E-Government
Development in KSA: A Case Study
1.
Introduction
The purpose of the government is to provide services to its
citizens via different channels. E-government represents a fundamental change
in the whole of public sector, values, culture, structure and the ways of
business being conducted by utilizing the potential of ICT (Information &
Communication Technology) as a tool in government agencies (Alshehri, Drew, &
Alfarraj, 2012). ICT is considered as one of the most important characteristics
of our age and every new development in ICT changes our lives to some extent. The
evolution of ICT has dramatically changed the way of interaction of the citizens
with their governments, which creates an important development in their
expectations (Alshehri, & Drew, 2010). With the use of ICT, governments are
transformed to e-governments to deliver the public services for the citizens
and businesses with the use of internet other communication technologies.
E-government is just like building a web site. E-Government is the
infrastructure built by the governments in order to transform to e-Government
at three levels: government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B),
and government-to-citizen (G2C) so that they complete their missions (Rabee &
Reffat, 2003).
Evaluating e-government has become an important or even essential
element in the development and introduction of e-government. Evaluation is vital to discovering the current
state of e-government development; European Commission explicitly stressed the importance
of the monitoring and benchmarking the e-government development (Information
Polity, 2004).
1.1
Significance and Objective of Case Study
The purpose of this case study is to highlight the development taking
place in e-government in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) as per the United
Nations e-government survey 2014.
The objective of this is case study is to highlight the general
challenges faced in implementing e-government; the implementation of
e-government in KSA; the development of e-government in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia; measuring the e-government development with three (3) dimensions of
EGDI of UNPACS and to highlight the benefits gained from the development of
e-government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1.2
E-Government Definition
E-government does all the government activities which occurs with
the use of electronic communications among all the levels of government,
businesses and citizens in order to deliver products and services like placing
and receiving orders, completing financial transactions and providing and
obtaining information (Al-Nuaim, 2011).
E-government is relatively easy to define from a single whole
perspective, many studies have defined e-government in different ways.
E-government creates the opportunity for citizens, businesses and agencies to
interact with the government with use of ICT. E-government is just like building
a web site. E-Government is categorized into three (3) levels in the way they
offer services via different channels to enhance access and efficiently deliver
government information and services to accomplish their missions:
government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and
government-to-citizen (G2C).
2.
E-Government Development in General
We face new challenges and opportunities in the dynamic world we
are living. The base changes very faster which is beyond our imaginations.
There will be lot of pressure on people and governments to work harder and
smarter, more over in a faster and efficient way in order to meet the ever
increasing demand and needs. The author states that however, in developing
countries the governments already taken the initiative of benefiting from the
electronic communication in its national development efforts (Alsheha, 2007). E-government
is more about government than about “e”. For example it is stated by the author
that in e-government, 80% is “government” and 20% is “e” (Benkert, 2007). The
e-government is a technology, as all technologies, it has advantages and disadvantages
(Alsheha, 2007).
2.1
E-government Development Challenges in General
Many case studies which have been conducted from different
countries, states that there are many challenges and which needs to be
addressed in implementing a successful e-government. Further the author also
states that based on the local context of any country there will be distinct factors
which commands in adopting the e-government which will depend on it (Nkwe,
2012).
Based on the scope of e-government initiatives the governments and
local authorities face challenges in development of new methods of management.
Further they also mention that the overall success is mainly based on
e-government planner’s ability in identifying challenges and responding to the
emergencies by integrating response mechanisms in the e-government solutions
they provide (Qwaider, Al Shafi, 2013).
The following are the challenges & Issues identified (Nkwe,
2012 & Innovative EC Systems).
·
IT
Infrastructural weakness (Information technology provides some powerful
supporting tools for e-government, which may empower in development of
e-government to provide additional and/or new services to the citizens.)
·
Lack
of knowledge about the e-government program (especially older citizens will
minimal knowledge about e-government usability, who do not have skills in
computer usage or computer access).
·
Lack
of security and privacy of information (The Central Intelligence Agency came
under public criticism when it was discovered that its Web site used persistent
“cookies” to track Web visits, in violation of federal privacy policy).
·
Lack
of qualified personnel and training courses (Although e-government has a
potential to substantially change the current way the public sector operates
and functions, new qualification requirements arise for users, managers, and
decision makers in public administration. As a result, effective training
programs should be worked out to meet this potentially large demand from the
public sector).
·
Culture
differences
·
Leaders
and management support
·
Lack
of policy and regulation for e-usage
·
Lack
of strategic plans (E-government and accountability. Will e-government lead to
a more transparent, interactive, open, and, hence accountable, government? If
not, what should we do to make it happen as e-government strategies are
developed?)
·
The
relationship between e-government and e-governance; specifically, how one issue
influences another in e-government development and implementation.
3.
E-Government Challenges in KSA
·
Old
CEO’s didn’t want changes as they fear that they would lose their authority and
powers.
·
Lack
of strategic planning (The projects of e-government are huge, expensive and
long term projects, hence it requires a clear strategy and vision. Each and
every governmental agency or organization should develop its own strategic plan
and that should be aligned with the national ICT plan and its vision).
·
Lack
of knowledge (Due to low computer literacy rate and dedication in resources
many people will not give high priority to e-government as they will lack in
knowledge).
·
IT
managers do not have the authority to change strategy of an organization, (IT
managers should be present when the organization strategic plans and form and
discussed and also they should have the authority to make any changes which
would result in the better organization’s growth).
·
No
alignment between businesses and IT (Businesses and Information Technology
should be alignment to leverage the potential of IT so that the businesses can
be transformed).
·
Employment
is not as per the qualifications and expertise. Employment is done based on
references (Family members, Relatives and Friends). In order to run the
e-government program efficiently and effectively, qualified teams should be
present to perform the tasks and give the optimal results.
4.
E-Government implementation in KSA
The e-government in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is implemented by
adopting the framework of Chan, Lau & Pan. This framework was tested and
proposed using the survey data of 128 Singaporean business organization
(Calvin, Yimeng & Shan 2008). This framework consists of the following four
(4) components:
ü ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Infrastructure
ü Information Content
ü E-government Info-structure and
ü E-government Promotion (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014)
4.1
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Infrastructure
ICT infrastructure in one of the major component in e-government
implementation, and e-government cannot deliver better services without the
good ICT infrastructure. Hence the Saudi government invested a lot in ICT
infrastructure. In the year 2005 MCIT, Ministry of Finance and CITC established
an e-government program called “YESSER”. The first program of YESSER program is
establishing network communications for all e-government transactions by
interconnecting all the government agencies with the centralized e-government
Data Center. This established network communication was named as GSN
(Government Secured Network) and it was established as per the international
technical and security standards and it was used as host for the e-government’s
program “YESSER” and the e-government’s National Portal. E-government Data
Center will be cost saving, effective and provides the unifying link to
interconnect all the government agencies with one another for providing
efficient, effective and scalable data transmission. Further YESSER
e-government program implemented one (1) more important element called GSB
(Government Service Bus). It is a centralized and integrated platform and it is
designed in such a way that the shared government data within the different
government agencies can be exchanged so that the e-services can be delivered in
a secure, faster and accurate manner (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014).
In the year 2006 national plan for ICT in the KSA was produced by MCIT which is
known as “the national communications and information technology plan”. The
vision of this plan is “transforming into an information society and digital
economy which will increase the productivity by providing communication and IT
services across all the sectors of the society all over the Kingdom and
establish full fledge information industry which will be a major source of
income”. To accomplish the vision of the plan seven (7) general goals were
formulated and further to achieve the goals they specified twenty six (26)
objectives, sixty two (62) implementation policies and ninety eight (98)
projects (Alghamdi, Drew & Alkhalaf, 2012).
4.2
Information Content
E-government in KSA is implemented by adopting UN’s five (5) stage
model viz. Emerging, Enhanced, Interactive, Transactional and Seamless (Saleh,
Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014).
However, UN has conducted a survey during 2014 to evaluate the
national level e-government development based on three indexes viz. OSI, TII
and HCI (United Nations, 2014). The OSI has been measured based on adopting the
UN Four-Stage model as against its original Five Stage Model, which followed
during the period 2003-2008.
4.2.1
Emerging: This is stage I, where the e-government’s online presence should be
established. An official website of the country should be present consisting
information about the e-government services and the links to all the ministries
and departments like education, health and etc. (Osama & Rayed, 2012).
4.2.2
Enhanced: This is stage
II, where the increase in government websites the information also become more
dynamic. Hence information provided by the government to the citizens on public
and government policies and other information like reports and regulations
should be accessible continuously from the archives and it should be regularly
updated (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014 & Osama, Steve & Rayed,
2012).
4.2.3
Interactive:
This is stage III, where the government websites should be like portals so the
users and the service providers can interact with each other and the portal
should provide the downloadable forms, send mails to the officials, post
comments and simple two-way communication to enhance ease of access and
convenience of the services requesters (Osama, Steve & Rayed, 2012 &
Jayashree & Marthandan, 2010).
4.2.4
Transactional: This
is stage IV, where the users should be provisioned to complete and secure
transactions through the online services such applying and renewing VISA’s,
obtaining and renewing passports, registering and updating for birth and death
records via single government website and this services should be offered 24/7
(Jayashree & Marthandan, 2010).
4.2.5
Seamless: This is stage
V, where all the e-services provided by the government are fully integrated
across the administrative boundaries and they can be accessed from single and a
universal website which should act as a one-stop portal where users can immediately
and conveniently access all kinds of available services in easy modern ways (Saleh,
Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014 & Jayashree & Marthandan, 2010).
4.3
E-government Info-structure
The most important and necessary task in implementing e-government
is to establish GII (Government Information Infrastructure). It will align the
governments existing communication infrastructure by implementing GDN
(Government-wide Data Network) (UNPAN). Government information content and ICT
infrastructure are the combinations of e-government info-structure. They are
combined in order to enhance the service delivery and get the maximum benefits
from the government operations. The KSA’s national portal (www.saudi.gov.sa) represents as the e-government info-structure which provides the
online services more effectively and efficiently to the citizens, residents,
visitors, business and the government agencies at anytime and anywhere with the
use of modern ICT (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014).
4.4
E-government Promotion
Promoting e-government means is nothing but promoting or marketing any
product to create an awareness. Just by implementing and developing a good
e-government does not create an awareness to the citizens, residents and
businesses of the country. Therefore, to create an awareness a good strategy and
promotional activities should be established for e-government promotion so that
the citizens, residents, businesses and other government agencies can gain the
knowledge about the e-services offered by the government of KSA. Hence for
e-government promotion in KSA the YESSER e-government program has a dedicated
department known as “Media and Public Relations” which is responsible for marketing
the e-services, promotions and public relations by increasing the awareness
about the KSA’s e-government programs and the e-services provided. There is
also one more department known as “Media Affair” which is following up with
YESSER e-government program for publishing press news in print and electronic
media, communicating with advertisement agencies and preparing informative
articles to promote e-government. The Media Affair department is also
responsible for managing the events of YESSER e-government program, like if any
new e-service is launched they make promotional activities in some form of
media release and they also invite the senior government officials in ceremony
of inaugurating the new e-services and etc. (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad,
2014).
5.
E-Government Development in KSA
Saudi Arabia also started giving due importance towards
e-government as even other countries do. KSA’s importance in e-government is
for the significant beneficial of national economy. The implementation of
e-government program started in the year 1998 by the government of Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia. From the time of implementation the government of KSA has
significant transformed the e-government program (Saeed, Hani & Mohd,
2014). Later in the year 2004 task was assigned to MCIT (Ministry of
Communication and IT) for developing a plan to deliver government services
electronically. MCIT initiated this process by establishing an e-government
program known as “YESSER” along with CITC (Communication and IT Commission) and
Ministry of Finance with the aims and objectives which are as follows:
Ø Provide better and convenient services for people and business.
Ø Provide information in a fast and accurate manner.
Ø Improve the public sector’s productivity and efficiency.
Ø Increase return on investment (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad,
2014).
There are many governments who are still in the early stages of
implementation and adoption of e-government services. KSA (Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia), is one of the biggest countries in the Middle East, is in the process
of undergoing transforming government services through e-government development
(Alshehri, Drew & Alfarraj, 2012).
6.
Measuring E-government Development
The e-government development in KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is
measured by UNPACS (United Nations Public Administration Country Studies) and
it ranked accordingly. The EGDI (E-government Development Index) is presented based
on the comprehensive survey of online presence of all 193 United Nations member
states, by assessing the country’s national websites and how the policies and
strategies of e-government are applied in general and particular sectors for
delivering the essential services. The assessment also includes the website
developments patterns in a country, the EGDI also considers the access
characteristics, such as infrastructure and educational levels which reflects
how a country is using information technologies to promote access and considers
its citizens. The EGDI is a composite measure of 3 important dimensions of
e-government namely: provision of online services, telecommunication
connectivity and human capacity. As stated by UNPACS EGDI is not only designed
to capture e-government development in an absolute sense; rather, it aims to
give a performance rating of national governments relative to one another. The
survey results are tabulated and combined with a set of indicators embodying
the country’s capabilities in order to participate in the information society,
without which the e-government development efforts are of limited immediate use
(United Nations, 2014).
Mathematically, the EGDI is a weighted average of three normalized
scores on three most important dimensions of e-government, namely:
1.
Scope
and quality of online services (Online Service Index, OSI),
2.
Development
status of telecommunication infrastructure (Telecommunication Infrastructure
Index, TII), and
3.
Inherent
human capital (Human Capital Index, HCI).
Figure 1:
Dimensions of EGDI measurement (EGDI = 1/3 (OSI normalized + TII normalized +
HCI normalized)
Before the normalization of three component indicators, the Z-score
standardization procedure is implemented for each component indicator to ensure
that the overall EGDI is equally decided by the three component indexes, i.e.
each component index presents comparable variance subsequent to the z-score
standardization. In the absence of the Z-score standardization treatment, the
EGDI would mainly depend on the component index with the greatest dispersion (United
Nations, 2014).
After the z-score standardization, the arithmetic average sum
becomes a good statistical indicator, where “equal weights” truly means “equal
importance” (United Nations, 2014)
For standard z-score calculation of each component indicator:
xnew = (x – µ)/σ
Where:
v x is a raw score to be standardized;
v µ is the mean of the population;
v σ is the standard deviation of the population (United Nations, 2014).
The following graph shows the EGDI ranking of Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia starting from the year 2003 to 2014 presented by UNPACS survey.
Chart 1: EGDI
Dimensions Results of KSA e-government development from 2003 to 2014
Chart 2: EGDI
Ranking of KSA
The chart 1 shows the EGDI dimensions results of KSA in
e-government development from 2003 to 2014 and the chart 2 shows the e-government
development in KSA, where in the year 2003 KSA was ranked 105 and in 2004 the
ranking went up by -15 (90) in 2005 it went again by -10 (80) in 2008 there was
minimal rise in ranking with -2 (78) where as in 2010 there was highest rise in
ranking with -20 (58) in 2012 again the ranking went up by -17 (41) and the
latest in 2014 is with rise of -5 (2014). There is drastic change in ranking
compared 2003 and 2014, but now on there will be very minimal increase as and when
the ranking goes higher there will tough fight and competition.
7.
Benefits from E-government Development in KSA
From the chart 1 and chart 2 we can see a significant development from
2003 to 2014 in all the 3 dimensions and an overall development in e-government
in KSA. For example the citizens of KSA can obtain identification cards and
passports as well as the driving license and any certificates that might be
required by citizens through the MOI portal Absher E-Services of KSA (Ministry
of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa) in which EGDI dimensions and its relevant indicators are
considered to fulfill the requirements with ease of access, security and
privacy.
The KSA’s official nation portal (http://www.saudi.gov.sa) provides a wide range of e-services provided by the government in
an effective and efficient way. The KSA’s national portal provides around 2000
services which are organized and categorized in four (4) sections viz. citizens
and residents, businesses, and visitors. The home page of the portal is
provisioned with the links to various government agencies, ministries,
e-payment (Sadad Payment System), general information about YESSER e-government
program, Saudi stock exchange, news and much more (Saleh, Abdulrahman &
Shahzad, 2014).
The MOI Absher E-Services of KSA (Ministry of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa) offers many e-services from a single portal in addition to that
it has “E-dashboard” with the ability of verifying identity of the registered
citizens and residents and serves from a single portal so that all the online
services can be accessed. The government of KSA has initiated one more
important service known as OGD (Open Government Data) where the citizens can
access the documents and reports of
different ministries and agencies so that they can participate electronically
and submit their opinions (Saleh, Abdulrahman & Shahzad, 2014).
E-government implementation and adoption has resulted in number of
beneficial services to the citizens, residents, business and government
agencies such as e-commerce, e-business and e-Learning does to their respective
stakeholders. The use of ICT represents a fundamental paradigm shift in the way
the government is structured, the way it operates and the quality of the
services it provides (Saeed, Hani & Mohd, 2014).
8.
Position of E-Government Development in KSA as per Open Government
Maturity Model
When we compare the e-government development in KSA with the open
government maturity model of Gwanhoo & Young 2012, the e-government
development in KSA is level 3 (Open Collaboration) as the government of Saudi
Arabia’s focuses, capabilities/processes and Participation/collaboration are as follows
(Gwanhoo & Young, 2012).
8.1
Focusses:
ü Public feedback, conversation, voting and ideation
ü Interactive communications
ü Crowd-sourcing.
8.2
Capabilities/Processes:
ü Unstructured government data is widely shared online
ü User-created contents are posted and shared
ü Data governance structure and process are managed and optimized
ü Data privacy and security is enhanced
8.3
Participation/collaboration:
ü Pervasive use of social media for interactive, on-going
conversations, story-telling, and communications
ü Voting, polling, feedback, ideation
ü Timely and consistent response to feedback
ü Crowd-sourcing to tap into the ideas and expertise of the public
ü Focus on mainstream social media such as Facebook and Twitter
9.
Suggestions and Recommendations
As we can see in this study the way growth happening in KSA as most
the service are offered electronically. The MOI Absher E-Services of KSA is offering
the maximum services from a single portal but it is observed that there is no
mobile application. Hence I would suggest to have a mobile application
developed for MOI Absher E-Services, as the smartphones have acquired the
market and we can see most of the people carry the smartphones nowadays which
includes the people who don’t have laptops or desktop computers and even people
with low IT literacy are much familiar with the mobile applications.
10.
Conclusion
As suggested by developing a mobile application for MOI Absher E-Services,
it will even enhance the utilization of e-services and in turn it will increase
e-government development index as a result even the e-government development
ranking will go higher.
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