E-government System Using an Integrated Call Center System and WWW

Japanpsilas Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has set 2010 as a target date for e-government systems to exceed a utilization rate of 50%. Existing e-government systems based on the World Wide Web are rarely used. One of the reasons that existing e-government systems are not used frequently is that it is difficult for users to operate the system. Online programs require detailed operation manuals and a lot of question-and-answer guidance to decrease mistakes. These requirements also make the sites harder to use and more difficult and more expensive to develop. An economical and user-friendly e-government system is requested by a local government. We developed a prototype e-government system combining WWW and a call center system to be the online equivalent of a service counter at a government office. Hanamaki City Hall clerks who requested us to develop an economical and user-friendly e-government system tried and evaluated them. They evaluated our concept and prototypes positively.