Part 3: Way Forward
108. The way forward is to address the overarching problems of lack of awareness, co-ordination and commitment and the lack of empirical evidence. To do this requires the following four elements:
1. Ministerial Leadership
Ministers need to provide overall leadership by communicating the vision and direction for ecommerce in New Zealand. Government must publicly acknowledge that it understands the importance of ecommerce and is prepared to promptly address the issues in order to "ecommerce enable" New Zealand. Putting some quick runs on the board by introducing the proposed Electronic Transactions Bill in the first half of 2000 would help send the right message to both business and the international community. Reflecting the need for greater co-ordination, it is essential that electronic commerce work is supported and promoted by a range of ministers with both economic and social responsibilities. The Government must move ecommerce from the periphery to the centre by communicating the importance and benefits of ecommerce very clearly to the public sector, to business and to the wider community
2. An Electronic Commerce Readiness Strategy for New Zealand
Of equal importance is the need for a single strategy to address the whole range of issues. We do not want sectors or departments leapfrogging each other with one sector after another playing catch-up. Reaping the benefits of electronic commerce requires a wide understanding of the vision and a co-ordinated response across all areas of government, in effect harnessing the power of networks.
Such a co-ordinated forward-looking strategy would address the range of responsibilities the Government must shoulder. These include law making; regulation; education; ensuring a skilled labour force and the e-literacy of citizens, government management; international relations; social equity, and ensuring the right competitive conditions exist for the rapid development of ecommerce infrastructure. There is a need for ongoing monitoring of infrastructure developments to ensure that critical services - such as access to the Internet, leased lines and spectrum - are available at an affordable price, and continue to be available. Monitoring also needs to focus on whether desired outcomes are occurring, particularly the development of new services and the availability of services in the regions. A crucial part of the strategy would be to require the provision of adequate information to ensure that monitoring and sound policy development can take place. See Appendix for the detail such a strategy might contain.
The strategy would have both a timeline and the detail of government agency responsibilities for achieving objectives. It should also either encompass or have firm links into an e-govt strategy. The Electronic Commerce Readiness Strategy would be made public. Obtaining buy-in from private sector players through an ecommerce summit as outlined in the Labour Online document will be a good mechanism for both raising awareness and building the confidence of the IT/ecommerce sectors. It will also assist in focusing the attention of the country as a whole. Such a summit could be supported by ITAG. Options for the Summit will be dealt with in a separate paper.
3. Departmental Commitment
The development of the Bright Future package was satisfactorily achieved through a high level of commitment by departments to work co-operatively in tandem with strong direction from ministers. However, the current state sector model is focused upon delivering services in discrete and efficient silos. Electronic commerce - like the knowledge economy - cuts across the silo structure. Achieving the necessary level of co-ordination at the officials' level will require two elements. First a sufficiently resourced co-ordinating body to manage the process, report to Ministers etc., and secondly much greater cross agency commitment which will largely be achieved by clear ministerial direction.
4. The Ministry of Commerce
Electronic commerce is commerce. The "e" will be redundant in five years time. The Ministry, as the interface between the Government and the Commercial sector, has led much of the public sector development and thinking on what the knowledge economy and ecommerce will mean to New Zealand.
The core policy and regulatory responsibilities for information technology, consumer protection, business legislation, and infrastructure regulation lies with the Ministry. The widening scope of ecommerce is now expanding beyond the core commercial sector. To ensure uniform progress across additional sectors will mean an even greater requirement for leadership and co-ordination from the Ministry.
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