His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

KUWAIT: Engineer Qussai Al-Shatti, the Acting General Manager of the Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT), announced today that the '6th e-Government Forum' (EGOV6) will convene under the motto of 'Managing Change towards Digitization' from 4 - 6 December 2018 at Al-Baraka Ballroom of Crowne Plaza hotel. He said that EGOV6 would focus on managing change during the digital transformation journey.

Shatti added, "We are honored by the continuous patronage of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah of the EGOV Forum. His Highness's support enforces CAIT's and other government agencies' sense of responsibility to exert more efforts towards their joint mission. We are pleased also that Anas Khaled Al-Saleh, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the Board of CAIT, will represent His Highness the Prime Minister during the opening ceremony. Saleh is carrying out an invaluable role in leading CAIT's programs and supporting its mission."

Commenting on EGOV6, Shatti said, "EGOV6 motto is complementing the topics that were discussed during EGOV5 that focused on Digital Transformation. Change Management is mainly concerned with ensuring the success of digital transformation processes that accompany the development of e-government programs. Change management faces a long list of challenges along the way. These stem from the many administrative, financial, legal, and legislative aspects of the e-government program.

As well, we have to add to these factors the availability of qualified human resources that represents a global problem. There are also other challenges triggered by the need to cope with the fast pace of changes that characterize the current information technology phenomena and affect the IT infrastructure systems, cloud computing, software development tools, databases, smart mobile devices, and information security. To be effective, change management should cope with all these factors at all times.

Shatti announced also that CAIT will continue the tradition of announcing the results of the e-Services Excellence Award during the opening ceremony of EGOV6. CAIT launched this Award during the opening ceremony of EGOV4 to honor the government agency that develops the best electronic service for use on Kuwait's official portal (www.e.gov.kw). Shatti said, "The e-Services Excellence Award encourages government agencies to speed up development of their e-Government programs according to the criteria of usability, ease of use, information accuracy, and information security set by CAIT. Other technical and operational criteria go into the evaluation process, as well."

In conclusion, Shatti said that EGOV6 will feature a wide GCC presence, reflecting the strides that Gulf e-government initiatives achieved in developing their information-based societies. He urged all government agencies to demonstrate their e-services and participate in the e-Services Excellence Award contest.

Shatti also sent his greetings to CAIT's partners of the global, regional, and local technology companies and invited them to take part in EGOV6 and share their expertise and change management services. Interested IT vendors, specialists, and agencies may confirm their participation arrangements by contacting NoufEXPO, the organizing company, or EGOV6 Scientific Committee on +965 22469921 or via email [email protected]." They may also visit the EGOV6 website at www.noufexpo.com.kw/egov6 for more details.