An early look at how UK government could adapt to increasing use of mobile, particularly SMS messages, and support e.g. reminders for doctor's appointments
1. 1
2005 … 59
Million wireless ‘net users
in Europe
New fad?
Opportunity?
Or Risk?
Do it?
Or Wait?
m-Government
More than 70% of
UK population
have mobile phones
1 billion text
a month in UK
Hutchison 3G launch
delayed until March 03
WiFi hottest
technology of 2002
Text up from 20 billion
To 27 billion p.a. in Europe
2. 2
Possible Mobile Usage?(Alan Mather estimates only … no research involved at all)
Mobile Users
3G Users
Text users
MMS Users
WiFi Users
WAP Users
Today200220012000 2004 2005 2006
Key Points
•80% mobile usage, but 70% are pay as you go
•SMS/Text used by at least 50% of phone users
•Wifi is the next “big” mobile technology
•3G/Wifi roaming could be big corporate-use growth story
3. 3
And in amongst that …
Every year
1,000,000 people lose their phones
400,000 drop them in a glass of wine/beer
200,000 flush them down the toilet
Of course …
These will be the first m-government customers
And you have to run a service that keeps track of
who has which phone, what services they want and
where they live?
4. 4
Today
Text is the biggest opportunity … and the simplest
Nothing new here, well proven in the private sector
Doesn’t need big investment … many “aggregators” already
exist
But there are some limiting factors
Our existing e-government track record
Our ability to integrate technologies
If the mainframe is the limiting factor … should we give up now?
And 65% of corporates have no mobile commerce
strategy (says Computer Weekly/Paybox)
So are we early in the cycle?
5. 5
What’s happening today?
(we’re not too early)
Public Sector
Pilots at local authority level,
e.g. Lancashire bus services
Pilots in Criminal Justice, e.g.
Xhibit System
Pilots in hospitals, e.g. Nofolk
e-Voting pilots in local elections
Food Standards Agency alerts
Congestion charge payments in
London
Content updates notified by
text on some websites
Private Sector
Hottest thing for
MTV, Big Brother, Capital
Radio etc
Vodafone m-pay (pilot)
Lastminute.com … travel
offers
AA Traffic reports
Weather reports
Opera web browser for 7650
Photo messaging (nearly)
Japan … mobile dating!
And ringtones, of course
6. 6
Text
What does a text message cost to send?
10p?
5p?
How about £625 per megabyte!
And that’s if you use every single one of the 140 spaces available
At that price, you’d better make sure it’s important!
One hundred and forty
letters. If you’re used to
writing leaflets or
guidelines, that is really
not much space. No
wonder kids 2day use
shortcuts 2 gt the pnt ax.
7. 7
Cost Justification
Figuring out an ROI for e-government is often
hard … But:
Missed hospital appointments
£280?
Putting a letter in an envelope
£3?
Confirming a booking
£20?
And this is just your end of the costs
8. 8
Major Issues To Consider
(Before you take the leap)
?
Our e-government track record is not great
In the take-up stakes we rank behind only Hungary and
Poland
We have 1,800 (and growing) websites … people already
can’t find what we have to offer
People have to opt-in to mobile, it’s an intrusive service
Why would people want e-government on a “small
screen”, when they don’t want it on a “big screen”
9. 9
Because … you offer
Services that:
Have high value to the customer. They are personal.
Are time critical. They need to know now.
Or time saving. If I tell you right now, life is easier.
Are simple. An easy message to get across.
That are minimally interactive. No dialogue wanted.
And that can be accessed …
Via the Internet
From the call centre (for follow-ups, confirmations)
Or direct from their mobile phone
10. 10
Minor Issues – for you
140 characters
Since when was government
ever brief?
Spam
Only valuable messages to be
sent … (really?)
Delivery is not perfect
91.6% deliver on time … Some
texts never make it
It could get a bit too
interactive
People may reply … what do
you do then?
Do you have check points
in your processes
Or is this a manual overhead?
Text costs money
You pay 5p in bulk … that can
add up
Phone numbers change
How do you stay up to date?
Government is not joined
up
What does a trusted
Government phone number
look like?
And how many do we need?
Phones get stolen
What’s the worst that could
happen?
11. 11
So What Does OeE Do?
Delivers guidelines on multi-channel delivery
Channel policy already available … we need to do an
implementation guide
Solves the “trusted government number” problem
One number for government? Or one prefix?
Promotes your efforts …
and encourages others to do the same
Provides an infrastructure
Government Gateway web service in pilot
12. 12
Tomorrow?
Health
Urgent calls for blood
types
Doctors giving interim
updates on tests
Confirming your booking,
reminder ahead of time
Local
Report an abandoned car
… location based
Job application matches,
auto-appointment setting
(after all, it’s no different
from online dating)
Education
Notification of exam
results
Benefits
Application received …
benefit in the bank
Other
More voting, polling and
instant feedback services
Phone becomes
authentication token
13. 13
Next Steps
Do a pilot …
Bear the issues in mind though … Please, please,
don’t give us another 1,800 website problem
This will quickly tell you
Which checkpoints you need to build into your
workflows
But m-government, by itself, does little
It’s part of an integrated, cross-channel, cross-
department, customer-focused strategy.
Don’t just do it because you can, do it because it
complements what you are already doing