The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) announced a partnership agreement with Microsoft, which would pave the way for an “evolution in public sector e-services implementation”.
Through this partnership, the MoTC would bring global experience in helping government agencies enact digital transformations, in line with the Qatar Digital Government (QDG 2020) Strategy, by building a transformation platform named Sadeem, the ministry said in a statement.
The agreement was signed by Hassan Jassim al-Sayed, assistant undersecretary of the Government Information Technology Sector, and Naim Yazbeck, general manager of Microsoft Qatar.
Under the agreement, Microsoft will assist in building a technology platform offering e-services tools and capabilities, business intelligence and other benefits, focusing on the streamlining of initiatives designed to enhance government e-services in the country, the statement explains.
The Qatari leadership expects all government services to be online by 2020, allowing the public to better interact with the government and executives to have access to information and tools that will promote better-informed decision-making. The government also projects significant cost-savings and an acceleration of the time to market for such services.
As it moves towards its new digital paradigm, the MoTC is “determined to set a benchmark for government agencies to achieve through the implementation of international best-practice standards”. “The ministry’s main goal is to create a smarter, more connected government that empowers people to engage with the government at any time, from anywhere,” said al-Sayed.
Yazbeck stated that the vision within the ministry and the wider government reflects the bold ambition of the nation’s leaders to take advantage of emerging technologies such as cloud and mobile and renovate the relationship between the public sector and the public.
"The Sadeem platform is a great enabler for innovators and Qatar has both the vision and the ambition to harness it and shape the future. Microsoft is proud to support them in their efforts.”
Sadeem will empower the government to “realise its vision quickly, while tightly monitoring e-service implementation plans”. The MoTC will build a framework for other ministries to use, allowing those departments to accelerate their transformation projects specific to their operational requirements.