GCC governments urged to focus on ethical data use

Governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been recommended to offer citizens control over their data and focus on ethical data use as they improve digital service delivery.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has also recommended that the regional public sector adopt standards, guidelines, training, and regulatory hurdles surrounding the ethical use of data and artificial intelligence, according to a new research issued.

In addition to identifying the next actions GCC countries may take to take decisive action as the pandemic draws to a close, the business has advised them to invest in data security at all levels of service delivery.

The Digital Government Citizen Survey (DGCS) indicated that the GCC governments fared well in terms of advancement and global ranking, with 36 countries, 26 digital government services, and about 25,000 individual responses.

GCC countries have a rate of adoption of 61.3 percent, which is more than 30 percent higher than the global average. They also score well in terms of the frequency with which they use digital government services.

Citizens in the region are satisfied with digital government services, praising features such as clear language, accessibility across different platforms, and simple access to information, according to the poll.

As part of their respective efforts to remain at the forefront of emerging technologies’ adoption, governments across the GCC have prioritised increased digital services quality and expansion in recent times.

Action in this direction aligns with their overarching objective of elevating efficiency, leveraging new digital delivery frameworks, utilising citizen insights, and providing the population with newfound convenience and flexibility.