Accelerating Digital Governance for a Citizen-Centric Future

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Saudi Arabia’s public-sector digitization is entering a decisive phase. After years of experimentation, the country is moving from pilot projects to large-scale, citizen-wide platforms, finally reaping the rewards of its early investments. Countries that transition from fragmented e-services to unified, experience-driven platforms register higher citizen trust, greater uptake, and measurable improvements in service equity. 

According to Akhilesh Natani, Managing Director of Intelligent Automation at Xebia, Saudi Arabia is firmly on that path.

“The country has moved from digitizing individual services to reimagining the entire governance model,” Natani explains. The previous era was characterized by the digitization of processes, including the online submission of forms, streamlined workflows, and reduced queues. The mandate today is far more focused on designing experiences. “This shift aligns closely with Vision 2030’s ambition to make every interaction fast, transparent, and seamless.”

Globally, governments have struggled to get this right. People prefer digital government channels, and only a few report being satisfied with their current experience. Saudi Arabia seeks to close that gap by building systems that can anticipate rather than merely respond. “Ministries are evolving from service providers to experience providers using data and intelligence to anticipate citizen needs rather than merely responding to them,” Natani adds. 

Scaling Without Losing Local Identity

As more services roll out across regions, the challenge becomes maintaining local relevance at scale—a problem faced by many federal and decentralized governments. Over-centralization often risks erasing local nuances, undermining adoption.

Natani pinpoints that the solution lies in flexible national architectures. Governments, he says, are increasingly embracing shared platforms built with modularity at the core. Xebia’s own eServices Accelerator, used by several regional departments, reflects this design philosophy. “Departments can rely on a common digital foundation while adapting languages, workflows, and accessibility features to suit their specific contexts,” he said.

Inclusivity, long a priority for the Kingdom, gets embedded by design. “Every citizen, regardless of location or background, can engage easily and confidently,” Natani notes.

No One-Size-Fits-All Trap

Another recurring challenge in national digital transformation programmes is the temptation to standardize everything. Natani outlines three principles Xebia recommends to avoid rigidity while still moving fast enough to meet Vision 2030 benchmarks.

The first is reuse without rigidity. “Build on proven digital components,” he says, “but tailor them to each mission.” The second is to co-create rather than comply. “Transformation,” Natani argues, accelerates when ministries and partners collaborate on outcomes instead of adhering strictly to procedural checklists. The third is to measure what matters. Efficiency is no longer enough. “Define success beyond efficiency by focusing on accessibility, satisfaction, and social impact.”

Upgrade, Not Disrupt

For most governments, modernization hits a wall when outdated legacy infrastructure enters the conversation. Multiple reports estimate that more than half of public-sector IT budgets are still allocated to maintaining outdated legacy systems, leaving little room for innovation. Saudi Arabia is no exception, but it is taking a different approach.

“Legacy systems are common, but they do not have to limit progress,” Natani asserts. Xebia’s eServices Accelerator serves as an “interoperability layer” that connects existing systems through an API-first, low-code architecture. Integrations are created once and reused across departments, drastically reducing timelines.

The end result is “a secure ecosystem where data flows seamlessly and decisions become faster, more consistent, and more transparent.”

Redefining Success 

Globally, governments still default to measuring success via internal metrics—processing time, transaction volume, cost savings. But these metrics often fail to capture the lived experience of citizens. 

“Governments need to move beyond measuring how fast they deliver and start focusing on how much value they create,” Natani says. He emphasizes metrics such as accessibility, satisfaction, time saved, and policy insights derived from service data. Within the eServices Accelerator, embedded analytics modules generate these insights in real time. “The focus,” he stresses, “must remain where it truly belongs: on improving lives.”

Partnered for Excellence

One of Xebia’s core advantages lies in its long-standing collaboration with Google Cloud. “Our collaboration with Google Cloud is central to how we help governments scale securely and intelligently,” Natani says. As a Premier Partner since 2007, Xebia brings deep domain expertise, while Google Cloud offers the cloud-native infrastructure, MLOps frameworks, and GenAI capabilities.

Together, the two organizations enable ministries to deploy services more quickly, manage data responsibly, and create predictive, citizen-first experiences. “This partnership,” Natani says, “is about advancing from digital adoption to digital excellence, with trust, security, and impact at the core.”

For a Citizen-First Digital State

Saudi Arabia’s digital governance story is entering its second act, as citizens worldwide expect governments to operate with the speed, personalization, and transparency of modern digital companies. Vision 2030’s ambition is to meet that expectation and exceed it.

Natani’s perspective highlights a broader shift: governments are no longer digitizing existing structures; they are redesigning how the state interacts with its people. If the past decade was about modernity, the next will be about intelligence at scale.

In today’s world and age, citizen-centricity can’t be a feature; it should be the foundation of an upgraded government.