Security Holding Back Gov 2.0 Survey Finds

Concerns over data security are inhibiting government agencies from embracing web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and social networking, a survey by telecoms, IT services and software company Ovum has discovered.

The study, which involved 150 local and national government agencies across Europe and North America being surveyed, found that security is the most significant barrier to web 2.0.

When asked about the main obstacles to implementation of web 2.0 technologies, 44 percent of respondents cited security concerns. In Europe the figure was above 50 percent, suggesting that security was an even greater concern than in North America. Jessica Hawkins, an associate analyst at Ovum, said that as agencies seek to improve collaborative outcomes across departments, governments are beginning to explore the capabilities of web 2.0.

Still a hot public sector IT topic

“While 16 percent of the agencies surveyed have already adopted web 2.0, a further 42 percent have plans to implement it in future,” she said. “However, data security continues to be a major barrier for some and indeed is by far the biggest obstacle. Fear around the security of data is a real issue and the risk can never be entirely eliminated. This may go some way to explaining why 41 percent of agencies have no plans to adopt web 2.0 in the foreseeable future.”

Other obstacles cited by those surveyed included a lack of training resources (8 percent), restrictive regulations and a lack of ‘buy-in’ from senior decision makers (5 percent each). Blogs, social networking and RSS feeds are the most popular web 2.0 tools across the survey area. Some differences between Europe and North America exist, with European agencies seeing far greater take-up of wikis and blogs, whereas their North American counterparts are making more use of social networking.

Hawkins said local government agencies are using social networking and blogging more often, while there is greater take-up of wikis among agencies at the national level. Citizens and recipients of services are the most frequently cited target at all levels, the survey found. Despite current reservations, Hawkins said Ovum expects to see increasing web 2.0 activity at larger government agencies over the next 12 months as security fears are gradually overcome and fresh attempts are made to connect with citizens.

Government funding for more web-based development in the UK recently suffered a blow when funding for the planned Web Science Institute was axed, as the economic deficit bites. While IT pundits have predicted plans for the government’s ‘G-Cloud’ could be given a boost by the swingeing spending cuts announced earlier this week as part of the coalition government’s emergency budget.

Additional reporting by Miya Knights