E-Government in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example

E-Government in Saudi Arabia Abstract Electronic government (e-government) is becoming a universal phenomenon that is attracting the attention of many people more, including politicians, economists and policy makers among others. Once regarded as a means for the public sector, more modern and increasing productivity and efficiency of the government, e-government is presently recognized as a mover and key enabler of citizen-centric, cooperative and modern governance. This implies not only a deep transformation in the way government intermingles with the governed but also the recreation of its internal processes and how establishments carry their business both internally over and above externally while interacting with the other sectors of the community. It is frequently a known claim that the availability of a successful e-government framework for assessment is a essential condition for advancing e-government appropriate implementation. The essence of this paper is to make a survey of academic writings on the electronic government of Saudi Arabia based on its vision in terms of readiness and the existence of technical and organizational challenges as well as how to overcome them. Introduction The definitions of e-government are quite myriad. Yildiz in his review adopts the Means and Schneider definition. He says that e-Government is the relationship that exists between governments, their traditions (business dealings, other governments, and citizens), and their supplier (again, business dealings, other governments, and citizens, and citizens) using electronics as means. He also admires the Brown and Burudney definition, which says that e-government, is the use of technology, particularly web-based application to augment access and to distribute efficiently government information and services. It sorts out e-government efforts into three extensive categories of government-to-government as well as government-to-citizen, and government-to-business. Schuppan asserts that governments the world over are working on implementing E-Government. These efforts do not only focus on the area of digitalization in itself, but also on the reorganization of civic services based upon new ICT. The term ICT is understood mainly as internet technologies and applications based on internet, but also comprise network technologies, databases and electronic stream systems. These technologies help to achieve tentative and spatial independence. Data, software functions, and processes are universally available. This means that work processes and public participation can be bettered. Thus, E-Government has a relationship to both the provision of public services and to the questions of democracy, because it makes new membership forms possible. This can include fresh information, consultancy, or communication possibilities especially regarding proposed legal enactments or in planning processes. Al-Hashmi and his co-authors inform that E-government is not simply a matter of giving government administrators computers or automating old performances. None of these complex procedures can bring about greater efficacy in government or promote civil participation. Understood correctly, e-government puts into use technology to bring about reform by encouraging transparency, shortening distance and other divides and giving power to people to indulge in the political processes that have an effect on their lives. Governments have diverse strategies to construct e-government. Some have created all-inclusive long-term plans. Others have chosen to identify just a few cardinal areas as the focal point of early projects. In all cases, however, the countries identified as most successful have begun gradually with minor projects on which to build a structure. Alsheha introduces “YESSER” and says that it is the Arabic word for abridgement and the name adopted for Saudi Arabia’s e-government project. The vision declaration of the program is: By the end of the year 2010, everybody in the kingdom will be at a position to enjoy world-class government services accessible in a flawless, user friendly and protected way by utilizing a multiplicity of electronic means. This is no doubt a powerful statement. However, the question is whether Saudi can transform that into action. It seems that the realization of the e-government program is apparently late. However, this is not a worry to some Saudi officials who think that starting late is not necessarily a disadvantage. They maintain that YESSER program would have one of the best infrastructures in the world. At present, the contention must not be whether we have a late start or not, but will Saudi e-government project ever realize the opportunities and challenges a head. Many critics assert that the concept of e-government is not practicable. Some of them emphasize that online transactional systems are of a very stumpy usage levels. Others say that the opportunities of e-government are inadequate and cannot suffice the business population. The vision Sahraoui and co-authors describe the vision for Saudi Arabia’s e-government as ostensibly user-centric. He focuses on a number of features, which all revolve around the central idea of providing improved government services to the user. The user is understood here as the individual (citizen and expatriate), business and government agency. The following vision statement summarizes the user-centric vision for Saudi’s e-government program: By the end of 2010, everybody in the kingdom have the capacity to enjoy – from wherever and whenever – world class government services provided in a seamless, friendlier and secure way by making use of a variety of electronic means provided. Abanumy and Mayhew confirm the name given to the e-Government program. The name Yesser is slated to be carried out over a five-year period, through two parallel roadways. The first way lasts two years would offer the basic program requisites and execute a number of pilot projects for the e-government, specially selected for high revenue, quick results and comparatively low implementation costs. The second way, covers the entire five-year period, devises the program’s execution plan, recognizes the priorities, and lays down policies, procedures, terms and regulations. Saudi Arabia’s e-Readiness Saudi Arabia has made great progress concerning its readiness for e-government. E-Readiness stands as a country’s way to evaluate its e-business atmosphere, a collection of features that indicate how acquiescent a market is to internet-based prospects. The UN Global e-Government Survey of the year 2005 ranked Saudi Arabia as number 80 worldwide. This was an improvement in the region from position 90 in 2004 to position 10 in 2005. Indices pointing up the UN e-government readiness of Saudi Arabia are its telecommunication infrastructure index as well as the human capital index. High e-government readiness narrows down to the reengineering of government services to educated citizens. These are delivered over an ever-present Internet infrastructure. A resistance to change and a deeply unshakable bureaucratic culture are the greatest enemies of e-delivery. Limited internet infrastructure and lack of e-literacy among the populace also form part of the impediments towards e-government readiness. Saudi achieves high on the human capital index, which indicates that citizen readiness would not be the real issue. However and despite its immense investments in ICT, it is expected to encounter a hitch, as the web measure index requires more than financial investments to rise appreciably (Sahraoui, et al., 2006). Azab and his co-authors add that the major factor in reaching a successful e-government adoption is to create a competent strategy, which should discover first the main drivers for implementing it. Recognizing these drivers spells out their importance and helps in setting a correct action plan. An e-Government must set an action plan, which includes accountability, organizational structure, resource allotment, IT policies, procedures and leadership. This action plan need also probe funding sources and identify different stakeholders of e-Government in order to determine their responsibilities as well as the worth to be reflected on each of them. As one of the most important objectives of the national information technology, sketch map is holding a spotlight on improving information technology (IT) infrastructure; the government has started to unfetter the telecommunication sector through privatization. This step has greatly bettered the telecommunication infrastructure in the kingdom. A survey made in 2003, attested that the population in Saudi Arabia had got to the sixteen million mark Abanumy and his co-authors offer some of the key indicators on Saudi Arabia’s e-awareness: Number of landline telephone lines per 100 people in 2003 (15.5), number of mobile telephone users per 100 people in 2003 (31.2), home internet dispersion per population (4.38), Internet technology (dial-up and broadband), mobile worker and technology (Saudi Telecom Company and Etisalat). This survey is as done by Saudi Telephone Company (STC), 2003. Challenges facing Saudi E-Government Alharbi presents the researched results on the lack of internet access amongst diverse sections of the population as follows: 28.9% of all the respondents following the research strongly agree that they do not have internet access, 47.3% just agree and 11.4% are neutral about it. Ten percent of the respondents disagree and 2.5% strongly disagree. It is then palpable that the majority of the respondents, at 76.2% fall between those that strongly agree and those that agree which points out that lack of internet access among diverse sections of the populace is one of the obstacles facing the all important implementation of e-government in Saudi Arabia in general and in educational systems in particular. On the same note, Rose and Grant agree that one of the primary truisms in marketing is that a business can have the best innovative and useful product in the world, but if consumers are not aware of it, it will not sell. To endorse the issue of e-government among citizens and trade, two separate but unified actions must be accomplished. Firstly, customers must be given knowledge according to the range of services and utilities of the specific E-government initiatives. Secondly, buyers must be convinced that their using of the site will endow them with a level of value to them. The educational facet of promoting e-government is arguably straightforward in that it should entail having a factual, albeit interesting and engaging, rendition of the range of services, how they can be accessed and navigated, operated and other important information. Various modes of promoting and informational media and display can be utilized to achieve results in this task, while observing that different divisions of the market may demand different media for message delivery to be effective. Evaluation, accountability and transparency are other challenges facing Saudi Arabia in its effort to adopt e-government. Bawazir observes that Saudi Arabia is lacking in clear vision and methodology for the deployment of e-government services. The many decrees, new structures and restructuring have all done little to give an impetus to a more needed transactional government presence on the net. He says that experts have suggested that the king’s office should monitor e-government project with the personality in charge being a minister. He adds that accountability or the lack it, characterized by fulfilling objectives or failing to set clear ones is of obvious worry. This could be partly due to the method of government where royal family members are serving as ministers and heads of government institutions, but this might as well be widespread in all government departments not ready to be driven by clear objectives. It is an established fact nonetheless that against the backdrop of this non-transparency, e-government is in effect government online and its very nature makes it difficult to hide. Lanvin and his co-authors talk extensively on the challenges facing e-government projects in developing countries. They call these challenges opportunities. Among the many they highlight on is trust. They argue that for a well-established e-government to flourish, trust is a necessary requisite. They maintain that to be successful, e-government projects must put up trust within agencies, across governments and businesses, NGOs and to citizens. It is not surprising that when making e-government a concept, more often than not; developers do not realize the many boundaries that the proposed project will cross. Hitherto, the success of e-government often narrows down to building trust and having a mutual understanding with the variety of players early in the process. The biggest concern for most stakeholders is that change brought about by a new scheme will negatively affect them. However, it is noteworthy that almost every successful e-government program is a recipe for building trust. Dada shares these same views adding that trust and other aspects limiting the establishment of e-government are soft aspects but not soft in the literal sense of the word. Curbing the challenges On the proposals based on study implications featuring Iran’s E-Government projects, Manian examines the general success indicators for the pre-implementation activities of e-government. Some of his suggestions are: 1. The establishment of an organization program, supervise, implement and control development projects; 2. Putting in place appropriate, viable and workable infrastructure is necessary for the development of E-Government; 3. Inculcating trust and belief in the value and victory of major and minor projects that are entrenched into the government. The more a government has such projects, the more likely it is that superior officials within the government will trust and in the end support and finance E-Government; 4. Professional training courses are necessary to help prevent mistakes that may come before, during and after implementing the e-government program. These among others are the proposals that are necessary for curbing the failures of the implementation of the e-program not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the world over. Azab and his co-authors also suggest the framework for assessing electronic Government and single out the Egyptian case. They argue that the concept of e-government begins with improving effectiveness and progress toward a more customer-centric effort. They also mention that Political participation os key to curbing of the challenges, that while it is portable through an e-government medium it is driven by factors outside the framework of e-government development. Like Egypt, the case of Saudi Arabia is whether the center of attention will remain on the present one-way delivery of government services. As a way to provide solutions to e-government barriers egovbarriers.org talks about the government‘s role in satisfying the requirements of citizens with different needs. The argument is that the most zealous internet users should access everything online, as that is where they will expect to deal with government. The government has to persuade the less zealous Internet users to be persuaded that e-Government can offer the same privileges as e-Commerce or e Banking. Moreover, non-internet users need practical incentive to want to try e-Public Services. Conclusion The e-Government should demonstrate the benefits that the citizens can reap from the government. The government should clarify the intentions and the anticipated positive effects behind e-Government initiatives in a more open and honest manner. These incentives encourage citizens as they use of e-Government, thereby building the necessary trust in these services. Incentives include saving time and money as scarce resources, or getting value added utility such as improved information provision or quicker and easier processing of their transactions. The governments of developing countries not only that of Saudi Arabia have a task of making effort to minimize online risks for citizens and simplify liability. They should use e-government to enhance transparency in public administration. For that matter, they should develop effective lawful electronic rights especially those relating to accessing information and those on how to contact with servants and authorities. Finally, it is important to ensure a clear demonstration that e-government process is at the position of providing legal security. References Abanumy, A., Al-Badi, A., & Mayhew, P. (2005): e-Government Website Accessibility: In-Depth Evaluation of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.ejeg.com/volume-3/vol3-iss3/AbanumyAbdulmohsenetal.pdf Abanumy, A. & Mayhew, P. (n.d): M-government Implications For E-Government In Developing Countries: The Case Of Saudi Arabia. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unpan/unpan033540.pdf Alharbi, S. J. M (2006): Perceptions of Faculty and Students toward the Obstacles of Implementing E-Government in Educational Institutions in Saudi Arabia. Morgantown, West Virginia: Department of Educational Theory and Practice. Al-Hashmi, A. & Darem, A. B. (n.d): Understanding Phases of E government Project. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.iceg.net/2008/books/2/17_152-157.pdf Alsheha, B. A. (2007): The e-government program of Saudi Arabia: Advantages and Challenges. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://balsheha.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/the_e-government_program_of_saudi_arabia_advantages_and_challenges.pdf Azab, N. A., Kamel, S., & Dafoulas, G. (2009): A Suggested Framework for Assessing Electronic Government Readiness in Egypt. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.ejeg.com/volume-7/vol7-iss1/Azab_et_al.pdf Bawazir, S. A. (n.d): The Key factors of successful sustainable development: e-Government in Saudi Arabia as an example. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://ipac.kacst.edu.sa/eDoc/1426/156997_1.pdf Dada, D. (2006): The Failure of E-Government in Developing Countries: A Literature Review. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/article/viewFile/277/176 Egovbarriers.org (n.d): Section 5: Guidelines to solutions to key eGovernment barriers. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.egovbarriers.org/downloads/deliverables/1b/Guidelines_to_solutions_to_key_eGovernment_Barriers.pdf Lanvin, B. (2002): The E-Governmenet Handbook for Developing Countries: A Project of InfoDev and The Center for Demoracy & Technology. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.infodev.org/en/Document.16.pdf Manian, A. & Sharifi, M. (2009): The study of the success indicators for pre-implementation activities of Iran’s E-Government development projects. Government Information Quarterly, vol 27. Rose, W. R. & Grant, G. G. (2010): Critical issues pertaining to the planning and implementation of E-Government initiatives. Government Information Quarterly, vol 27. Sahraoui, S., Gharaibeh, G. & Al-Jboori, A. (2006). E-government in Saudi Arabia: Can it Overcome its Challenges? Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.iseing.org/egov/eGOV06/Accepted%20Papers/601/CRC/egovernment%20in%20Saudi%20Arabia%20FINAL.pdf Schuppan, T. (2008): E-Government in developing countries: Experiences from sub-Saharan Africa. Government Information Quartery, vol 26. Yildiz, M. (2007): E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, vol 24. Read More