Qatar’s several government agencies’ and public and private entities’ official websites are not updated and people are often misguided by the information available on the Net. “The problem lies in that most companies or government entities do not have a clear strategy and do not plan their online presence at the outset,” said an IT expert to The Peninsula. “Poor planning and lack of awareness of what websites can really offer to the public are also reasons contributing for the lacunae,” he said. Qatar has been investing a lot in its information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. Recognising IT as an important factor not only in the development of its economy but also providing citizens the skills and knowledge to thrive in a global economy. However, there are many official websites of government agencies which have not been updated for several months. Many of them are critically important for the public on day-to-day basis. “Some of these government ministry websites are just for prestige and most do not provide any real service to its audience,” a concerned citizen said. As of last evening, the website of the Ministry of Business and Trade is still under construction while the Ministry of Environment does not have a stand-alone website. There are some very successful examples of website usage in Qatar like Al Jazeera and the Hukoomi e-government site. Qatar’s Kahramaa and Islamweb recently won first place in the e-Service Category and e-Content Category respectively during the 1st GCC e-Government Conference. “Ministries and companies should consider their website as similar to that of the actual, physical company or ministry although it is situated in the virtual world,” said the expert. He added that it is not enough to suppose that all IT managers are able to manage everything. Planning should come from both the management side and the technical side. “We should apply the life cycle principle to our systems online by updating and by realising that yesterday’s technology will not be suitable for today’s needs,” he added. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=January2010&file=Local_News201001242164.xml

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