We live in a world of electronic business. We fill out applications online, make travel arrangements
online, and pay bills online. We store our schedules and addresses in electronic Personal Digital
Assistants, facilitate commerce and customer service with interactive voice response systems, and speed
our progress through tollbooths using smart tags. Even messages now appear in voicemail, email, and pagers
alike.
From shopping online to using their local ATM, consumers are getting higher levels of service and convenience from
the private sector and now citizens are demanding the same from the public sector as well. Citizens,
nonprofits, industry, and other business partners increasingly expect information and services to be available
quickly, easily, and around the clock. The President and Congress are also mandating that USDA build on its
current efforts to expand electronic Government.
To meet this need, we have to change the way USDA provides information and services to our
customers. It is a fundamental transformation of the way USDA does business and it involves
everyone!
eGovernment includes interactions and relationships between government and citizens, government
and public and private entities, and government and employees. It is the exchange of value, including
services, programs, and information, through an electronic medium. Making "USDA, electronically available any place, any time"
requires building upon and integrating our current eGovernment successes. To help with this
transformation, we have an interagency eGovernment Team working to assimilate our current activities
with emerging business practices.
