Implementing e-Governance across the entire country through all government organizations cannot happen simultaneously. As mentioned above, e-Governance is an integral part of reforms in governance and each organization needs to embed e-Governance systems within the organization in a seamless way. However, different organizations may not be at the same level of e-preparedness. A phased approach to e-Governance is necessary to maximize outcomes and ensure citizens experience early advantages from it. These steps are mentioned below: 

• E-preparedness: A certain level of preparedness is essential for any e-Governance project, in the form of the existence of basic infrastructure and human resource capabilities of the organizations. A clear assessment of actual e-preparedness of an organization should be first carried out while conceptualizing any project. Efforts should be made to enhance the e-preparedness to the desired levels. 
• Identification of e-Governance projects by each organization/entity: Each organization would have to identify areas/activities falling under its functional domain which could benefit from e-Governance. This identification has to be based on the needs of the citizens. 
• Prioritization: Once the e-Governance projects to be undertaken by an organization have been identified, they would require to be prioritized. This should be based on simplicity of the project, ease in implementation and benefits to the citizens. However, capacity building for the more complex projects should remain in focus. Simple projects serve to bring out the potential benefits of e-Governance. These create a demand for more such initiatives. However, the more complex initiatives have the potential of bringing the larger benefits of good governance to citizens. 
• Business process re-engineering: Whether it be for providing information and services to the citizens or for streamlining the internal functioning of government organisations, each e-Governance initiative would have to be accompanied by a step-by-step analysis of the governmental processes involved and tested on the anvil of simplicity and desirability. This would lead to redesign of processes using technology. The process would result in, if required, changes in forms, processes, structures and laws and regulations. The exercise should centre around the needs of the citizens. business process re-engineering in government organizations is a complex task because, as opposed to private organizations, governmental processes and structures are designed or regulated by various statutes, rules, regulations, instructions etc. changing them would require a complete understanding of the functioning of individual government organizations and laws and regulations associated with them on the one hand and technological applications and the needs of the citizens on the other. Thus, this exercise would form the backbone of e-Governance initiatives. 
• Developing technological solutions: Every e-Governance initiative would require its own technological solution. However, there would be commonalities across Union, State and local government levels. Further, there would be a need for sharing of information and establishing connectivity across organizations at different levels. This would require standardization of basic requirements, adoption of interoperable platforms and creation of data storage and retrieval systems. In the end, the technological solution would have to be modified according to the specific needs of the organization with the help of field experts. However, care has to be taken to ensure that the country does not follow the beaten path in adopting technological solutions. Due to rapid strides in the development of Information and communications Technology, there is a strong case for ‘leap-frogging’ in the selection of technology and applications to achieve better results. The technological solution should be able to provide a simple interface to the citizens, be cost-effective, promote efficiency, be sustainable and reliable and lend itself to scalability. 
• Implementation of e-Governance projects: Only when the above-mentioned steps have been undertaken should e-Governance projects be implemented. This may be in the form of a pilot project initially, testing the technological solution and the procedural and functional inputs. However, the business process re-engineering should be such that once the e-Governance project has been successfully tested on a pilot basis, the scaled up system should be able to make e-Governance irreversible, i.e. it should not relapse into the pre-e-Governance mode. In the past, there have been numerous instances of successful projects not being scaled up and also of lessons not being learnt from failed projects. Thus, each pilot project should invariably be evaluated and the lessons learnt including why it did not lead to scaling up. Failed projects should be redesigned to remove shortcomings. This would ensure that organizations do not become a graveyard of pilot projects. 

Disciplined Approach to e-Governance

e-Governance mandates a disciplined and methodical operational approach within organizations. Most technologies pre-suppose a set of rational behaviour on the part of users. This element needs to be emphasized during the capacity building as well as in the life cycle of the project. 

Monitoring and Evaluation in e-Governance Projects

Careful oversight of e-Governance projects is essential during both the pilot stages and the actual execution of the scaled-up project. This helps in early detection of problems and hence facilitates prompt corrective action. However, apart from periodic monitoring of e-Governance initiatives in the post-implementation stage, there would also be a need for evaluation of the impact of such initiatives through independent agencies against parameters which would determine whether the objectives have been achieved or not. 

Building Secure and Fail-Safe Systems for e-Governance

Given the scale of potential e-Governance applications in the country and the prospective mammoth flow of data involved, the technological architecture on which such applications are mounted would need to be made not only secure but also fail-safe. Systems must incorporate mechanisms to revert to ‘safe mode’ during crises. Further, depositories and ‘mirrors’ would need to be created with sound disaster recovery modules with adequate security features to prevent loss of data and collapse of the system. Unless security features are properly implemented, electronic transactions are more prone to fraud and abuse than traditional paper-based transactions. As governments transition to providing a full suite of online services capable of handling sensitive transactions, it is crucial to ensure the security of these transactions and protect citizens’ privacy. Over and above, these systems would also need to be insulated from the possibility of cyber-attacks, hacking etc. 

Sustaining e-Governance

Ultimately, e-Governance initiatives must be sustainable. Once it has been determined that a specific initiative provides a superior method for delivering services or information to the populace or conducting government business, it should not be allowed to decline due to convenience. Reforms are always harder to implement and sustain, but once they take root, they deliver the best results. Sustainability could be addressed in many ways – some initiatives may require designing in a way that they are financially sustainable. Others may be driven by administrative objectives or simplicity of use. Saving time and money may be the driving force in case of some projects. All these are objectives, which on their own merit, justify the continuance of any particular initiative. If projects have been able to achieve any of these objectives, their sustainability should not be allowed to be jeopardized on some other grounds.

Promoting Horizontal Applicability in e-Governance

A coordinating mechanism is needed to prevent cases of re-inventing the wheel. Different States across India face similar types of challenges. Past experience has shown that a number of States have undertaken e-Governance projects to address similar concerns. To achieve greater cost efficiency and success in e-Governance, successful strategies should be replicated across States and organizations, thereby reducing expensive repetitions and, in many instances, failures. 

Ensuring Accessibility through Local Language Interfaces in e-Governance

Considering India’s multilingual society, e-Governance initiatives should offer citizen interfaces in the relevant local languages. Thus, displays and keys should be based on localized interfaces and multi-media instructions should be commonly used to make the interface accessible in rural areas, where low literacy rates can be an obstacle. 

E-Governance as an Ongoing Process of Transformation

e-Governance signifies a fundamental change in governance reform practices, requiring an ongoing process with numerous adjustments. It is aptly stated that e-Governance is a journey rather than a final goal.