ICT use and electronic services of local governments (Summary for the press)

2006. 11. 19.

Sponsored by Synergon Information Systems Plc., GKIeNET conducted a survey on the local governments in Hungary in November and December 2005, with the participation of 800 offices. The survey targeted the local governments of townships, towns, towns with county rights and districts. The goals of the survey were to assess the use of information technology and telecommunication systems at local governments, to evaluate the development level of electronic public services, and to reveal the problems and demands of local governments in the area of information technology.

SURVEY FINDINGS

Computer access

The survey reveals that almost all local governments in Hungary have at least one computer; the penetration rate is 96%. All large townships, towns, county governments and districts use computers. Only local governments with fewer than five workers and small budgets indicated that they did not use PCs. All in all, of the 3,185 local governments in Hungary, 3,073 use personal computers (24 out of 113 plan to purchase computers). There are 89 township governments that are not planning to use computers in the future.

On average, local governments have 13.2 desktop computers and one laptop. The number of computers varies greatly by municipality category. The average number of computers is 5.6 in townships, 16.5 in large townships, 52.5 in towns and 231.7 in the combined category of towns with county rights, counties and districts.

Use of electronic and information systems

Rapid and efficient back-office processes are the key to effective customer service, in which information technology is inevitable. Currently only a small percentage of local governments enhance their internal processes with a substantial information technology infrastructure, and those that do, mainly apply isolated solutions.

Internet penetration

In late 2005 92% of all local governments had some type of internet connection. Overall, there has been a seven percentage point increase since 2003. In the category of local governments using computers, internet penetration grew even faster, by 8%. According to the responses, it could rise to 95% in the entire local government segment and to as high as 98% in the category of local governments with computer access over the next twelve months.

Does your local government have internet connection?

(as a percentage of all local governments and of governments with computer access)

Broadband access

Our survey assessed the prevalence of broadband internet connection among local governments. Based on the responses, 2005 saw further improvements in the quality of internet connections. 53% of all local government offices have broadband access, more than double the rate in 2004.

Percentage of local governments with broadband internet access

(As a percentage of all local governments (n=800))

In addition, the survey asked local governments about network access, website features, prevalence of electronic services, use of IT security solutions, as well as IT skills of the staff.

For more information about these findings, please contact GKI-eNET.