leisure and sports facilities and register for public examinations; our businesses can apply for licences and permits, register job vacancies and order government publications and statistics. At present, more than 130 convenient, reliable and high quality public services are already made available in a customer-centred way through our ESD web site.

The ESD scheme is well received by our citizens and businesses. As at July 2002, the average daily hit rate of the ESD web site is around 2 million and the accumulated total number of visitors has already exceeded 32 million since December 2000.

[Stockholm Challenge Award]

With its innovative business model, the ESD Scheme won the first prize under the category of Public Services and Democracy Stockholm Challenge Award in 2001. The award is an international IT award programme organised annually by the City of Stockholm, Sweden. There were over 740 projects from 90 countries competing for 14 awards under 7 categories.

[Smart ID Card Project]

One other important E-government initiative is the replacement of some seven million identity cards with Smart ID cards.

The issue of Smart ID Cards will commence in mid 2003 and the whole cycle will take 4 years to complete. Other than serving the immigration purposes, the new Smart ID Card will provide other non-immigration applications. Cardholders will be able to use the card for some value-added applications at their wish. These applications will include library card and driving licence. Cardholders can also opt for a free digital certificate to be embedded in the Smart ID Card. The digital certificate will allow cardholders to conduct e-business in a secure manner over the open network. The new Smart ID card will also provide a platform for future applications such as e-purse and automatic passenger clearance at border points.

[User's Involvement & Co-operation]

The advent of IT and an increasingly connected society provides government with unprecedented abilities and enormous opportunities for developing E-government. However, E-government is not only about technology, but also about people. It is about transforming the business of government.

In this on-going transformation process, user involvement and co-operation are of paramount importance to its success. In the HKSAR Government, we have around 90 bureaux and departments and some 180,000 civil servants. Without their full support and involvement, E-government will just be a dream. One of our key tasks is therefore to instigate culture change among the civil service to embrace the paradigm shift in the transformation process.

We will adopt the 3R approach - Re-organisation, Re-engineering and Re-prioritisation, to review and improve the quality of our service delivery and operational efficiency. We will transform the delivery of government services in 3 dimensions:

- Facilitate a joined up government
- Simplify government structure and encourage more cooperation and collaboration among departments
- Look for more opportunities of public-private partnership.

[Corporate Culture]

To cultivate a buoyant E-government culture within the government is not a one-off task. It is a continuous learning process. To this end, we have established an Information Technology Solution Centre (ITSC) to provide our bureaux and departments with new technologies and trends on IT development and technical guidelines for commonly used software.

The centre is equipped with testing and development facilities to enable technology surveillance, promotion, hands-on trial and prototyping. The centre also organises IT seminars and exhibitions with our business partners to promote the wider use of IT within the government.

To improve IT management, we have formed an Information Technology User-Managers Group within the government. It provides a forum for IT users and managers to discuss common issues and recommend how to make effective use of information systems and technology in the government.

To promote the continuous learning culture within the government, we have established a Cyber Learning Centre web site to enhance the delivery of training services and e-learning materials to civil servants. To raise IT literacy in the government, we are also implementing an Accessibility Programme to enhance the provision of IT facilities to civil servants by phases.

[Decentralisation - ITMU]

We are now taking an aggressive step to decentralize government's IT support service. To ensure management teams in the government appreciate the use of IT and carry out fundamental e-business transformation, we are assisting our bureaux and departments in the establishment of IT Management Units (ITMUs).

By decentralising IT activities to business units, responsiveness to changes in business environment, business awareness of IT and alignment of IT with business needs can be improved. This will help our bureaux and departments to step up the pace of infusing IT and e-business best practices in their planning and operations.

[Business Process Reengineering]

We will adopt an innovative approach to examining opportunities for re-engineering our business processes both within and across our bureaux and departments. This is to ensure that the benefits of using IT are fully realised in improving operational efficiency and quality of service.

To ensure that business process re-engineering (BPR) is taken into account in all E-government initiatives, we will not allocate priority to any IT initiatives that have not fully explored BPR opportunities.

[Methodologies]

We have also streamlined our IT project delivery process to achieve flexibility and efficiency. Traditionally, our typical IT projects are made up of five distinct phases ¡V Project Request, Feasibility Study, System Analysis & Design, Implementation and Review. In order to speed up the delivery timeframe, we have already advised bureaux and departments to combine phases whenever appropriate.

To attain flexibility and efficiency, we have also encouraged our bureaux and departments to adopt new methodologies in implementing their IT initiatives. These include Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Object Oriented Methodology (OOM).

[Outsourcing]

To speed up the implementation of E-government initiatives, we have been pursuing a vigorous outsourcing strategy. The primary objectives are to enlarge the delivery capacity for IT services and to accelerate the delivery of IT solutions.

At present, more than 80% of new IT projects are already outsourced. Outsourcing of IT services on a departmental basis is another achievement that we have made.

Recently, we have entered into standing offer agreements with a large number of companies under the Information Technology Professional Services Arrangement (ITPSA) for the provision of professional services to undertake IT services in the government. The objectives of this arrangement are to further accelerate the delivery of IT solutions and to increase the IT industry's participation in government IT services.

We believe our outsourcing policy is conducive to the development of the local IT market as well as maintaining a right balance of in-house resources and expertise ¡V a win-win situation.

[Information Infrastructure]

To assist bureaux and departments in enhancing their readiness and capability to develop E-Government, we operate a wide range of central infrastructure support services and facilities. The services and facilities are built on open and international standards.

We are carrying out a number of enhancements to the government's IT infrastructure. These include improving the accessibility to computer facilities in the civil service, upgrading the government backbone network for broadband connections and establishment of a common transaction platform for electronic service delivery and transactions to complement the ESD scheme.

Leveraging on the strengths of our infrastructure, we will strive for the exploitation and adoption of enabling technologies, such as XML, wireless technologies, smart card technologies, and the next generation of Internet technologies.

Chinese language interface is a crucial element in building an effective E-government. We have already completed the essential tasks of putting in place an open and common Chinese language interface in Hong Kong. We have also been actively participating in the development of the ISO 10646 standard under the aegis of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

[Interoperability Framework]

To facilitate "seamless" integration of the government applications, we are setting up an interoperability framework for bureaux and departments to follow when developing joined-up E-government systems.

The Interoperability Framework contains a collection of technical standards and specifications for system interfaces, infrastructural architectures, data exchange, etc. The framework also provides the necessary reference for the private sector when building computer systems to interact with the government systems.

We expect to promulgate the first version of the Interoperability Framework later this year. It will be constantly updated in the light of new business requirements and technology changes.

[Legal Framework]

To instill trust and protect security in conducting electronic transactions, including E-government transactions, we have established a clear and supportive legal framework through the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance. Under the ordinance, electronic records and digital signatures are given the same legal status as that of their paper-based counterparts. Government has also taken the lead in accepting electronic records under various provisions of the legislation.

To ensure that Hong Kong has the most up-to-date legislative framework for the conduct of electronic transactions, we are conducting a review of the ordinance after its has been enacted for one and a half years.

[Industry/Academia Participation]

To turn our E-government vision into reality, government's effort alone is not enough. Successful implementation of E-government requires active participation and the concerted efforts of the business sector, the IT industry, the academia and the community.

To incorporate the valuable advice from the industry and the academia, we have invited many prominent leaders from the businesses, the industry and the academia to be the members of our advisory committees. One of these committees is the Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IIAC). The committee advises the government on the policy, regulatory, technical and other related issues in the development of the information infrastructure in Hong Kong.

One other committee, the Chinese Language Interface Advisory Committee (CLIAC), provides professional advice to the government on the establishment and promotion of the common Chinese language interface in Hong Kong. Members of the committee come from various sectors including the academia, language and linguistics associations, the publishing industry and the IT industry.

[Closing]

E-government is such an evolving and vibrant topic that I could go on and on. I'm sure you will agree with me that what we are doing will be able to leverage IT to make Hong Kong more competitive in the New Economy.

The Hong Kong International Computer Conference has again provided us with an excellent forum this year to share our experiences, insights and expand our people network in our IT endeavours. I would like to congratulate the organisers for staging this premium event and I look forward to a fruitful exchange with you during the conference.

Thank you.

Please click here to download the presentation material. (1,131KB)

( To view and print the PDF document, you need to use an Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please click here to download if necessary. )

- END -