English abstract
This study aimed at exploring the reality of the digital transformation in the Sultxanate of Oman, by identifying the roles played by the various institutions in the Sultanate in the field of digital transformation and e-government, and by assessing their levels of transformation. In addition, it aimed at identifying the most important projects implemented in this respect, in line with the global trends in the field. The study relied on the qualitative descriptive approach and the semi-structured interview as a main tool for data collection, with the support of content analysis of documents. The data were obtained from institutions – taken as study samples - to support the results obtained through interviews.
The study was applied to four government institutions: The Ministry of Technology and Communications, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Royal Oman Police, in addition to one private sector institution, which was Bank Muscat. The most prominent findings of the study are the fact that institutions have made efforts and embarked on real digital transformation. These include awareness, education and training, integration, and readiness.
The level of transformation in institutions - which were taken as study case samples - varied, but all of them made efforts that helped the Sultanate to make progress in the level of digital transformation according to the last United Nations report for 2018 and to attain a high level in other evaluation areas such as e-participation.
The most prominent projects of transformation in the Sultanate were represented in infrastructure projects such as the certification system, e-government, government integration platform project, and other projects such as the National Center for Information Safety. Various SAS centers at the Ministry of Technology and Communications were represented. Furthermore, it was applied on projects in institutions that were taken as study sample cases - such as the educational portal, the e-health portal, and applications of various services available on smartphones.
The study recommended the necessity of introducing and promoting electronic services through media and social-media networks, so that the beneficiaries recognize them. This will lead, then, to expanding the scope of their use and, in turn, will lead to an increase in the exploitation of technologies of the fourth industrial revolution.
