m-Governance: The Way Forward for Digitally Equipped Citizens

Mobile technologies being one of the most preferred channels of interactions has taken the world by storm, unlocking diversified avenues. It has revolutionized the way people and businesses interact with each other. Given the unparalleled advancement of mobile technologies, both public and private sectors have realized its impact on the society. To build a multichannel approach, governments have adopted the m-Governance model with a vision to extend support and augment its performance for a digitally enabled society.

m-Governance enables governments to improve their services and strengthen their connect with people, using mobile or wireless technologies. The boundary-breaking potential of this model has created a digital nervous system for governments and given them the power to service citizens 24*7. Governments have been successful in creating seamless integration across multiple departments and making services available on different mobile platforms.

Following are some of the prime benefits that governments have gained from mobility model:

Broader engagement: Mobile channels provide increased opportunities for governments to collaborate with citizens anywhere, anytime and update them with information regardless of their location.

Audit and inspection: Governments can monitor field activity on a real-time basis. They can instantly update business information to the central office for further reviewing and monitoring of the documents.

Reduced operational cost: Governments can reach-out to a larger population with less expenditure on IT infrastructure, physical documents, and larger resource deployment. Also, the empowerment of field workers and cross-agency interactions can reduce requirements and costs for time.

Increased productivity: Officials can track approvals and ensure adherence to timelines. They also have access to real-time information and online data submission which reduces time and effort spent on data-entry and other related activities.

The mobility model has not only benefited the governments, but at the same time enhanced the life of citizens who earlier used to find it tough to communicate with them. Also, it has given citizens an opportunity to receive knowledge on both interactive and transactional services.

Key Benefits of m-Governance to Citizens

Anytime-anywhere access: m-Governance has spruced up the relationship between the governments and citizens by providing uninterrupted access to services. This type of facility was not available with the paper intensive setup where citizens had to wait for longer durations before getting the final outcome. The adoption of mobility by governments has reshaped the citizen engagement model. Also, citizens have the option to submit applications and track status of their applications on a real-time basis.

User-centric adaptability: Earlier, users had to fill in detailed information on government owned websites which was time-consuming and inefficient. Owing to the limited availability of smart devices, it was difficult for the remote users to connect with government’s schemes and gain benefits. But with the introduction of the mobile based solutions, it’s effortless for citizens to enjoy uninterrupted access to government owned applications and keep a track status of their requests in real time.

Mobile self-service: Citizens have access to different types of online services like e-filing, Pan-Aadhar linking, applying for a passport, making payments of taxes, registering for services, tracking the status of their applications, and submitting information. With self-service, all these activities can be done with ease after authenticating with an email verification, OTP or a simple password.

End to digital divide: One of the most common faced concerns by the society has been in accessing the digital services. Previously, citizens residing in remote areas couldn’t get real-time notifications, news and other updates from their government. With m-Governance citizens can now receive notifications on their mobile along with other public service updates. This has helped in improving citizen’s trust and confidence in their government.

Higher transparency: Mobile technology has revamped the citizen service and delivery system by improving transparency and efficiency at all levels. m-Governance has empowered citizens to communicate with governments directly and avail multiple services at times without marking their physical presence. Additionally, citizens can check results and impact of government strategies through the open data available to them via mobile seva platforms. Tracking the use of open data help governments in identifying the priorities of the citizens and committees they serve.

Easy and secured transactions: Governments can now reach the masses, even to geographically remote areas and provide them value-added services, salary pay-outs and other payment schemes via secure mobile payments solutions. With the help of mobile communication technology and in-built security checks, governments can ensure user privacy and secure the sensitive information of the citizens.

In conclusion

Going mobile has been one of the ingenious decisions fancied by the governments. Indeed, it has unveiled a much smarter and accessible approach for bridging the gap between citizens and governments.

Virender Jeet
Sr. VP Technology at Newgen Software

Tags: m-Governance, Digitally Equipped Citizens, mobile governance, Virender Jeet, Newgen Software, Virender Jeet Newgen Software, article by virender jeet, article by newgen software, varindia, Benefits of m-Governance to Citizens