Multi-channel Delivery of Services – the Road from eGovernment to mGovernment: Further Technological Challenges and Implications

During the last decade, users have become accustomed to new means of service delivery in the private sector. Nowadays, users expect the same level of variety from the public sector: they want their interactions to be convenient, and they prefer to be online rather than inline. New developments in ICT along with the growth of mobile communication allow the involved sectors to meet these challenges by reengineering their front-end and back-end office. They have developed new ways of interaction through a variety of channels allowing users to consume their services anytime, anywhere and anyhow, restructured services that accommodate their users’ needs, and reorganized processes within and between separate administrative bodies. This paper will examine the interaction requirements regarding a friendlier and more effective multi-channel services environment, the mobility challenges and their apt implementation in the governmental sector placing emphasis on the technological constraints of an mGovernment open interoperable multiservices delivery infrastructure and the impact of its single-point of access functionality across the borders of the new digitally integrated Pan-European reality.