E-services (electronic services) are services which make use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The three main components of e-services are:
- service provider;
- service receiver; and
- the channels of service delivery (i.e., technology).
For example, with respect to public e-service, public agencies are the service provider and citizens as well as businesses are the service receiver. For public e-service the internet is the main channel of e-service delivery while other classic channels (e.g. telephone, call center, public kiosk, mobile phone, television) are also considered.[1]
Since its inception in the late 1980s in Europe[citation needed] and formal introduction in 1993 by the US Government,[2] the term ‘E-Government’ has now become one of the recognized research domains especially in the context of public policy and now has been rapidly gaining strategic importance in public sector modernization.[3] E-service is one of the branches of this domain and its attention has also been creeping up among the practitioners and researchers.[4]
E-service (or eservice) is a highly generic term, usually referring to
- "The provision of services via the Internet (the prefix 'e' standing for ‘electronic’, as it does in many other usages), thus e-Service may also include e-Commerce, although it may also include non-commercial services (online), which is usually provided by the government." (Irma Buntantan & G. David Garson, 2004: 169-170; Muhammad Rais & Nazariah, 2003: 59, 70-71).
- "E-Service constitutes the online services available on the Internet, whereby a valid transaction of buying and selling (procurement) is possible, as opposed to the traditional websites, whereby only descriptive information are available, and no online transaction is made possible." (Jeong, 2007).[5]