The report showed an increase in the values of GEMS 2021 for most of the participating Arab countries was up to 25%, indicating an increase in interest in Arab digital transformation. GEMS 2021 depends on three pillars in the classification and evaluation process. The first pillar is concerned with measuring service availability and development, while the second includes service use and user satisfaction with the services, and lastly, the third pillar measures government efforts to reach the public.
The index uses these three pillars to measure the maturity of government services provided through electronic portals and smart applications in the Arab countries, based on measuring 84 government services that are necessary for individuals and companies. These services are selected according to the principle of the life cycle of individuals and businesses. For example, the services that the individual needs in the various stages of his life, and those that companies need in establishing and managing the progress of their operations and closing transactions.
Qatar topped the general ranking of the participating Arab countries in two pillars, service use and user satisfaction with it, which is the second pillar of GEMS 2021, with 72%, and government efforts made to reach the public, the third pillar of GEMS 2021, with 93%. As the first pillar of the index, for service availability and development, Qatar ranked second with 88%, after Saudi Arabia, which gained 92%.
Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Government Information Technology at MOTC Mashael Ali al-Hammadi said that work has been done in accordance with the rational government directives in adopting and implementing an advanced approach to digital transformation and enabling technology in society. Thus, this achievement comes as a result of those efforts made by government entities from various sectors in the country over the years to develop and launch digital services in a way that contributes to benefiting all segments of society.
The e-Government Steering Committee, chaired by MOTC, has contributed to developing digital transformation plans and their execution is overseen in collaboration with government entities nationwide, aiming to achieve the objectives of the Qatar Digital Government Strategy and Qatar National Vision 2030, she said. They will continue to move forward with digitally transforming the services and institutional modernisation and development as well as bolstering the themes of Qatar's Second National Development Strategy (2018-2022) by capacity incorporation, fostering the institutional values to improve services provided to individuals and businesses, increasing government administration efficiency and effectively deploying the information technology for public service, thus enhancing the national vision for building a knowledge-based economy in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, she pointed out.
The index concluded with recommendations that lie in the need for the Arab region, in general, to focus on providing digital access for people with disabilities to the electronic services provided as a challenge that efforts should be focused on, as well as the importance of providing the means to collect the feedback from users of services whether through the electronic portal or mobile applications and continuing to digitise services of the utilities, health and other sectors such as justice, tourism, finance, and others.
Despite the growing interest in digital transformation at the level of the Arab region, the pace of implementation is different. Some Arab countries have become leaders in this field, while others are still at an early stage of implementation. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for regional cooperation to support countries in the Arab world, which are still in the early stages of digital transformation, to catch up with the rapid technological development witnessed by the world in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to the ESCWA's index.