E-Government readiness in the
Charles Sha’ban
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organizations
(TAGOrg)
UN Workshop on E-Participation and E-Government
Agenda:
Statistics
Issues & Challenges
Case study: Jordanian SMEs
Implemented Applications
Success criteria
Statistics from the UN Global E-Government readiness report 2005
None of the Arab Countries either in Western Asia or North Africa reached 0.6
Only two above 0.5: UAE (0.5718) & Bahrain (0.5282)
Still some good efforts in some countries
Egypt: “The Government now delivers”
Qatar: “Government services made easier”
Although Africa average was 0.2642 but the African Arab Countries average is: 0.2978
E-Government Readiness index
Country Index
UAE 0.5718
Bahrain 0.5282
Qatar 0.4895
Jordan 0.4639
Lebanon 0.4560
Kuwait 0.4431
Saudi Arabia 0.4105
Oman 0.3405
Iraq 0.3334
Syria 0.2871
Yemen 0.2125
Average 0.4124
E-Government Readiness index (2)
Country Index
Egypt 0.3793
Tunisia 0.3310
Algeria 0.3242
Morocco 0.2774
Djibouti 0.2381
Sudan 0.2370
Average 0.2978
Other indexes
Web measure: UAE (0.6115)
No Arab country received good ranking for online payments (although there is already some good solutions: E-dirham in the UAE &
E-payment gateway in Jordan)
Gender indicators: Women’s participation is low, e.g. in Jordan, the literacy rate for women is 84.7%, they are only 6% of the
Internet users and less than 0.5% of the technical workers
Issues & Challenges
Digital Divide (within the country itself most of the times)
Language Barrier (Arabic contents and Arabic Domain Names)
Literacy rates
Hardware and software prices
Limited connectivity
Awareness
Telecommunications infrastructure
Issues & Challenges for implementing E-Government
National vision and planning
– Still need more commitment, collaboration and awareness
National culture and internet penetration
– Resistance to change and Internet usage
National security challenges
– Trust in online transactions in general
– Some governmental procedures needs long steps, how will it be online?
Case study: Jordanian SMEs
Internet Usage in SME – Jordan
Credit Cards - Jordan
Security of online transactions and payment issues:
21.9% do not trust the electronic environment
27.1% Electronic signature is not important
72.4% not aware of Jordanian
Electronic Transactions Law
IT training – Jordan
Implemented Applications
Implemented Applications 1
UAE
– Human Resources Management System (HRMS):
Provides a tool for planning and managing employee related activities
– Financial Management Information System:
Comprehensive financial systems for the Federal government agencies
– E-Stamps: The e-Dirham payment tool devised by the Ministry
of Finance Industry in order to facilitate collection of revenues and
provide secure payment method.
– E-Tender: Electronic tendering system used by the government
– Other specialized systems related to some Ministries and authorities
Implemented Applications 2
Bahrain
– Financial and Human resources systems in 30 ministries and governmental department
Jordan
– Financial, purchasing and inventory systems in different governmental agencies
– E-Payments in the telecommunications sector
– E-Tendering
– Wideband network in 18 Ministries (will be the infrastructure of the e-Government services)
Implemented Applications 3
Lebanon
– Document Management and Archiving System
– Business Automation
– E-Procurement (with Italian Government assistance)
Kuwait
– Financial and HR systems (in government educational universities too)
Implemented Applications 4
Egypt
– ERP in 6 ministries
– Archiving systems in 6 ministries
– Workflow in more than 28 governmental agencies
Oman (still in progress)
– Disaster Recovery system
– E-Tendering
– E-payment Gateway
– Technology park
– CRM (Oman Municipality)
Measures of Success
Leadership support and advocacy for E-Government
Clear goals and specific performance targets
Willingness and ability to change
Knowledge sharing
Starting small and growing quickly
Developing acceptable privacy and security safeguards
References
UN Global E-Government Readiness Report 2005
Arab Countries e-Government Programs report by SavvyTek 2006
Arab Advisors Group reports
Forums and Seminars we participated in, related to the topic
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Information Technologies International (TAGITI) studies
Thank you
Charles Sha’ban
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGOrg)
cshaban@tagi.com
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