Do Saudis complain enough? Without doubt among ourselves, there is no shortage of discussion about the shortcomings of this or that governmental organization. But how often are properly documented protests actually presented formally to the authorities responsible for what is considered to be a failure in one area or another?

Take the unfortunate locals in the Karantina area of south Jeddah, whose nostrils have been assailed for weeks by the stench of uncleared garbage from their local collection bins. The problem has been building, literally, for weeks and for many, has entirely spoiled their Eid Al-Fitr celebrations. How can anyone enjoy a party outdoors when the stink of rotting rubbish is overwhelming?

For sure some of the residents have protested to the local authorities, but it is hard to avoid the feeling that these complaints were lodged with little hope that they would be addressed in a proper manner.

Then we have another issue, also in Jeddah, which is the unreliability of water supplies, particularly water supplied by bowsers to neighborhoods that are not yet connected to the mains system.

The National Water Company has just announced that it is to spend SR2.2 billion on a strategic water reservoir at Briman which will, when the entire project is finished, give Jeddawis an extra 6 billion cubic meters of water. This is an entirely admirable project, which will be welcomed by everyone in the city. However, laudable though this important expansion of the city’s water supply may be, perhaps no one should forget the long-standing protests at the inadequacy of Jeddah’s water supplies. Put bluntly, utilities, not just in Jeddah, but throughout the Kingdom have all too often, been “behind the curve,” when it comes to supplying residents with the basic services, which elsewhere in the world, are taken for granted.

But utilities have managed to get away with supplying what many would rate as sub-standard services, because, by and large, whatever their private grumblings, most people living in Saudi Arabia, do not expect that making a fuss about inadequate services is going to make a jot of difference.

This is, in truth, a counsel of despair. However jaundiced the view of Saudi bureaucracy, it is important to accept that there are many people in governmental organizations who are striving to move on from the inertia that afflicts bureaucracies around the world. It is entirely wrong to assume that civil servants rejoice in the delays that all too often afflict official procedures. Seek out any official who is close to a decision-making process, and it is more than likely that you will be told of the frustrations that come with the role, the all-too-regular inability of the official machine to make a clear decision, one way or another.

There is however, a fundamental change on the way. The Kingdom has dedicated itself to e-commerce. The most pressing demand has been in the business of formalizing the presence of foreign workers in the Kingdom. At the moment, all eyes are focused on the identification and removal of people who are working here illegally.

However, the rise of government’s e-services is widely expected to cut a swathe through the current bureaucracy. Given the nature of the online world, there is absolutely no reason why a large swathe of services provided by the state should not be delivered online. The passport service is now more than half-way into an e-service program, that allows users to make their applications remotely rather than actually having to visit their local passport department office.

The key to the success of these systems does not rest simply in their functionality. It also resides in their responsiveness. One of the most galling aspects of virtually all Internet transactions is that, beyond the effusively warm welcomes and apparently user-friendly interfaces, as and when something goes wrong, or if someone needs to ask a question that is not covered in the “FAQs,” the system suddenly proves itself distinctly unfriendly.

The speed and efficiency of Internet services is of course, all about the use of powerful servers and programs. However, all too often, the “human touch” is lost. As the Kingdom moves further into e-services, one measure of the success of the project will be the responsiveness of the systems to complaints, especially those which are out of the ordinary. Customer service on the Internet is all too often a joke. The Kingdom has the chance to show other countries how to get it right.