While major opportunities arise from the use of the Internet and Internet tools, there are also opportunities for using the telephone and more traditional means for better service. Electronic access refers to the ability to find information electronically, while electronic commerce refers specifically to the ability to conduct business transactions via electronic means. One-stop shopping . Electronic access offers the potential to make City services more convenient and easy to use for the public, offering a unified, one-stop shopping interface, that could be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Electronic access can also make operations more efficient.
The City's 1996 Citizen's Survey found that 48 percent of those responding had access to the Internet and that number increased to 57 percent in the 1997 survey. Technology must be an enabler of access to City government, not an impediment . The criteria for easy access to City government services cannot be whether a family can afford a PC or not. Access must be provided for those who lack the means to own computers. The City must provide and support IT literacy programs to give citizens the tools they need to use technology to access City services and communicate with City government.