The Impact of ICT on Public and Private Sectors in Lithuania

The role of information and communication technologies (ICT) has been growing in the economic and social life recently. Information and communication technologies are one of the basic priorities of research and development (R&D) in the information society. In recent years, analyses on the impact of ICT on business and economic environment have been widely addressed by policy makers, technology developers, and science and business societies more and more often. Studies of the socioeconomic impact of ICT cover a wide spectrum of questions. The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) defines five important thematic trends in ICT research: macroeconomic and social conditions for ICT-based innovations; ICT, organizational changes and transformation of work processes; the social dimension of ICT; political instruments related to ICT development. In the case of ICT-related research, different visions by information society of what ICT is and what role it should play in directing research. Although variety of positions exists, ICT socio-economic impact remains one of the most often discussed issues. The spectrum of problems defined by IPTS shows that the impact of ICT is important both at macroeconomic and microeconomic levels as well as on social and political processes affecting all economic subjects’ activities. Consumers and producers form private sector and government – public. ICT development has conditioned the fact that ICT is used by all economic entities in their activity. ICT creates opportunities for an economic entity and transforms its methods and techniques of activity simultaneously. Evaluating the impact of ICT on business, it is necessary to indicate that the implementation of ICTenabled solutions is related to both internal and external factors. The implementation of ICT does not only mean acquiring certain software; it also affects different processes of the enterprise. The enterprise has to be able to change, because the implementation of ICT requires primarily transformations inside the enterprise. Changes conditioned by ICT are closely related to the impact of ICT on consumers. One of the main impacts of ICT is the capacity “to move people to the centre”. In this context the European Union declares a possibility “to move every citizen, home and school to the digital century; create literate Europe in digital systems supported by business culture ready to finance and develop new ideas; ensure that the process is socially comprehensive, creating consumer reliance and enforcing social cohesion”. This includes efforts like the development of e-learning, e-government, e-health, etc. Usually e-Government is defined as the usage of ICT to provide public services (therefore, it is closely related to an administrative management unit); however, ICTenabled solutions are also applied at various administration levels – international, national, regional or local. The application at the local level is related to the concept of eCity. The concept of e-City is based not only on the provision of information, but also on the possibility to include citizens into the life of a city more actively and mutually usefully. E.g. digital technologies (remote network systems, internet and mobile technologies) are used to facilitate the process of decision-making for public institutions, improve public policy in local communities and transform relations with citizens, business and other public institutions.