Crowdsourcing and Cloud Computing: Outsourcing and Backsourcing Alternatives for e-Government Services

Many public agencies in Malaysia have automated their services in line with the government’s push for e-society as well as to provoke e-participation among the rakyat (citizens). Furthermore, in tandem with future e-government service offerings, public agencies will have inadequate budget, lesser-skilled staff, and limited-capability computer hardware and software to cater to the advanced demands of the e-savvy people. While acknowledging these shortcomings, federal agencies are better equipped to adapt to the situation unlike their peers from the state and local government agencies. With budget being the main impediment, crowdsourcing and cloud computing should be considered as the alternatives to enhance e-government services. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to provide descriptive insights into these alternatives through literature reviews and the outcome of a pilot study among public agencies in the city of Shah Alam, Selangor. Implications from the findings will provide discerning information for the relevant public agencies to consider crowdsourcing and cloud computing in improving their e-government services and not to rely on outsourcing and backsourcing of vendors and suppliers. Through this method, government data will be kept safe and confidential at all times.