TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

GOVERNMENT IT SPENDING IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA) REGION IS FORECAST TO GROW 1.1% IN 2022, ACCORDING TO THE LATEST FORECAST BY GARTNER. IT WILL TOTAL $11.8 BILLION IN 2022, FROM $11.7 BILLION IN 2021.

Apeksha Kaushik, principal analyst at Gartner, says that MENA government CIOs will increase their investment in AI, Human Augmentation, blockchain, IoT, and digital workplace technologies in 2022. This will be a stepping stone towards providing an improved total experience (TX) to citizens.

What is driving government IT spending growth?

The global crisis has escalated an already existing imperative to accelerate digital government. As a result, usage of existing and demand for new digital government services has increased. In 2022, government IT spending in the Middle East and North Africa is forecast to grow 1.1%.

Technology has become essential for remote working, distance learning, maintaining economies, tracking COVID-19, and keeping governments running. Gartner predicts by 2023, over 60% of governments will have tripled citizen digital services, but less than 25% will be integrated across organisational silos.

Compounding the urgency is the crisis, which has created an increased demand for some services and declining revenue for many governments, leading to austerity measures and stronger accountability, and stimulus funding expectations. Automation and delivering services digitally wherever feasible are imperative to the sustainability of many government operations

Apeksha Kaushik

Which new technologies will be key to digital government transformation?

Over the years MENA region has taken strides to move to digital transformation. The government has focused on accelerating digital diversification, including citizens, the workforce, and businesses. The digital push is also attributed to initiatives like smart cities, tourism, healthcare.

With public-private partnership initiatives linking the models working, offering incubation platform inviting private sector through single sign-on and a full range of capabilities to link to utilisation of open data. The adoption of digital services has also gotten amplified with increasing investment in AI, Human Augmentation, blockchain, IoT, and digital workplace and thereby stepping towards the strategic trend of Total Experience.

Are governments in the region rethinking their public cloud strategies?

Public cloud computing expands public cloud offerings and presents organizations with opportunities to simplify management and strengthen their commitment to “green IT.” However, it could also present potential regulatory compliance pitfalls.

Sustainability policy targets make for more challenging choices. Pressure for access to features, functionality, security, and scalability counterbalances political fears and drives toward a more balanced, pragmatic use of hyperscale cloud services. Scalability with security becomes a must-have for government agencies.

Hyperscaler security requires taking action, such as controlling encryption, to address security needs to reduce potential threats, be that inside or external to the organisation.

What are some of the top challenges government CIOs will face in 2022?

The most common risk identified for digital transformation is the combination of siloed strategies and decision-making (51%). The challenges associated with government silos are constantly raised by our clients and impact every aspect of digital transformation from strategy to funding, to successful implementation. The silos exist across governments, departments, and business areas, and each type of silo requires different types of interventions.

Along with this, governments are particularly sensitive to the risk. Executives are fearful of failure that reflects poorly on elected officials, and that often leads to a risk-averse culture. Resource management, digital skill gap and funding are also critical.

Government leaders should start tackling the challenges associated with siloed strategies and decisionmaking even before they start to develop a digital government program. They must be creative, opportunistic, and pragmatic when it comes to approaching digital transformation strategy.