By Kira Walker

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - To improve operational efficiency and modernize its technology, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) has made the move to Google Apps, becoming the first government in the Middle East to do so.

The decision was taken after an extensive study of security concerns, which the KRG’s Information Technology (IT) department head, Hiwa Afandi, says are exaggerated these days.

Google Apps is a bundle of the most useful Google tools, all associated with a single account. From a single web browser, users can communicate easily through email or video. In addition, all office tools and data are saved online and are accessible in “the cloud,” making it simple to share content online.

Afandi said the switch to Google Apps was made to help the 300,000 employees of the various KRG ministries and departments collaborate and communicate more easily.

“Like many emerging markets in the Middle East, lack of proper infrastructure and Internet service providers in our region make it very difficult to achieve true ‘interconnectedness,’” Afandi explained.

With the adoption of Google Apps, a professional, unified email account and format will be put in place. Employees will no longer need to use personal email accounts through Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail, as all emails will now be krg.org accounts.

“The cloud” storage system will benefit KRG employees by eliminating the need for USB sticks and enabling them to simultaneously work on the same document at the same time.

While over five million businesses and governments in the West use Google Apps, the KRG is the first government in the Middle East to adopt Google Apps, which Afandi attributes to two main factors.

“The KRG is a young democracy, we don’t have old systems in place making us inflexible and we don’t have to support a legacy system. That’s why we could jump directly into the new stage,” he explained.

In addition, Afandi said the KRG has the know-how and the expertise needed to make use of new technologies.

The change to Google Apps is anticipated to bring numerous benefits to the day-to-day operations of the KRG ministries and departments, though it may take time for new users to adapt.

“In a developing country like ours, people sometimes need time to accept and adjust to innovation. I think that once our employees see how easily they can communicate and collaborate with each other – and all from a single platform – they’ll want to use Google Apps more and more. They’ll be able to work more efficiently,” Afandi said.

Currently, 3,000 employees in the KRG are using Google Apps, including Afandi’s IT team of 180 employees. Afandi said the switch has already made his IT team more productive.

He recalled it didn’t take long for his team to embrace tools like Google Calendar, Google Chat and Google Docs for everyday work.

The move to Google Apps prevents a huge headache for the IT department, as only five employees need to be devoted to Google tasks for the entire KRG, leaving the rest of the team free to focus on other roles and responsibilities.

Afandi pointed out the importance of using IT resources wisely, in a region where skilled IT workers are difficult to find and retain, and are often expensive to hire.

“That’s why Google Apps and other cloud solutions are so beneficial to us. We don’t have to worry about heavy data storage or processing infrastructure. There is no need to install hardware, implement software or perform complex integrations,” he explained.

This enables the IT department to focus time and effort on business and innovation, which Afandi referred to as a “huge enabling factor for our government, especially as the KRG pursues a number of other important IT initiatives.”

Those who make the change to Google Apps early on will become part of a “Train the Trainee” Program in 2014, where one person from each ministry or department will serve as the Google administrator and train other employees on how to use Google Apps.

Afandi said several factors were considered before the decision to move to Google was made: price-competitiveness, ease of use and management, speed, reliability, data security and privacy safeguards.

Dubai based Google partner BRAMS is assisting the KRG’s move to Google Apps to speed up and smoothen the transition process.

RUDAW