Channels framework

Delivering government services inthenew economy

Office of the

e-Envoy

Leading the drive to get the UK online

delivering

Preface

By Andrew Pinder, e-Envoy

Electronic channels can radically alter the way government delivers its services andchange its relationship with those it serves. They also play an important part in thegovernment’s objective to make the UK a leading knowledge economy. Pervasive onlineaccess must be a key characteristic of the UK economy in the future, where citizens canaccess online services irrespective of location – whether at home, at work, on the move,or in the community.Electronic channels also provide us with the opportunity to truly organise public sectorservices around the needs of citizens, and not current government structures – servicesthat are more accessible, convenient and responsive. These improvements are dependenton building confidence in the new channels, through demonstrating their benefits tocitizens and ensuring that all channels – including intermediary and traditional face-to-face, voice and postal channels – support and complement each other.Success is dependent on public sector organisations co-ordinating with other publicsector bodies to ensure that services delivered via a mix of traditional and electronicchannels are structured around the needs of citizens. The challenge for government andpublic sector organisations is to develop channel strategies to provide this co-ordination.The channel strategies should remove barriers such as lack of skills, confidence and costin using electronic channels, so that they drive up usage of the internet by encouragingnew and more frequent usage.The guidelines within this framework provide the foundation for achieving theseobjectives. They clearly set out the government’s aims for channels in the context of theUK knowledge economy and provide valuable guidance and insights into the decisionsrequired to develop effective channel strategies.3