Towards Inclusive E-Government

In this chapter, five case studies of the implementation of contact centers in Swedish municipalities are described and discussed with a focus on inclusive e-government. The research methods used are mainly qualitative interviews with different categories of municipal personnel and also with some citizens. The main conclusions are that the implementation of contact centers seems to contribute to increased accessibility of municipal services, even for those citizens who might have problems using Internet services. The study indicates that development towards increased equal treatment of citizens and a contribution to reducing problems is mainly related to the “digital divide.” Municipal services became more adapted to citizens’ needs by using citizen-centric methods and dialogue during the development process and in the daily work of the contact centers. The implementation of municipal contact centers can thus be seen as a step towards inclusive e-government, but there is still a need to go further in this direction.