Difference between revisions of "Egypt FOSS country experience"

Latest revision as of 11:42, 4 July 2016

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In 2014, Egypt published their strategy to support, implement and help to promote Free and Open Source Software. The strategy developed by The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders (e.g. NGOs, private ICT companies and other governmental entities).

Before the strategy was published, Egypt made many moves to support FOSS, by implement it in some projects, most notable is Elections.eg website. Also it signed many agreements with different entities to post the use of this kind of software.

The strategy itself comes as a response to the Prime Minister assignment in 2012, to study the adoption of an open source strategy in Egypt for the national benefit of the country.

The MCIT assured that adopting open source technologies on the large scale will not compete with the current ICT industry ecosystem based on the proprietary software. On the contrary, it will contribute to the growth of the overall ICT industry and establish a new developmental FOSS ecosystem, which will co-exist within the local ICT market.

The projected vision of the proposed FOSS strategy is to build a well-developed knowledge society that benefits from a healthy ecosystem of IT-producing and IT-using sectors. The mission is to promote the development and adoption of high-quality open-source software solutions and services as one fundamental pillar of the knowledge society. The expected benefits are classified into four areas: human development (e.g. decentralization and democratization of Knowledge, maximizing the potential for self-development and learning), economic growth (e.g. equalizing market competition and reducing total cost of ownership), social development (e.g. localization and Arabization) and national security.

There are eight strategic objectives: ensure access to knowledge to all citizens; improve efficiency and transparency of the public sector; harness the development of the ICT sector and foster a competitive environment; ensure efficient budgeting and reduce unjustified pending on IT solutions; technology independence; build a sustainable FOSS community encompassing both users and developers; encourage and support ICT small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in FOSS utilization; and finally, raise public awareness about FOSS and promote an open-culture concept to different sectors in the society.

- Ensure Access to Knowledge to all Citizens FOSS movement empowers masses. This is because it facilitates access to sharing of a variety of local and global knowledge (cultural, political and scientific) in a convenient manner through the use of portable devices, such as, mobiles, tablets and laptops. It is also affordable as it does not necessitate payment of licence fees. In addition, FOSS enables knowledge management and building low cost sustainable institutional repositories. Every individual hence has the right to acquire tools, resources, and services for accessing, disseminating and developing knowledge and insight. Knowledge liberalization would ensure the inclusion of the poor and illiterate in the transition to a knowledge society, which in turn bridges the digital divide within Egyptian local communities. Accordingly, FOSS adoption enables shared ownership of intellectual resources, which in turn accelerates learning, innovation, entrepreneurship, as well as social and economic development.

- Improve Efficiency and Transparency of the Public Sector Promoting FOSS in the public sector enables the creation of effective service delivery platform and allows for universal access to a single window that provides online government services through various media. Citizens would be able to have the option of accessing public services through alternative platforms, while the government would be able to provide such services in an efficient and cost effective manner. Furthermore, the availability of the source code expedites the process of detecting and eliminating security risks, bugs and errors, and increases confidence in the trustworthiness of such software. In addition, better safety of public and personal data is guaranteed, as well as operational security of information systems in state administration bodies. In this context, adopting open standards will enable interoperability, which in turn facilitates knowledge exchange and information sharing, and ensures coherent and sustainable IT solutions. 10 FOSS, therefore, would be useful in decreasing the barriers of digitization across public sector agencies. This would increase the efficiency and quality of business processes in the public sector as it ensures reliable information and support for decision-making and better-targeted public policy. Moreover, open public data is an important digital resource since it creates better and smarter public sector information and services. Ensuring free and reliable access to complete and timely public information content would strengthen the collaborative governance model, where building trust resonates with the multi-stakeholder approach to policy development; an essential act reflecting a transparent and democratic government.

- Harness the Development of the ICT Sector and Foster a Competitive Environment Since there is room for growth of the software industry in Egypt, FOSS development could present an opportunity to stimulate this sector. Introducing open source software to the market as an additional player would increase the competitive landscape of the entire software industry in Egypt. This improves quality and gives customers a better position in negotiating contractual terms. The growing expertise of Egyptian software firms could also open opportunities to boost software exports and position Egypt’s software industry as a foreign exchange earner. Moreover, since Egypt is among the countries that attract IT outsourcing, further revenues could be generated from open-source related services. Introducing FOSS as alternative software systems would therefore increase efficiency and foster competitiveness of Egypt’s software industry.

- Ensure Efficient Budgeting and Reduce Unjustified Spending on IT Solutions As mentioned earlier, software acquisition is not the only cost item required for the implementation of any system; other issues should be equally considered, such as training, hardware, customer support, maintenance, future expansion, etc. In the case of FOSS, the financial resources saved as a result of the reduction of replication costs of IT solutions could be directed towards other projects, such as training IT staff in open source support and development. Further costs could also be saved as many FOSS programmes now depend on migrating to cloud computing. Therefore, the objective of FOSS adoption should not be to use FOSS because “it is cheaper”; rather, the aim is to ensure that budgeting and spending decisions are taken and executed in the most efficient and cost-minimizing way. To conclude, public and private sector agencies should rationalize their resources and provide a proper explanation of why they chose to adopt a certain type of software. Particular attention, subsequently, should be given to: (i) the cost of maintenance, support, and training; (ii) the cost of needed storage, infrastructure, and deployment model (e.g., cloud, server based, etc.); and (iii) the cost of future expansion.

- Achieve Technology Independence Moving towards open standards and FOSS will alleviate the problem of vendor lock-in. Allowing for alternative forms of software platform provides a robust business environment. It offers users the flexibility to switch at any time to another supplier or service provider without worrying about changing the software currently being used. Avoiding vendor lock-in would increase freedom of choice regarding software usage; companies would possess the freedom to select and compare between different systems and choose the one that best fits their necessities and requirements. They would ensure that their data and software can be accessed across different platforms. In addition, users could have a wider support options from the FOSS community, where many people are willing to help and assist at any implementation stage. Furthermore, the availability of the source code enables developers to customize the software as desired to ensure its compatibility with laws, 11 regulations, business processes and procedures specific to each business or to the entire national context: a key move towards content localization.

- Build a Sustainable FOSS Community Encompassing FOSS Users and Developers Human resource development through FOSS would narrow the gap between Egypt’s industry development and that of more advanced countries. Self-learning and local IT skills development could be further enhanced through sharing ideas and mutual experiences with international developers. Building and sustaining a local FOSS community would also expand the horizon for mutual benefits with African and Middle East countries with regards to sharing and collaborating in FOSS initiatives and research. The open nature of the FOSS movement would also foster collaboration among firms, improve further human capital building and enhance project management skills.

- Encourage and Support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in ICT Utilization It is important to build an FOSS ecosystem to maintain comprehensive exchange of information and best practices in business and entrepreneurship. FOSS could be of special interest to entrepreneurs and small businesses, particularly those that have limited capital. This would contribute to the strengthening of the national economy and sustainable development in two ways: it would support SMEs to increasingly rely on information in conducting their business processes, and it would create a nascent infant industry that serves local needs and is able to export its products. Promoting SME’s based on FOSS is seen as part of a national commitment to promote entrepreneurship and SMEs in the ICT sector, and indeed in the whole country.

- Raise Public Awareness about Open Source Solutions, and Promote an Open Culture Concept to Different Sectors in the Society Raising awareness about the benefits and uses of FOSS is seen as part of furthering the understanding about ICTs, knowledge and development, and creating a culture of flexibility and openness to alternatives. This includes raising awareness about issues related to intellectual property, types of license agreements, digital content, scientific and media publishing, among others. This would specifically target resistance to change, and acceptance of a wider pool of options open to the market and to society. The government will play a pivotal role in facilitating this process, in partnership with the civil society, academia, the public sector, computer software organizations, FOSS advocates, the private sector, and development partners. Promoting FOSS practices could also take place through frequent reports on FOSS-related material in formal government publications, as well as through conducting relevant meetings and conferences on local, regional and international levels.