Suomi.fi – Towards government 3.0 with a national service platform

Abstract

The KaPa (Kansallinen Palveluarkkitehtuuri, in Finnish) program establishes the national e-government service platform in Finland. The platform, Suomi.fi, provides a one-stop portal for citizens and organizations to access both public and related private sector services. This research reports a case study of the platform by analyzing it in light of recent characteristics identified with the emerging concept of Government 3.0: openness and transparency, sharing, increased communication and collaboration, government re-organization through integration and interoperability, and use of new technologies. Our results contribute by concretizing the hitherto abstract and loosely defined concept of Government 3.0 by describing a timely and complex national e-government implementation in detail in light of such characteristics. Our study also suggests three emergent themes in relation to contemporary Government 3.0 characteristics: opening up technologies and solutions in addition to open data, cross-border integration and development, and the enhanced role of the private sector in both development activities and merging into the portfolios of one-stop services.