“Yesser” organizes the Putting Citizens First Forum

The e-Government program (Yesser), in cooperation with EY, organized the Putting Citizens First forum on Tuesday, (April 30, 2019). The event, which was attended by 650 local and international experts and interested parties in the area of digital transformation, saw the launch of a several innovative initiatives which aim to raise awareness and develop a digital governmental approach that contributes to establishing an integrated environment and digital community.

In the Forum’s opening address, Eng. Ali Bin Nasser Al-Assiri, Chairman of the Yesser Program, said that the event aims to keep up with the fast-paced development in the area of digital transactions to provide enhanced services to citizens.  

Eng. Al-Assiri further noted that highlighting pioneering global experiences and best practices in the area of digital governmental transactions will help close the gap that exists between developed and emerging countries in this field, as well as inspire participants to produce creative ideas that open up new business horizons and opportunities in the Kingdom.

“The Putting Citizens First forum seeks to enable government agencies to identify their current and future digital transformation requirements and reflect those requirements on the quality of services they provide to citizens,” said Eng. Al-Assiri. “It also aims to involve those agencies more deeply in the transformation journey in order to increase awareness about the importance of digital transformation, which aims to create opportunities and make aspirations come true, as well as formulate an innovative approach that puts the needs and aspirations of citizens and residents first by utilizing cutting-edge digital services.”

At the same time, Mohammad Sear, Associate Partner, Digital Government & Public Sector Advisory Services, MENA, EY said: “Governments around the world, including Saudi Arabia, are working towards the implementation of a digital government and exploring how a citizen-centric service delivery model can better benefit both the public sector and a country’s citizens. 

EY led the discussion on the movement towards building services around users, and how a successful unified government service delivery model consists of three pillars: Life-centric services that break the silos between government agencies to offer a seamless, connected service centered around life events, a single brand offering all government services, and a digitally-focused but still omni-channel approach to ensure that all segments of citizens are catered to.

Mohammad added: “Many governments are currently organized vertically, a challenge that should be addressed before implementing a cross-departmental digital program. The best digital services run horizontally and bring different entities and systems together to create a combined service that caters to a user’s needs rather than how the departments have been structured.”

The four major barriers to unifying services and creating a seamless cross-cutting program are governance and finance, data and analytics, technologies, and culture and capabilities.

“The transformation to a digital program will require governments to consider the governance arrangements best suited to carrying cross-governmental programs while addressing the investment and revenue-sharing dilemma that comes with a unified service. Building on this, creating a highly personalized and highly automated interaction relies heavily on the data that is available as well as the full utilization of disruptive technologies for the advancement of public service. Lastly, public sector employees across all departments may find it necessary to develop a ‘digital first’ mindset that is reflective of a customer-centric culture.”

Mohammad concluded: “The challenge of citizen centricity and the creation of a seamless e-government program is too large for just governments to tackle alone, it requires the power of the masses to be mobilized.”

The forum agenda features several panel discussions involving a wide range of interested parties working in the field of digital transformation from Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia, the Netherlands, South Africa, and others. The sessions addressed a number of key issues related to adapting a citizen-first government framework, including governance, the importance of data, technology and culture in serving citizens.