Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2010 Category 1: Saudi Arabia
• Upgrading Internet services and the telecommunications infrastructure services
in the Kingdom.
• Launching aggressive marketing, hand-holding and support services.
• Recruiting and training a competent and committed local team.
Success breeds success. As importers and exporters started using the SaudiEDI system
and became more familiar with its functionalities, they started providing feedback
to improve the services even further. The SaudiEDI team acted on suggestions
whenever possible, to satisfy users and help expand the customer base.
Replicability and Sustainability
The sustainability of SaudiEDI depends on support from both government agencies
and members of the trade community. Already, wherever the e-trade services
have been implemented, they have been enthusiastically embraced by importers
and exporters.
More government agencies are now approaching and seeking to integrate with SaudiEDI.
While SaudiEDI is already working with some to replicate certain elements of
the initiative, other agencies will be scheduled into the project as soon as possible
based on critical need and priority. The laws of Saudi Arabia have been revised recently
to accommodate e-transactions and digital signatures, which will pave the way
for wider national use of similar systems in the future.
Lessons Learned
Three important lessons about innovation were derived from the process of launching
SaudiEDI. First is the need for solid commitment and common goals on the part
of the key stakeholders, from the very start. The key stakeholders must be involved
and hold regular steering committee meetings if an initiative is to stay on course and
advance in a timely manner.
Second, one very significant factor that contributed to the success of SaudiEDI was
the trust and close collaboration with related government agencies and private-sector
experts. In any undertaking, flexibility, understanding of each other’s difficulties and
needs, and positive approaches to the tasks at hand can help ensure mutually beneficial
enterprises.
The third and perhaps most valuable lesson associated with this initiative concerns
the capacity of the Kingdom to implement a project of such large dimensions. The
success of SaudiEDI has proven that a large-scale IT project, involving many stakeholders
in an innovative and revolutionary change in government operations, is possible
in Saudi Arabia. In going far beyond simple Web portals with simple interactive
and informational services, and instead creating a system for true end-to-end e-trans-
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