Ofcom consumer chief and Objective Corporation says online government services are the future

Online, December 3, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Ofcom consumer chair Anna Bradley stated at the Westminster eForum, the government could make savings and encourage further public adoption of broadband by moving more government services online. According to Nick Kingsbury, director of Objective Corporation, a specialist in content, collaboration and process management, encouraging public services to go online could result in faster resolution times, fewer errors and even the redeployment of staff from back-office functions to front-line service delivery.

"Promoting efficient and effective services for the public is a worthy objective, as proven by some successful online services such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency excise renewal tool. However schemes such as this will only be truly effective when joined together and integrated seamlessly, as opposed to ad hoc and individual approaches that often lead to IT duplication and considerable waste. It's more than making information available, it's about creating engaging and useful processes with measurable outcomes," says Nick.

This year the Treasury Select Committee's report, Evaluating the Efficiency Programme, lambasted the government for adding £5 billion to its £21.5 billion IT savings target, without clear explaining how this would be achieved.

"UK IT projects have often considerably overrun both their implementation time and allocated budget. It's important at this time of economic belt-tightening that the government looks to proven solutions and aims for the achievable."

Nick continued: "We are seeing a shift toward empowering citizens and ensuring they have the opportunity to influence local policy and community issues. Local authorities will have to provide interested members of the public the opportunity to debate, collaborate on and influence local decisions that affect them via consultations, petitions, Freedom of Information requests etc. By offering online options focusing on key processes and stakeholder consultation, organisations will increase the chances of saving both time and money."

Objective Corporation specialises in transforming the connection between organisations and the public, enabling greater and more meaningful collaboration. For more information on how government departments and local authorities are allowing communities freer access to information and greater engagement visit www.objectivecom.

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About Objective Corporation and Limehouse Software
Objective Corporation (ASX:OCL) is an established leader and specialist provider of content, collaboration and process management solutions for the public sector. Its solutions empower public sector effectiveness, efficiency and transparency, helping governments deliver public sector outcomes at a lower cost to the community.

Objective recently acquired Limehouse Software, a specialist in collaborative content creation, publishing and stakeholder consultation solutions for local and central government in the United Kingdom and has an emerging presence in North America.

Limehouse Software develops software solutions that unite three key functions - collaboration, document publishing and consultation. Its hosted service provides an integrated collaborative environment to develop policies and strategies; provide unified workspace, publishing and delivery services; and facilitate the involvement of stakeholders through real-time collaboration and consultation with communities.

It helps more than 250 organisations unify information and communication; accelerate the business processes people are involved in; better engage with virtual teams; and encourage socialisation among employees, partner organisations and citizens.

For more information visit www.objective.com.

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