Sara Al-Mulla :
It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. The past year has been a testament to how essential digital technology has become for establishments and individuals across the globe. During the coronavirus pandemic, for example, e-commerce thrived as shops were shut down, students were learning online as schools closed and people were meeting virtually as they abided by social distancing rules. Indeed, digital nations were much better equipped to manage the pandemic’s ramifications because of their pre-emptive investments in technology.
Many governments have already appointed ministers for spearheading the work on digital government and economies, such as Canada, the UK and the UAE. Moving forward, it is imperative that governments formulate a full-fledged digital transformation strategy. Investments in digital transformation can bring many advantages, such as efficiency gains, increased savings and improved public services. Prior to the pandemic, digital technologies were already being used to solve a number of challenges related to urban planning, healthcare, education, e-commerce and climate change. During the pandemic, in particular, investments in technology have enabled nations to utilize big data to facilitate decisions, deliver swift recovery plans and minimize disruption.
Many governments have utilized online collaboration tools to garner citizens’ views on the pandemic’s effects and how governments should proceed with policy decisions, budget prioritization and service design. The Estonian government has been investing in digital technologies since 1994 and claims that 99 percent of public services have been digitized. When the pandemic hit last year, the government decided to launch an innovative online crowdsourcing event called “Hack the Crisis,” in which they invited the general public to pitch solutions for Estonia to rebuild its competitiveness after the coronavirus pandemic. Within hours, people posted ideas covering themes such as reinventing government services, digital health, online learning, workplace regulations and medical volunteering.
Governments also leveraged advanced data analytics to enable evidence-based decision-making that was critical in managing the pandemic’s multiple devastations. Many government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency in South Korea, have utilized data analytics to track coronavirus hotspots according to geographical location, age group, gender, occupation, and income level. Such technologies have helped decision-makers to identify vulnerable groups and deliver necessary support measures. In South Korea, the government established the COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation Support System as a centralized data dashboard used by multiple agencies to track coronavirus hotspots and trace all the places visited by active coronavirus patients in order to curb transmission and alert local residents.
More than 1.6 billion students across 190 countries were affected by school and university closures during the pandemic. Countries that invested heavily in online learning technologies successfully migrated students online overnight. The UAE government has been hailed as an example of this strategic move. The Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Program was launched in 2012 to enhance students’ learning experiences through technology, in addition to improving tutoring and engaging parents with their children’s learning journeys. Many learning resources have been published online for use, not only by UAE students but also by the Arab world. For example, the Madrasa e-learning platform has 5,000 educational videos covering topics such as science, mathematics, biology, physics, and chemistry. The Duroosi YouTube channel created by the UAE Ministry of Education has hundreds of tutorials on a variety of topics for students in Grades 11 and 12, reducing reliance on private tuition.
Providing telehealth services during the current health crisis was essential for patients to gain access to healthcare services, especially in locations with enforced lockdowns or in rural communities that have limited access to health facilities. Telehealth services enabled health workers to deliver a number of essential services, such as screening patients with possible coronavirus symptoms, providing support for patients with chronic illnesses, providing mental health services, following up with patients post-hospitalization, and planning care strategies for vulnerable patients in the case of life-threatening medical issues.
Additionally, digital technologies have enabled workers to do their jobs remotely using various tools to meet virtually or collaborate on projects. In the near future, governments will need to invest in innovative solutions that facilitate productive working arrangements, in addition to investing in 5G infrastructure to ensure faster connections for their digital citizens.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made the case for a rapid adoption of digital transformation. By doing so, governments will be able to deliver world-class public services to their populations, thereby boosting their competitiveness and securing public trust. It will also ensure that governments are better equipped to deal with any future crises with minimal disruptions.
(Sara Al-Mulla is an Emirati civil servant with an interest in human development policy and children’s literature. She can be contacted at www.amorelicious.com).
