Implementation of E-Government in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example

Title-Ways of improving e-government in Saudi Arabia and ensuring sustainability Introduction E-government programs have been developed in many nations around the world, the implementation of e-government aims at improving efficiency and effectiveness of the government system in terms of service delivery to the public. This research aims at identifying gaps in the existing implementation process and provides relevant recommendations that the government can use in order to optimize the integration of e-government. It aims at collecting useful data for analysis and presentation. Overview of the research The implementation of e-government is Saudi Arabia is aimed at ensuring government responsiveness and efficiency in service delivery. The Saudi Arabia government implemented e-government because of the need to ensure that the public is well served. This research aims at establishing ways that the government can take advantage of and improve service delivery process and also ensure sustainability of service delivery to the public. There are many ways in which the government can undertake in order to ensure the success of the e-government plan; however a more holistic approach to different variables will provide an even better strategy that can be adapted in order to improve the process. It is important to consider all these factors because of the need to ensure that the process is successful and gains more usability. Notably, the government officers have considered examples of other countries such as Singapore. While this approach is appropriate, the success of such country does not guarantee success in Saudi Arabia. Issues such as educating the public and government officials, encouraging participation from the private sector will ensure that the process is actually successful. In order to achieve this, this research will use empirical approach to collect data and analyze data in order to come up with recommendations that are meaningful for the process (Abanumy, Al-Badi and Mayhew 99). Research questions i. What can the Saudi government do to ensure e-government improvement? ii. What can the Saudi government do to ensure sustainability in e-government? iii. What is the current status of the e-government in Saudi Arabia? The rationale for these research questions is to establish the current status of the e-government project, what has been done so far and what are the challenges facing e-government project. This will create basis for suggesting improvements in the system. It will also further build the basis for planning on sustainability of the project. Positioning of the research According to Jalote (1), the Saudi Arabia government has four main strategic themes that define the course of action in the implementation of the e-government. These themes are: enhancing public experience when interacting with the government, developing a culture of collaboration, ensure sustainable e-government workforce and enhancing the state efficiency. The aim of these themes is to ensure efficient and effective service delivery in the country. E-government is expected to deliver services to the public in a more reliable and efficient manner. The current status has a number of gaps, there are no clear sustainable plans of ensuring that the e-government functions as expected, there are some political implications of the project. Whilst the government is planning to increase public-private partnership (PPP) in order to enhance and establish a culture of collaboration in the e-government sector, the process needs to be more inclusive through contributions of other key stakeholders in the industry (Abanumy, Al-Badi and Mayhew 99). It is worthwhile to indicate that the case studies of other countries and specifically Singapore act as a benchmark, the Saudi Arabia environment and culture is different and also unique. Using case studies is an important idea but integration should be more tailored in order to focus on the country (Jaeger, and Thompson, Kim 389). The internet has the potential to make information access cheaper, this is important for the economy, the citizens will be in a better position to get useful data without much hustle. E-government will therefore enhance efficiency and save time for other important issues. When the overall time of the citizens is save, the country’s economy will develop even further. E-government is vital in enhancing efficiency of service delivery, it is however important to note that the key stakeholders, the users of these platforms need to be educated about its importance in order to increase usage of these services. This will also be important in ensuring sustainability of the program. The Yesser project has been on news for the better part of last year, this is a positive move by the government, and however a holistic approach and thinking should be used when approaching the issue. This is essential because it will ensure that the process is all inclusive and responsive to the citizens of the country (Fredricks 5). More so, portals with vital information for public interest should be ensured in order to generate more usage. Value added services should also be integrated into the overall goal of the e-government. A clear analysis of what will improve and ensure sustainability in the process is essential. This is important because simply implementing an e-government that is not focused will essentially be vague. A clear approach ensures increased usability and sustainability. Training government staff on the importance of online platforms is essential; this will ensure that the system is actually used (Sahraoui, Gharaibeh, and Al-Jboori 12). Research design & methodology The parameters of the research This research will be empirical and hence based on evidence rather than observation. The rationale for this is because the recommendations and the findings that will be given will be based on evidence rather than assertion or postulation. Both secondary and primary resources will be essential in this case. The primary data will be analyzed alongside the secondary data in order to get useful information that can be used for process. Data analysis The data analysis part will be base on the data collected from the primary data collection. Structured questionnaires will be used to reach the correspondents and get their views. Statistical tools such as the mean, standard deviation and the variance will be analyzed in order to give better recommendations based on the key findings. Specific aims and objectives The aim of this research is to collect 20 interviews from different people in all the major sectors of the economy including private and public sectors. The rationale for this is to get varied views on ways that will contribute to improvement of e-government services and how these services can be made more sustainable. After collecting the data, data organization will be used in order to compare the variables and determine the correlation of these variables with respect to the available theory and other similar research done. Statistical tools such as SPSS will be imperative in analyzing the data and presenting it is a more meaningful way. Once the data has been analysed suitable recommendations will be published in order for the government to take advantage in its implementation. The focus in this case will be to examine the gaps that may negatively affect the implementation process of the e-government structure. Optimizing the usage of the system is imperative (Fredricks 5). Timeline for achievement A period of one month will be allocated for the research process and especially data collection process. This period will involve a one week search for potential participants, two weeks of collecting data through structured questionnaires. The remaining one week will be allocated to data analysis and any issue that may develop in the process of data collection. It will also give additional time for the data not delivered within the stated time. Works Cited Abanumy, Abdulmohsen, Al-Badi Ali and Mayhew Pam. e-Government Website Accessibility: In-Depth Evaluation of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The Electronic Journal of e- Government, 3.3,( 2005) pp 99-106. Alateyah, Sulaiman, Crowder, Richard M and Wills Gary B. Citizen Adoption of E-govemment services. International Conference on Information Society, 2012.pp.182-190. Fredricks, Larry. The e-government program of Saudi Arabia Advantages and challenges. Technical report writing, (2007).pp.1-8. Jalote Sumedha. Saudi Arabia launches next e-government action plan. Asia Pacific future gov (2012). Sahraoui, Sofiane, Gharaibeh, Ghandi and Al-Jboori, Ahmed. e-government in Saudi Arabia: Can it overcome its challenges?, eGovernment Workshop, (2006).pp.1-18. Jaeger, Paul and Thompson, Kim M. E-government around the world: Lessons, challenges, and future directions. Jaeger and Thompson / Government Information Quarterly 20.1 (2003) 389–394. Read More