COUNTRY FOCUS : SAUDI ARABIA
The national Vision 2030 statement has always been a guideline for digital transformation within Saudi Arabia but now it has the capital inflows to become the global leading nation in government services .
Digital transformation drive in government services
Will Riyadh become the digital transformation capital of GCC ?
Strong adoption and delivery , and higher implications for emerging digital government services have placed Saudi Arabia in 7th position globally , according to a new Boston Consulting Group study released titled Personal and Proactive Digital Government : Accelerating GCC Journey , indicating that digital government services have become an integral part of residents ’ daily life in Saudi Arabia .
BCG ’ s study shows that the level of satisfaction of digital government services in Saudi Arabia is in the top rankings of global net experience scores , marked at 75 % for 2022 . Additionally , the digital service offering in Saudi Arabia has been met with a positive response , with the country ’ s residents placed highly in terms of frequency of access . In total , 68 % of Saudi Arabia respondents revealed they use digital government services at least once per week , compared with the global average of 49 %.
Increasing maturity
Overall , GCC countries offer more sophisticated digital government services , which equates to more complex transactions – including registering or using a job search , accessing pandemic services , and processing visa , residency , or work permits – which all rank higher in terms of usage than the global averages , where simple transactions like accessing information are still more common .
This level of integration is particularly significant considering people ’ s high expectations . The vast majority of GCC residents expect their government to provide services comparable to the best private companies in the world or global digital leaders . These include autofilling forms with available customer data , tailoring or recommending additional offerings , and even automating complex tasks like travel bookings or loan approvals .
In 2022 , pandemic-related services have emerged as a benchmark for customer expectations , with their fast go-to-market times , frequent new feature updates , and advanced functionality . In fact , the most used digital government services in the GCC echo global patterns , with pandemic-related services ranking # 1 both regionally and globally .
When governments enter this traditionally privatesector territory , they must make a balanced trade-off between convenience on one hand and concerns about privacy on the other .
Digital government is fundamental to Saudi Arabia ’ s long-term plan for world-class public sector services ,
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