For introducing the work of this chapter, this section provides an overview concerned with the development of e-services. This is followed by reviewing important previous literature associated with key e-services issues. The section then identifies the work objectives in preparation for its description.
Emergence of E-Services
It was around a century between introducing of the communication technology in the mid-19th century and initiating the computer technology in the mid-20th century. In the meantime, it should be emphasized that both technologies belong to the same origin that is the electrical and electronic technology, and this facilitated their easy integration in manipulating information (Al-Sulaiym, Al-Muammar, & Bakry, 1997). Since 1970, both technologies provided us together with computer networks, and they moved toward becoming widely known as the “Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”. By 1990, the Internet, the network of networks; and the cellular mobile systems appeared; followed by the world-wide-web, and the e-services, which started around the mid-1990s (Bakry & Bakry, 2001). It was apparent that interconnecting the world was on accelerated move toward increasing dependence on “e-services” in various fields both in government and in business (Bakry, 2004). Figure 1 illustrates this historical development.
Figure 1. Historical development toward new era of world connectivity
At the turn of the century, from the 20th to the 21st century, e-services, which were on limited use, attracted the attention of the international community. The “World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)” recommended wide-spreading use of ICT in activities associated with the various fields of life (WSIS, 2003); and the “United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)” recommended the use of ICT in government services (UNDESA: United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs, 2001). This attention came because of the benefits of ICT in “storing, processing, and transferring information” in a “faster, cheaper, better, different, and more secure” manner leading to more efficient and more knowledgeable society (Bakry, 2004).
E-services, in both: e-government and e-business, enjoy ICT benefits in their various transactions. They provide advantages to the organizations delivering the services and to the users of the services (Bakry, Bakry, & Muhaya, 2016). These advantages lead to more efficient, more knowledgeable, more transparent, and more interactive society, contributing to its sustainable development (Bin-Abbas & Bakry, 2012).