The Sultanate has been keen on investing in IT infrastructure, moulding an IT-savvy young generation and converting the nation into a digital society by encouraging digital day-to-day transactions.
Efforts that began during the earlier five year plans are seeing fruition, and according to reports, Oman's Vision 2040’s digital transformation is expected to boost the national Information Communication Technology (ICT) market to RO 2.2 billion by 2024, and create employment opportunities and drive new levels of citizen engagement.
According to a new whitepaper titled 'Navigating Oman’s Vision 2040 through SAP’s Lens' by market research firm GlobalData, Oman’s ICT market will nearly double to RO 2.2 billion (USD 5.6 billion) by 2024, up from RO 1.2 billion (USD 3.2 billion) in 2019, thanks to nationwide digital transformation.
As many as five areas for the growth trajectory are identified by the whitepaper, highlighting the digital transformation opportunity for the Sultanate. Accordingly, a society of creative individuals, a competitive economy, a sustainable environment, responsible state agencies, and building smart cities will drive Oman's ICT march.
“Oman’s government agencies can achieve Oman Vision 2040 goals by digitally transforming into Intelligent Enterprises that can integrate back-end operations and center the citizen experience,” says Waheed al Hamaid, Managing Director, SAP Oman.
“Citizen engagement platforms can enhance happiness and trust, reduce costs and security risks, and rapidly deploy and future-proof e-services.”
The Ministry of Technology and Communications (MoTC) represented by the Governance and Compliance division, provides advice to the government entities on the best procedures in the IT sector. Intending to create awareness among the local populace, the division develops and publishes a number of instruments, including policies, standards, frameworks, and guidelines to be followed by government entities. In this area, the focal areas of the ministry are:
1) Information Security Management Policy
2) Information Security Management Framework
3) Project Management Framework
4) IT Service Continuity Management Framework
5) G-Cloud Standards, and
6) IT Services Standards
Enabling the Omani workforce of the future:
Going forward, more and more Omanis are being trained to carve a niche in ICT sector and in alignment with the Omanisation goals, as many as 60 per cent of SAP Oman workforce has become Omani nationals while scores of other young Omani men and women are being trained to take the helm of the ICT drive in the country. Recently, 125 university graduates were trained to become certified SAP associate consultants by the Training and Development Institute’s Young Professionals Programme.
The Dual Study programme integrates technology into the curricula programme at the Modern College of Business and Sciences (MCBS) and the Gutech (German University of Technology. Side by side, many Omani university graduates are trained to gain hands-on skills and knowledge on digital business solutions.
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