Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and a Smart City in Malaysia

This paper is intended to examine how culture, society and capacity play an important role in strengthening the involvement of ICTs by the local authority in managing their local areas. A smart city has been selected as a case study due to its significance of ICT used in the daily life of the community. An in depth interview was conducted to understand how these factors became critical success factors (CSFs) towards the implementation of good services to the local community. This study finds that the ICT only has become a culture for the administrator but not the resident community. This is in relation with the second factor, society, in which a majority of the community in the area is government servants where their work process is not heavily exposed to ICT but still depending heavily on manual and the paper-process. In terms of capacity, there are lack of skills, experience and knowledge by the employees of the local authority that will prevent the ability of the local authority to provide excellent infrastructure and restrict an innovative and creative process in the future. We also find that other than culture, society and capacity, a strong support from the central government is also critical for the ICT implementation in local areas.