MUSCAT: ROP electronic services are the most used and popular services in the Sultanate, according to a survey done by the Information Technology Authority (ITA) in April 2017, to assess individual’s awareness and usage of government electronic services and the challenges behind not using the services.
The survey was targeted to Omani citizens and residents in Muscat. The data were gathered from 1,779 respondents through field data collection (67 per cent) and online link shared via ITA social media channels (33 per cent).
According to the survey results, 95 per cent are aware at least of one government electronic service, which indicates that awareness exists but there is a need to specify and target the right segments in the promotional and marketing campaigns. The electronic services of five government entities were addressed in the survey and these are ROP, Ministry of Health, Muscat Municipality, Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
93 per cent of the respondents are aware of ROP eServices while 86 per cent of which use the services. However, 76 per cent are aware of the Ministry of Manpower eServices and 59 per cent of which are using them, which indicates that the ministry needs to do more awareness campaigns about its services to encourage the target audience to shift to using online services. With regard to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry services, 58 per cent are aware of the eServices and only 42 per cent of which use them.
Muscat Municipality eServices are the lowest in terms of usage as 32 per cent of respondents only use its services while 54 per cent are aware of them.
The Ministry of Health eServices are familiar with 51 per cent of the respondents and only 42 per cent use them, which indicates that the ministry services are still growing up and more services and emphasis is requested.
One of the survey questions were directed to paying the utility bills through the web or mobile applications for telephone and Internet bills, as well as electricity and water bills.
According to the results, only 8 per cent of the respondents did not use the eServices of the government entities addressed in the survey. When asked about the reasons for not using the government eServices, the highest response went to low network speed by 34 per cent, while 9 per cent went to lack of experience in using the technology.
The ITA gathered all these information and results and addressed them to the concerned entities to support them in their plans. Some of the general comments addressed by the survey respondents were the lack of integration between all the entities, which resulted in having incomplete end-to-end eServices.
It is worth mentioning that out of 1,779 respondents to the survey, 90 per cent were Omanis and 10 per cent residents from other nationalities; in addition to 82 per cent were males and 18 per cent females.
Comparing the age group of the survey respondents, about 80 per cent of the survey respondents are aged from 18 to 40 years, which indicates that youth is the most age group using the electronic services available in the Sultanate.
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