Modern governance requires being effective and efficient which calls for technological support in the era of data abundance. Integrated IT services refer to the process of connecting various information and technology service components of different systems into a single structure that functions as one entity. Since governments are data gathering entities that cannot survive without vast data reserves, integrated IT services gained much attention from researchers and practitioners. The United Arab Emirates government has aimed to achieve excellence and thus strove towards integrating IT services and providing one-stop services to its citizens, residents, tourists, and businesses. The aim of the present research is to propose a strategic framework for the effective adoption and implementation of integrated IT services in the UAE public sector. The study intends to establish a practical framework that will allow the UAE government to implement an integrated IT services system. The literature review looked at the theory of integrated IT services and explored the adoption of integrated IT services in the public sector, its benefits, risks, and challenges as well as best practices. The past studies were reviewed, and the key themes of the previous research were identified. The research used a field study approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 experts in integrated IT services from the UAE public sector. A thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The study found key drivers for integration to be cost reduction, process improvement, and improvement in response time, higher efficiency, and data quality. The best practices found were change management, choice of technology, financial support, and employee training. Key risks, barriers and critical success factors were also explored. The research proposes a framework consisting of barriers, challenges, risks, best practices, development life cycle, characteristics of integrated IT services, change management and critical success factors which were previously not explored simultaneously and thus contribute to filling the gap in the literature. Specifically, the challenges were found to be skills/ experience of resources, system integrators and technology providers, skills/ experience in system integration and lack of ownership. The risks were found to be technological risks, lack of awareness about the strengths and limitations of IT systems, security risks and obsolete business processes. The proposed framework is the first of its kind in the UAE which will guide government leadership to achieve a successful IT integration across government departments.
A framework for integrating IT services in government organizations in the UAE
Almaeeni, S. F. A. M. (Author). 2024
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Professional Studies