Next generation e-Government information systems & m-Government discussed on Day 2 of the 11th GCC e-Government Forum

The event is being organized by Datamatix from 21-25 May 2005 at the Al Multaqa Ballroom, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE.

The forum focuses on the latest e-Government developments & initiatives. It highlights how nations are preparing their communities, businesses and managements using
e-Government. Over the next 5 days of the conference, global experts will present keynotes and case studies on a wide range of issues such as e-Government ROI, e-Readiness, workforce development, m-Government, integrated services, change management, online service delivery, redesigning e-Government business and citizen services, GCC infrastructure and security issues and much more.

The opening keynote of the day was delivered by Joe Clabby, Vice President, Summit Strategies USA and Datamatix International Advisor. He spoke on 'Building Next Generation GCC e-Government Information Systems' and focused on specific GCC requirements.

Mr. Ghazi Atallah, General Manager, Cisco Systems addressed the topic 'Changing the Way We Govern.' In his presentation, he talked about the role of the Intelligent Information Network in delivering around-the-clock government services and the challenges facing e-Government. "Our vision is to unleash the power of the network in the public sector to improve quality, reach and cost of public services. The network enables e-Transformation by empowering improvement in Central Government, Local Government, Defense, Healthcare and Education," he said.

A case study on 'The Saudi Government in the Information Society' was presented by Dr. Khaled Bin Abdullah AlSabti, e-Government Program Director, The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, KSA. He gave an overview of the vision, objectives and implementation of IT and e-Government projects undertaken in KSA. He gave an overview of the national e-Government program in Saudi Arabia, 'Yesser' which uses a coordinated decentralized approach - with unified vision and action plan, common standards and practices and shared infrastructures.

Mr. Ivar Tallo, Director, E-Governance Academy, Estonia gave a brief overview of e-Estonia: Estonia's e-Government. "The major reasons for Estonia's e-Government success are: general consensus among main forces in Estonian society, commitment of political elites, right mix of public and private initiative, active role of government, project based development and little baggage of previous practices," he said.

Tipusultan Abdul Khader, Chief Technology Officer, DUCONT, UAE spoke on 'M-Government vs. e-Government.' He said, "There are 3 major factors concerning citizens and the use of e-Government applications - ease of use, real added value/benefit and price." In his presentation, he gave an overview of m-Government, information & transactional services, G2C issues, security issues, m-Education, m-Health and 3G e-Government services. He also presented a case study on m-Rial, Muscat municipality's payment solution and m-Dubai - the mobile extension of Dubai Municipality's e-Government solution

The session on 'Constructing a Flexible e-Government Network' was addressed by Stanley Chang, Chief Engineer, Data-Com International Marketing, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. In his presentation, he talked about e-Government requirements on network, network topology, security, voice and video service and operation and maintenance. "It is important to support flexible networking and abundant interfaces to utilize existing ICT infrastructure," he said.

Moatasem Ayyash, CTO, HARF Information Technology, KSA spoke on 'e-Government Blueprints and Building Blocks'. He said, "A blueprint provides a wide roadmap from the current to the future state of a business area. There is a need for GOML - Government Markup Language. GOML shall be used to define political rules, describe the matrix of power, government structure and entity attributes.

Andrew Carvin, Director, Communications Policy Education Development Center spoke on 'Achieving e-Government for All: Ensuring Equitable Access to Online Government Services.' Speaking on the digital divide, he said "Digital divide is the gap that exists between populations in terms of: access to ICT's, literacy skills and ability to use ICT's effectively and the availability and accessibility of high-quality relevant content." He said that the four stages of achieving e-Government for all are - Initiation, Engagement, Integration and Equity.

The final session of the day was addressed by Mohammed A. Geoffrey, CEO, House of Development, Saudi Arabia who presented on 'Tasdeeq: Case Study on Successful Electronic Certification and Authentication System Developed for Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.' Tasdeeq is an e-Government service that provides certification services electronically online and print certified documents using the internet without the need to go the Chamber of Commerce office.

Speaking about the day's proceedings, Ali Al Kamali, Managing Director of Datamatix said, "Today's informative presentations addressed crucial issues for the next generation of e-Government initiatives. We look forward to seeing the recommendations made today being implemented and carried forward by GCC governments and private sector organizations."

Over the 5 days of the event, more than 1000 professionals including top designation executives, senior government officials, ministerial delegations, CIOs, IT managers, business leaders, analysts as well as academics from more than 100 leading organizations are expected to attend the forum.

The event is being sponsored and supported by leading organizations such as Dubai e-Government Committee, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Naturalization & Residency Department, Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, Computer Associates, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, TIBCO, DTK Computers, Tejari, Middle East Fuego & BMI Systems, TrippLite, Smart Square, House of Development, Huawei, Gulf Data International, Viewnet technologies, Ducont, C1 India, Star Systems, Harf, Arab Link, Al Eqtisadiah and Travelex.