Indian company to help Saudi Arabia govt become paperless

Panaji, Dec 23 (PTI) A subsidiary of India's leading document management systems company SoftAge will help the government of Saudi Arabia in becoming paperless in the next two years, a software technology expert has said. "The concept of paperless administration is almost 80 per cent achieved in Saudi Arabia. I think it will take two more years to have cent per cent e-governance," Sanad Al Maqbali, partner, SoftAge Enjazat, a Saudi-subsidiary of SoftAge, told PTI here. Maqbali's firm has partnered with the Saudi Arabia government in implementation of several e-governance projects. "The e-governance is helping people in a big way. They can get their work done within 15 minutes," said Maqbali, who was in Goa to participate in a day-long 'Global Document Management Conclave' organised by SoftAge here yesterday. Every citizen of Saudi Arabia has been given an individual ID which has all information about him stored in it, he said. "The ID has all the information, including health history of the person. You can even use the ID to withdraw money from the bank," Maqbali said. The Saudi Arabia government is increasingly encouraging paperless concepts, he said adding that people are adapting to the technology instead of the traditional ways. "Government payments can now be made using Apps from your smart phone," he said. Several new technologies in data management systems were discussed at the conclave. PTI