The move is to save time and money in providing information and forms required for various registrations, such as licensing and renewals.
In the past, citizens were required to visit the government offices to obtain specific forms, fill them out, pay fees and wait for processing.
However, the ministries now require citizens to find the forms online at official websites, print them out, fill them in, pay the fees, visit the concerned office to submit them, and then wait for processing.
If citizens aren’t aware that they must first go online to obtain the proper forms they are turned away from the offices because paper forms are no longer available to fill out on the spot.
“This would be a good idea and could be a time-saver if everyone knew about the system, but not everyone knows,” said Hani Abdullah, a Saudi trying to open a business. “They end up going to the ministry to be told to go back home and fill out a form found online and then bring it in to pay fees and submit it for processing.”
Since 2004, Saudi Arabia has invested SR4.9 billion ($1.3 billion) in implementing the Yesser e-government system, the e-payment gateway Sadad, as well as other e-technology platforms.
According to Springboard Research, a leading IT market research company, this is just the beginning. Saudi Arabia is expected to increase spending on IT from SR6 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2009 to SR9 billion ($2.4 billion) by 2013.
“There is a strong and growing demand among Saudi citizens for government services throughout the sectors, primarily in health and education,” said Summer Hamad, senior regional analyst at Springboard Research.
Hamad said in order to satisfy the growing demand, the Saudi government will increase utilizing IT as a means to provide improved services to more citizens at a lower cost.
But Mazen Talal, a business owner, says the e-government websites still have dead ends and other glitches that need to be worked out in order to make the service a real time saver.
“I am pleased to see that Saudi Arabia is taking the necessary steps to become technology savvy, but more needs to be done to streamline the system,” he said. “Many times after going back home to log on to the website to find the necessary forms there is a problem — such as the necessary link being out of service, or under construction — making it impossible to find the forms and information one needs. At other times, the information is outdated and useless, making a trip to the ministry the only available option to find the help one needs.”
Talal suggests not only that these websites be up to date and fully functional, but also offer a way to pay charges online and receive a case number and estimated processing time.
“This would be the best way for the civil service offices to utilize e-technology and serve citizens better,” Talal said.
