The take-up importance of ICT enabled services in crisis time, an evaluation of e-banking, internet conferencing and e-public services

Abstract

The world is facing a global financial and economic crisis, the deepest and the widest spread since the Great Depression of 1930. Individuals, companies and governments alike are forced to take active measures to counteract the severe consequences of the crisis, if they want to emerge stronger from this difficult period. There are strong beliefs among policy makers around the world, European Union included, that the Information and Communication Technologies are a very important pillar in the recovery from the crisis. This paper aims at evaluating the e-banking services, internet enabled conferencing solutions and electronic public services as categories of ICT enabled services that represent powerful and practical solutions, especially in time of crisis, with significant advantages at individual, company and government level.