Zimbabwe's E-Government Readiness and Adoption of Cloud-Based Records Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

E-Government Overview

Technology became an enabling factor starting in the 20^th century and today, in this 21^st century, Sodhi (2016:91) laments that “the development of application and utilization of information technology is taking place at a rapid pace throughout the world”. E-government is a concept emerging from the use of ICTs in all the sectors of economy. This involve the government, citizens and other civil society organisations. The advancement in ICTs has further accelerated the interaction between the government and its citizens. This gives birth to e-government which is all concerned with the application and utilisation of technologies such as the internet, to improve “the processes of governance, functions and the basic public services” (Sodhi, 2016:93). Accordingly, Navarra and Cornford (2003) refer e-government to a strategic and systematic use of ICTs to promote efficient and effective government while Sodhi (2016:93) considers e-government as an internet-based government or online government which uses information and communication technologies such as internet, world wide web (WWW) and mobile computing to reach out to citizens and to facilitate the delivery of public service. Sodhi (2016:93) defines e-government as a “means of enhancing the capacity of the public sector, together with citizens, to address particular development issues”. For an e-government strategy to work, there is need for the government to set objectives that need to be achieved and support them with adequate policies and legislation. An e-government strategy enables the government to link all its departments under one umbrella and removes the need for each department to have its own servers. It enables them to share ICT resources and enables citizens to access, interact and receive services from the government at any time. The use of ICTs allow services to be received 24/7, that is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Technologies such as the internet, WWW and mobile computing are harnessing the interaction between citizens and their government. They are also enabling the government to deliver public services to citizens, stakeholders, civil society and the business sector as a whole. Sodhi (2016:94) outlines the main objectives of implementing an e-government as;