The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Online Summit purpose was to highlight the most important lessons learned over the last period of 2020 and the best means which organizations could follow through on the use of the electronic cloud provided by AWS. The intention was to provide modern services and to improve the methods followed to carry out various tasks in a way that increases the quality of service and improves the satisfaction of customers and beneficiaries.

The most prominent principles agreed upon by the participants in the discussion of the best lessons learned included speed of response, possession of a flexible electronic platform, continuing to support and encourage innovation, and the need to think holistically.

One of the most significant outcomes of the summit was an emphasis on the need for every public sector organization to be flexible and quick to respond to crises before they occur. A working paper was presented on the success story of the Government of the State of Selangor in Malaysia in taking advantage of the electronic cloud when the pandemic was declared. This contributed to the Government’s quick response to the exceptional conditions and its continued provision of services in the form of new support designed specifically to meet the circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis. The electronic cloud ensured that any person within the government’s system would have access to the services.

The summit recommendations also included reference to the need to work on using the latest technologies and smart solutions when developing business and creating solutions, with concentration on the citizen at the core of making the smart government an actual fact, apart from the necessity of consolidating the public sector efforts in terms of innovation, to prevent duplication and conflict of interests between the various public sectors components, in which services often overlap.

The most important recommendations include those related to the need to deepen knowledge of digital security and the protection of privacy. Statistics indicate that there are a set of applications that ensue without the review and audit of their security requirements, which may sometimes cause catastrophic problems.

On the participation at the summit, Dr. Mohamed Ebrahim Al-Aseeri, NSSA’s Chief Executive Officer, explained that the lessons learned from the summit were many and touched several areas. “They highlighted the importance of the proper utilization of the electronic cloud for the development of public sector services. This is what we are actually witnessing in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which has for long invested in this area. What we all have seen over the pandemic time is that it highlighted the important role for the digital transformation adopted by the Kingdom for years.”

With regard to the most important lessons learned, Dr. Al-Aseeri said: “Today, it has become essential for countries that are keen on development and growth to take care of the technical aspects, and to prepare the youth for absorbing relevant requirements by constantly reviewing and updating their education curricula, in addition to paying more attention to information by establishing a cloud data center to analyze the tremendous information, which form a wealth in the era of the fourth industrial revolution.’