Many N.C. municipal officials are recognizing that increased efficiency through the use of IT is an important and politically feasible method of dealing with reduced federal funding. The increasing use of electronic commerce as a way to reduce the amount of municipal labor needed to provide citizens with common services is the most forceful example of these new efficiencies. At the same time, citizens benefit by having common governmental transactions become free of the time and space constraints. Liz Kniss Electronic commerce is a technology tool for local governments to use for more efficient delivery of service. For example, banks have used automatic teller machines to provide access to services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while eliminating the need to add additional staff.
Local government can use electronic commerce to expand access to services in a similar manner.
Chris Lee Electronic commerce is having an effect due to a measurable decrease in budgeted retail sales receipts. This would indicate that e-commerce is playing a factor in the decline of revenues. However, while technology provides the means to make geography less relevant, it does not mean that cities will become unimportant. To implement the county's new paradigm of taking the government to the people, we began installing industrial-strength security measures and infrastructure in 1995. The objective is to move towards a virtual government available to its citizens whenever and wherever the citizen desires.