The document discusses the evolution of e-government to smart government. It defines smart government and compares it to smart cities. Several GCC countries' efforts toward mobile/smart government are reviewed, highlighting the UAE's comprehensive approach through initiatives like Dubai Smart City. Recommendations include establishing smart government policies, frameworks, and awards to drive adoption and regional cooperation. The key takeaway is that while mobile access is widespread, GCC countries need formal smart government programs and new technology embrace to fully realize smart governance.

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The Journey to Smart Government in the GCC
Countries: A critical insight
Dr. Saeed Al Dhaheri
Advisor, Information Systems
20th GCC e-Government and e-Services Conference

2. 2
The Journey to Smart Government in the GCC Countries: A
critical Insight
Agenda
 e-Government Evolution
 Smart Government: Concepts and Definition
 Smart Governance Operating Framework
 Comparison between smart city and smart government
 Smart government maturity model
 Enabling Technologies
 Efforts in the GCC region to embrace smart government
 Recommendations

3. 3
e-Government Evolution
IT evolution in government
1 G
e-Gov 2G
e-Gov 3G

4. 4
Smart Government: concept and definition
 Smart Government: an administration that applies and integrates information,
communication and operational technologies to planning, management and operations
across multiple domains, process areas and jurisdictions to generate sustainable public
value
Source: Gartner
 The implementation of a set of business processes and underlying IT capabilities that
enable information to flow seamlessly across gov agencies and programs to become
intuitive in providing high quality citizen services across all government activity domains
Source: IDC
 S.M.A.R.T (world bank definition)
 Social: citizens and civil society participate and co-create with government
 Mobile: engage with citizens and deliver info & services using mobile devices
anytime and anywhere and using cloud computing at the back-end
 Analytics: using big-data analytics to drive policy action
 Radical-openness: Open by Default to engage citizens in co-creating and allow
businesses to use data to innovate new services
 Trust: effective cybersecurity so services are resilient, available and protect privacy

5. 5
Smart Government: concept and definition
 Focus: mobile (smart phone) as the most convenient delivery channel
 m-government and smart government is used interchangeably
 Mobile is one part but Customer eXperience (CX) more matters
 Customer experience – has 3 levels
 Functional: Do you have what customers need
 Accessible: how easy to do business with you?
 Emotional: how customers feel when they make business with you?
 Each country defines it their own way
 Tiers and domains of smart government
 city/state/federal tier
 domain: transportation/health care/education/ energy/…/
 The term "smart" is so overused that it has become almost meaningless

6. 6
Smart Governance Operating Framework
 Smart governance operating framework: to support event capture and processing,
information exchange and analysis, user interface, and interoperability
 Facilitates interoperability of different vertical applications
 Supporting new ways to analyze info across tiers
 Supporting integration of operational technologies

7. 7
Comparison between smart city and smart government
Smart City Smart Government
Main drivers Economic development, competitiveness
and environmental sustainability
Public value with particular reference to efficiency
and financial sustainability
Geographical &
Vertical Focus
Focus on multiple domains in one tier
(city)
Focus on one or multiple domains and multiple
tiers
Technology
coverage
look to connect city systems to create a
system of systems based on ICT and
instrumentation infrastructure and Smart
Government practices
focus on the business processes and
technologies that ensure seamless information
flow across government
Roles Private stakeholders, enterprise and
technology service providers, public
private partnerships, vertical sectors
Government organizations, in any tier, in a
service provider, regulator, buyer or consumer
capacity
Approach Mostly top-down (lead by prime minister
office)
Mostly bottom-up (lead by necessity) but
occasionally top-down
 Both use innovation in social media, mobility, Big data/analytics, and cloud computing to improve
service delivery to citizen
 Both require smart governance operating framework

8. 8
Smart Government Maturity Model
Model borrowed from IDC

9. 9
Technologies to deliver smart government & drive innovation in
the public sector
Gartner: nexus of Forces IDC 3rd Platform
The Nexus of Forces “is the
convergence and mutual
reinforcement of social,
mobility, cloud and
information patterns that
drive new business
scenarios.” - Gartner

10. 10
Technologies to deliver smart government & drive innovation in
the public sector
Value Challenge
Cloud  Cost efficiency and
optimization
 Standardization and
automation
 Agility and speed
 Adaptability
 Security
 Change management
 New skills and competencies
 Culture issues
Mobile  Workforce productivity
 Information access
 Customer engagement
 Improve service delivery
Social Media  Collaboration and
increased productivity
 Customer engagement
 Customer insight
Big Data  Decision support
 Information
management & reach
 Real-time information
access

11. 11
Smart Government Efforts in the GCC Countries

12. 12
m-Government in Bahrain
 m-Gov efforts exists but no formal program
 eGovernment app store
 Around 25 apps and 164k downloads
 Covers gov services and utilities
 New approach: services combined and
offered through one app
 SSO and other features (alerts,,,etc)
 Under e-government initiative
 Awards: Best app for smart devices award

13. 13
m-Government in Saudi Arabia
 Although high smart phone penetration but
m-gov adoption in early phase
 No formal smart gov program exists
 Multi-channel service delivery part of the 2nd gov
action plan
 Mostly SMS service and some apps for smart phones
 No national awards in m-gov
Yesser 2nd e-gov action plan

14. 14
m-Government in Qatar
 m-gov exists but no formal program
 20 apps (10 apps for Gov services)
 Some SMS services
 No formal smart Gov program exists
 Mobile portal
 Qatar National ICT Master plan 2015
 No multi-channel service delivery
 No national awards in m-Gov

15. 15
m-Government in Oman
 m-gov exists but no formal program
 Mobile portal
 Gov app store but only for Android platform
 Around 28 apps (13 gov apps)
 SMS services
 No formal smart gov program
 eOman Strategy
 No national awards in m-Gov

16. 16
m-Government in Kuwait
 m-gov exists but no formal program
 Gov portal not responsive design
 Gov portal app exists
 30+ apps (20 gov apps)
 No formal smart government program
 No national awards in m-Gov

17. 17
m-Government in UAE
 Formal program exists with clear mandate
 Higher committee for m-gov
 m-gov road map
 m-gov guidelines
 Mobile Gov portal and most of gov websites
 Gov app store
 More than 100 gov apps
 m-Gov awards
 Best m-gov service awards
 ME e-gov and e-services excellence awards
 Issue with the naming convention
 m-Gov = ‫الذكية‬ ‫الحكومة‬
 Smart Gov Program exists in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

18. 18
Smart Government and Smart City: the Case of Dubai
 Dubai Smart city strategic plan
 3 years plan
 Holistic and Integrated approach
 6 pillars and 100 initiatives
 Transport, Communications, Infrastructure
 Electricity, economic services, urban planning
 Converting 1000 gov services into smart services
 Focus on smart phones as a channel for service delivery
 Leadership: under supervision of the crown prince
 Higher Committee reports to Sheikh Mohammed
 Public-Private Partnerships
 Dubai gov Initiative 2021 launched during 2nd Gov Summit
 Dubai e-gov department renamed Dubai smart Gov
“Our ambitions is that this project
touches the life of every individual in our
country, or every mother in her house, or
employee in his work or investor in his
project, or a child in his school or a
doctor in his clinic; our goal is to achieve
a happier life for all and we ask God to
help us achieve this .“
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Vision: Seeks to create a new environment for the
life of people in Dubai

19. 19
Smart Government and Smart City: the Case of Dubai
 Connected gov approach
 Standards and guidelines
 eService delivery excellence model
 Smart gov hosting standards and policies
 Dubai smart government program
 MyID: is a SSO for all e-services (17000 users)
 Integrating National ID for authentication
 Partnership with private sector such as universities

20. 20
Smart government in the GCC Countries: Current reality
 Smart phone penetration in the GCC is among highest in the world
 penetration crossed the 50% threshold early last year.
 42% of all searches conducted are on smart phones
 All GCC countries have m-government initiatives but most countries lack policy
and guidelines with the exception of the UAE
 Lack of formal smart government programs in GCC countries except for the UAE
 Adoption of new enabling technologies (cloud computing, big data and social networking
in the enterprise) is very limited
 Regional GCC m-government awards good thing
 m-gov award of the GCC governments
 Best m-gov service awards (UAE)
 ME e-government and e-services excellence awards

21. 21
GCC Cooperation in Smart Government
 GCC Guidelines strategy for e-government as approved
by the GCC Supreme Council in the 34th GCC Summit
 Approved set of joint initiatives between the GCC countries
 Citizens-focused: Strengthen the role of e-government
in the provision of services provided to GCC citizens
 Multi-channel service delivery for identified shared services
 Single GCC portal for the shared services
 UAE efforts to drive cooperation in smart government
 GCC ICT Ministers Forum during the 2nd gov summit 2014
 Recommendations focused on set of e-government initiatives during the 3rd e-gov
conference in Dubai

22. 22
Recommendations
 GCC Countries should establish Policy and guidelines to drive m/smart Gov adoption
 Leadership sponsorship is a must
 Establish Smart Government Operating Framework to ensure interoperability
 Strengthen cooperation between GCC Countries in smart government
 Establish national awards in m/smart government in GCC countries to creative
incentives
 GCC Governments need to embrace new technologies (cloud, Big Data, Social
Networking) to enable smart government