May 24, 2009 (WAM) - The 15th GCC eGovernment and eServices Forum jumpstarted today in Dubai. Organized by Datamatix, the 5-day forum gathers together the region's federal and state government representatives, eGovernment executives, CIOs, and IT experts around the world to discuss the latest issues and trends related to eGovernment and create a framework for outstanding eGovernment models as well as formulating winning eGovernment strategies, which will enhance administrative productivity, efficiency and transparency.

Now on its 15th edition, the forum is widely recognized as the premier event addressing information and innovation regarding eGovernment in the GCC that can transform the way eServices projects are planned and delivered in the region. The day's session focused on the "Benchmarking Successes and Failures of the GCC eGovernment and eServices" which recognizes the leading factors to assess and conduct effective GCC eGovernment deployment, modeling, analysis and practice.

Speaking about the forum, Ali Al Kamali, Managing Director Datamatix Group, said, "Over the past few years, GCC nations have begun to recognize the important role that e-government can play in economic development and have set about developing e-government readiness strategies and investing in the necessary technological infrastructure. ''As a result, e-government readiness in this region has steadily and significantly improved, but more e-government awareness initiatives aimed at educating the general public and government employees about e-services and making sure that they are accessible to all are needed to ensure that the benefits of e-government are fully realized and are an essential factor in achieving the cutting edge of global competitiveness." "Another important issue is security, which remains a top concern when extending and developing new eServices " particularly one that involve financial and other transactions which transmit highly confidential information. And these are just a couple of many important topics that will be up for discussion in this forum, Kamali added.

Top notch speakers and panelists gather at this conference to share their knowledge and experience including Dr. James Archibald, Director of Translation Studies in McGill University, Canada who presented a case study regarding the lessons learned on an effective and successful eGovernment project implementation. "Mr. Archibald focused on the development of online government services in Canada, its legal and policy issues." Another case study on transformation strategy presented by Mr. Abdullah Majid, Advisor to the Minister and Head of the Projects Management Office, Ministry of Justice, UAE, concerning the lessons learned of Government Business Re- Engineering.

He said "Education is the key to overcome resistance, be very determined to do the right thing the first time and every time. Technology is a tool; the people are the key to operating the tools and achievement." Dr. Zahra AL-Rawahi, Assistant Professor and Computer and Information Technology of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman followed Mr. Majid's presentation, discussing the measurement criteria and benchmarking the success and failure of the GCC eServices.

"There is a real need for building eGovernment indicators at both GCC and national levels as well as building in-house indicators to benchmark progress across organizations. It is crucial to make sure that any evaluation outcome becomes part of the eGovernment policy cycle. Systematic evaluation outcome becomes part of the eGovernment policy cycle," explained Dr. AL-Rawahi.

The day's session concluded with Dr. Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz, CEO of Al-Elm Information Security Company, KSA sharing its mission of "Developing secure and innovative e-business services with high quality to achieve customers goals and contribute to building national expertise and nationalizing information technology."