Boosting Business and Citizen Satisfaction

9:57:24 AM | 7/23/2014

Applying information and communications technology (ICT) to improve the quality of public services has become a top concern of the Government of Vietnam in recent years. Citizen-centred State management has increasingly underscored the importance of ICT application to raise people and business satisfaction with the Government.
The 12th National Conference on e-Government 2014, themed “E-Government development: Intelligent infrastructure, Modern administration, Higher citizen and business satisfaction”, was held in Danang City on July 14. The event was hosted by the Danang City People's Committee and the Danang Department of Information and Communications in collaboration with the International Data Group, IDG Vietnam.
 
In reality, ICT plays an increasingly important role in the national economy, national security and defence, and infrastructure as well. It is one of the driving forces to promote the country’s socioeconomic development.
 
According to a report at the conference, E-Government Institute at Waseda University of Tokyo in cooperation with the International Academy of CIO (IAC) announced the E-Government Ranking 2014 in May. Vietnam ranked 34th out of 61 countries, an increase of 3 spots over 2013. Vietnam ranked 13th among APEC economic sphere as well as Asia - Pacific and ranked fifth in Southeast Asia after Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The E-Government ranking is based on nine criteria: Network preparedness, Management optimisation, Online service, National portal, Government CIO, E-Government promotion, E-Participation, Open government, and Cyber security.
 
In the past more than 10 years, the Government of Vietnam has prioritised and actively promoted the development of the ICT industry. According to Information Security Report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2013, Vietnam ranked 81st out of 161 countries in ICT Development Index. Vietnam ranked fourth in Southeast Asia, behind only Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, and 12th out of 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The upgrading of ICT infrastructure has contributed to e-government development in Vietnam.
 
The smart public service development roadmap made progress in the first half of 2014. Typically, Hanoi police has deployed online passport granting system from March 2014. According to statistics, the rate of applications submitted to the system increased from 30 percent in the first month to nearly 70 percent in June, according to online newspaper ICTNews.
 
Besides, the Ministry of Finance recently issued the Plan for implementation of the master project on administrative procedure simplification, citizenship papers and population databases in the 2013 - 2020 period. The plan aims to fully and accurately codify administrative procedures relating to citizenship documents and population databases in the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. The ministry also promoted IT application to population database systemisation, utilisation and management until 2020. Administrative procedures will be handled via Online Citizenship Portal on the National Database.
 
Phan Thanh Son, leader of Cisco Vietnam, said: "The Internet of Everything (IoE) is changing management practices of nations and changing the ways of interaction between government agencies and citizens. And, e-government will become the future development trend in many countries around the world. By 2015, more than 60 percent of the world population will live in cities - and the number of urban residents will increase by about 60 million people each year, which create an enormous pressure on people-servicing resources - both physical facilities and administration. Using networks as an important basis of new-generation IT, including Social, Mobility, Analytics/Big Data, and Internet of Things (IoT) will help government agencies to provide administrative services more efficiently, cost-effectively and practicably.
 
Giving an emphasis on the development of smart cities via The Internet of Everything, he said "Cisco is taking the lead in creating the foundation for smart cities by developing modern network solutions and building an ecosystem for partners who will help businesses, cities and communities improve their quality of life, develop communities and promote global economies. We expect Vietnam will have many smart cities in the future."
 
At the conference, the exhibition section showcased unique experiences with modern technology solutions like laser card engravers, FlexPod Data Centre Solution, Conference Software Solutions, Videoconference Software Solutions, Portable terminals used for mobile identity authentication, mobile electronic passport devices In addition, visitors could exchange and discuss directly with leading solution providers on issues of concerns.
 
Thu Ha