National e-Readiness Status

National e-Readiness Status - 2007

CITO currently tracks several key international e-readiness surveys which report and benchmark Jamaica’s ICT development against regional and global counterparts. This section will speak to two of those surveys: EIU E-Readiness and the UN Global E-Government Readiness Rankings.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

At CITO’s request, Jamaica is now included in the selected list of countries for which an annual e-Readiness survey is routinely conducted compiled and published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which is the business information arm of the Economist Group - publisher of The Economist magazine. The Economist Intelligence Unit has published an annual e-readiness ranking of the world’s largest economies since 2000. These rankings utilitise a cadre of comprehensive and standardized quantitative and qualitative criteria to evaluate ICT development. A country’s e‑readiness is a measure of its e-business environment, a collection of factors that indicate how amenable a market is to Internet-based opportunities. The EIU publishes the e-Readiness assessment results in the form of a White Paper which is made freely available in April of each year. There is no cost to the country for this survey.

In our third showing in the 2007 EIU report there was a marginal increase in Jamaica’s overall score from 5.03 to 5.05. However, there was a fall in the ranking of three places from 43 to 46. The marginal score increase and fall in ranking is due to EIU’s re-structuring of their assessment methodology which included the implementation of new measurement criteria and categories, as well as the removal of some previous ones. One criteria eliminated was telephone and narrow band penetration. In its place, a greater focus on broadband affordability and penetration. Jamaica had previously ranked well in the area of telephone and narrow band penetration, however with its removal, our performance in the category, Connectivity and Technology Infrastructure fell 0.05 points. Jamaica’s score also fell in the category of Consumer and Business Adoption as a result of a re-vamping of the criteria in this category; moving away from the availability of finance and IT personnel, to the number and level of online commerce and government services. The inclusion of Malta at position 24 on this year’s rankings also factored in Jamaica’s ranking decline.

In the other four categories, of which Government Policy and Vision is new, Jamaica did well. Jamaica has new opportunities to move forward in future e-readiness rankings in light of the fact that a number of new policy and strategy elements have been recently added to our national ICT landscape, and additional elements are being developed. They are:

1. The recently enacted Electronic Transactions Act 2006 (ETA); the promulgation of which is being supported by a public education piloted by the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications
2. The newly updated and soon to be promulgated Telecommunication Policy 2007
3. The new 5-year National ICT Strategy: E-Powering Jamaica 2012

Legislation and strategies being developed include

1. Cyber Crimes Bill
2. Data Protection Bill
3. National Development Plan 2030

There are several other developments taking place. Therefore with these fundamentals in place, the future is very promising for national ICT development, and consequently Jamaica’s international e-readiness rankings.

Jamaica is already comparatively highly rated in the legal environment. Therefore, with the recent enactment of the ETA and the development of supporting legislation underway; we expect to leap forward in our ratings in this area as well.

These improvements will lead to acceleration in consumer and business adoption, which will drive advancement in the business environment - crucial for success factors for national ICT development; directly aligned with the mission and vision of E‑Powering Jamaica 2012.

Issues associated with the social and cultural environment such as education and training which has been prominently highlighted in the E‑Powering Jamaica 2012 strategy need to be effectively tackled for Jamaica to achieve the level of global competitiveness that is needed for national excellence in every area of the economy and society. With the direct involvement of the CEO of CITO, the Ministry of Education has taken a critical step toward achieving this objective by completing a new 5-year ICT in Education Strategic Plan.

Significant improvement in PC and broadband penetration form key pillars to support the achievement of the focal mission of E-Powering Jamaica 2012, and therefore all the interconnected, inter-related and inter-dependent components of the strategy will drive our national ICT development and improvement in our international e-readiness rankings – an increasingly important valuation for international investors looking at regions and specific territories in their strategic business expansion plans.

UN Global E-Government Readiness

Jamaica was ranked the number one e-government state in the Caribbean according to the United Nations Global E-Government Readiness Report published in 2005. However our ranking slipped significantly to 7th place in the Caribbean as of the 2007 edition, with Barbados placing 1st.

The 2007 Survey looks more deeply at the issue of e-government leadership. Many developing countries including Jamaica have been unable to fully implement their e-government policies, mainly due to other competing, pressing social issues that need to receive priority treatment in the context of tight budget constraints. The sectors include health, education, security and labour, to name a few.

Jamaica scored poorly in stages IV and V characterization of e-government services, hence the slide in our ranking. The report noted the Ministry of Finance and Public Service as an exception, achieving average scores. Jamaica’s other four areas of e-government web presence, according to the report, scored well below average: National, Education, Health, and Social Welfare/Labour.

Below is a reference list describing the stages of e-Government evolution:

Stage I Emerging: A government’s online presence is mainly comprised of a web page and/or an official web site; links to ministries or departments of education, health, social welfare, labour and finance may/may not exist. Much of the information is static and there is little interaction with citizens.

Stage II Enhanced: Governments provide more information on public policy and governance. They have created links to archived information that is easily accessible to citizens, as for instance, documents, forms, reports, laws and regulations, and newsletters.

Stage III Interactive: Governments deliver online services such as downloadable forms for tax payments and applications for license renewals. In addition, the beginnings of an interactive portal or web site with services to enhance the convenience of citizens are evident.

Stage IV Transactional: Governments begin to transform themselves by introducing two-way interactions between “citizen and government”. It includes options for paying taxes, applying for ID cards, birth certificates, passports, and license renewals, as well as other similar G to C interactions, and allows the citizen to access these services online 24/7. All transactions are conducted online.

Stage V Connected: Governments transform themselves into a connected entity that responds to the needs of its citizens by developing an integrated back-office infrastructure. This is the most sophisticated level of online e-government initiatives and is characterized by:

1. Horizontal connections (among government agencies)
2. Vertical connections (central and local government agencies)
3. Infrastructure connections (interoperability issues)
4. Connections between governments and citizens
5. Connections among stakeholders (government, private sector, academic institutions, NGOs and civil society).

In addition, e-participation and citizen engagement are supported and encouraged by governments in the decision-making process.

E-government is defined as the use of ICT and its application by the government for the provision of information and public services to the people. The aim of e-government therefore is to provide efficient government management of information to the citizen; better service delivery to citizens; and empowerment of the people through access to information and participation in public policy decision-making.