One Stop Shop for Electronic Delivery of Services: role of public private partnership

Information systems research seminar, 8 June 2005, 3-5pm, i-studio Ciborra

Subhash Bhatnagar, Indian Institute of Management and E-government Advisor, World Bank, Washington DC

The seminar will discuss the emergence of one-stop electronic delivery centres for government services in developing countries as an alternative to delivering services through portals.

The experience of two states in India, one pertaining to delivering multiple services through integrated service centres to urban populations, and the second for rural populations delivered through kiosks, will be shared. These applications, built through public private partnership (PPP), have become popular and economically viable. They overcome many of the problems that existed in earlier delivery systems. The critical role of the private sector in scaling up such applications and the key issues that need to be resolved in developing public private partnerships will be discussed.

Subhash Bhatnagar divides his time between research and teaching at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and as an e-government advisor with the World Bank in Washington DC. He advises World Bank client countries on e-government strategies and is responsible for mainstreaming e-government applications in the activities of the bank.

As a tenured professor at IIMA from 1975 to 2003, he held various positions: CMC Chair Professorship in Information Technology; member of the board of governors and Dean. He also coordinated two of IIMA's externally funded research centres: Telecom Policy Study Centre and the Center of Electronic Governance.

His current interests are in e-government and information and communication technology (ICT) for rural development. He has published over 100 articles and eight books, including a book on ICT and Development: cases from India and a recent book on E-Government: from vision to implementation. He founded a working group in the International Federation of Information Processing called Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, which he chaired from 1989-95. He was the chief editor of the international Journal on IT and Development and is on the editorial boards of many journals.

The seminar is open to all and is free of charge. Places will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis (space cannot be reserved in advance).

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