The development of an information systems strategic plan: an e-government perspective

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have been playing a major role in governments across the world to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services. However, ICT has been utilised only in a piecemeal fashion by different public sectors and, hence, many governments are keen to incorporate an integrated e-government strategy to achieve business and service excellence. This paper presents the development of an Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) for a large government organisation as a case study. We discuss the evolution of an e-government strategy and examine its influence in the development of an information systems strategy within a state sector organisation in New Zealand. The findings from the case study analysis are used to measure the degree of alignment between the objectives of the e-government strategy and the organisation's ISSP strategy. We identify the challenges that face the organisation and propose a ten-point framework for the improvement of the ISSP alignment with the e-government strategy. Finally, we conclude with a summary of the outcomes of this study and the future research directions.