iGA Bahrain collaborates with Microsoft to share ‘Best Government Practices in Cloud Computing’

The Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) organized a workshop entitled ‘Best Government Practices in Cloud Computing’ in collaboration with Microsoft and the attendance of more than 100 specialists representing 67 government and semi-government entities in the IT field. Successful enterprise experiences were showcased during the workshop in implementing cloud computing solutions of entities under the umbrella of government agreement with Microsoft. 

Conducting such significant workshops comes in line with iGA’s continuous efforts that aim at enhancing government processes and services more effectively as well as supporting the migration of the public sector to work through the cloud in coincidence with Kingdom’s vision and in order to improve efficiency of this sector, promote greater productivity as well as enable the delivery of advanced services though a national cloud system that saves time and effort; in addition to deliver high-level of security and less operational efficiency.

“Organizing this important workshop is a continuation of efforts by the Authority to improve the future of adopting Cloud First Policy on the Kingdom level ensuring quality of implementing the policy in enterprises,” said iGA Acting Director of Government Systems Support & Maintenance Mr. Hesham AlHashemi as he commented on the impact of the workshop in supporting and accelerating the eTransformation process in Bahrain by pausing on the latest updates and advancements undertaken by government entities represented in migrating systems to the national cloud. Additionally, benefit from solutions set forth by Microsoft during the past period and expectations of the upcoming three years. He also stressed the importance of moving forward in accelerating the process of government innovation in meeting citizen expectations and better providing their needs.

“Digital transformation has the power to better protect and serve the needs of citizens by building modern workplaces for government entities,” said Shaikh Saif Hilal AlHosni, General Manager for Microsoft Bahrain & Oman. “The Government of Bahrain has formerly begun taking great leaps and bounds to succeed in this journey. Through its technologies and cloud solutions, Microsoft supports government efforts to achieve the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030.” 

The workshop also presented the way forward on MOU with Microsoft that aims at changing employee mechanism while considering the highest levels of security at work and adding innovation element on all employees by benefiting from intelligent technology solutions provided by the company. Additionally, highlight the urgent need of information security to face the increasing threats without neglecting the protection of emails. 

The attending delegates learned how as the latest innovation in Microsoft 365 Platform and work in an electronic modern workplace environment while ensuring security & privacy of data, identity management and information protection. The attendees also discovered the benefits of the cloud from a panel of other government entities including Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, Tamkeen, Ministry of Youth & Sport Affairs along with the Council of Representatives ‘Nuwab’, that are making the most of Microsoft 365 and how it combines the power of Office 365, Windows Enterprise, Mobility and Security into one unified intelligent solution.

iGA and Microsoft representatives highlighted a wide range of solutions that can support government enterprises to harness the power of intelligent cloud and overcome challenges in order to provide best services to citizens and companies as well as enable government entities and specialists in this field to participate. Workshop sessions included methods of managing public services via Microsoft’s cloud and the essential steps to adopt cloud computing.