Big Data for Digital Government: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies

Big data is one of the emerging and critical issues facing government in the digital age. This study first delineates the defining features of big data (volume, velocity, and variety) and proposes a big data typology that is suitable for the public sector. This study then examines the opportunities of big data in generating business analytics to promote better utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) resources and improved personalization of e-government services. Moreover, it discusses the big data management challenges in building appropriate governance structure, integrating diverse data sources, managing digital privacy and security risks, and acquiring big data talent and tools. An effective big data management strategy to address these challenges should develop a stakeholder-focused and performance-oriented governance structure and build capacity for data management and business analytics as well as leverage and prioritize big data assets for performance. In addition, this study illustrates the opportunities, challenges, and strategy for big service data in government with the E-housekeeper program in Taiwan. This brief case study offers insight into the implementation of big data for improving government information and services. This article concludes with the main findings and topics of future research in big data for public administration.