The commitment by governments around the region to develop e-presence has also had a major impact on the regional Information Technology (IT) industry. "Through efforts to automate, integrate and streamline their services, regional governments have driven much of the demand for IT in the region," Bashar Kilani, manager of IBM's Middle East software group in Dubai, told OBG. For instance, in the UAE the government accounts for between 40% and 50% of the IT market.
The UAE's IT investment has made it not only a regional leader but a global leader in implementing electronic solutions to bypass inefficient governmental systems. According to the UN report, the UAE is among only a handful of countries that uses email and RSS to interact with its citizens. It is among the top five countries in terms of enabling transactions between the government and citizens. The UAE's ministry of labour website was highlighted as one of the few government sites anywhere with an electronic signature.
But other regional e-government sites also came out as very progressive in the UN report. For instance, Kuwait's ministry of social welfare was noted for offering online account creation, form submission and payment, while Jordan's ministry of education was noted for allowing online payments as well as encouraging citizen participation.
Although the Qatari government's new web portal Hukoomi, unveiled only in February, was not included in the UN's report, it now provides an impressive array of 275 services, 56 of which are specific e-services. For instance, citizens can access e-services ranging from electricity bill payments to applications for health cards, while new businesses can simply register online. These new e-services will help obviate the need for long frustrating visits to a multiple government offices by both citizens and businesses. This new site should easily attract more users than the 62,000 at the old government website. This 'one-stop shop' will incorporate more and more services and content in time, according to Yousef Al Naama an e-government programme manager with ictQATAR, Qatar's information and communications technology regulator. The potential benefits seem obvious.
However, while pundits have long professed the potential of e-government to deliver major efficiency gains, so far research results are uneven. Upfront costs can be massive and returns far from certain. If citizens dislike an e-service or do not have the e-capabilities of taking it up, little is gained.
In the UAE's case, however, there have been a number of profitable ventures. In 2006, Tejari which facilitates government and business procurement registered over $4bn of transactions. In 2007, Dubai's ePay platform for paying government bills online payments brought in over $66m.
Tejari now has several subsidiaries across the Gulf, even in some of the countries that have been slower to implement e-governance initiatives like Oman.
"It was slow at the start. It is very difficult to get people comfortable the technology and with outsourcing their procurement," Mohammed Al Harthy, managing director of Omania e-commerce Tejari's joint venture with the mobile firm Omantel in Oman, told OBG. "It is a very sensitive function. There are always vested interests - and it is difficult to overcome institutional inertia. But Tejari has lots of experience with this, having done it for seven years in the region." Omania's transactions grew fourfold in 2007.
While e-government has been put at the centre of many governments' plans for more cost-effective government, it often has other significance for citizens. It can mean better (although also potentially worse) quality and easier, 24-7 service. It can also increasingly mean participation and interactive dialogue.
In the region, the Dubai government's SMS service, mDubai, received over 7m messages in 2007. Responses provided information to queries on things like flights and traffic fines.
New types of services and systems like these are relatively easy to introduce in a place like Dubai, but other issues are coming to the fore, Kilani told OBG. "Since almost everything in Dubai is new - there aren't really any legacy systems. So introducing new systems hasn't been a problem. The major problem now is a serious skills shortage to drive forward these innovative programmes to the next level."
Fadi Salem, a research associate at the Dubai School of Government, has pointed out that that capacity deficits, the digital divide and the take up of services are three of the biggest challenges facing e-government around the Arab world.
But there is hope. "Demographically this is a very young society," said Kilani. "This younger society perhaps adapts to and adopts technology easier than older societies like those in the Europe." So as tech-savvy youngsters in the Middle East enter the market they will create IT-enlightened demand for better e-government services.
As countries around the region increasingly aim to deliver modern and responsive e-government services, they will all be well aware of how businesses view their bureaucracies. Not well. Corporate executives cited inefficient bureaucracy as one of the top five most problematic factors for doing business in all Gulf countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008. Qatar's business friendly anti-bureaucratic e-services are on the right track. But ultimately if any of these services are to be effective, someone must be answerable for them. For that reason, many are watching developments in Dubai. In February, it launched ecomplain.ae, a website for complaints, directed at 23 of its government departments. This could link e-services with accountability; that would make e-governance revolutionary.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Oxford Business Group
Quelle/Source: MENAFN, 18.03.2008
