Kuwait’s Central Agency for Information Technology partners with Microsoft to spur digital transformation

For 15 years, the Central Agency of Information Technology (CAIT) has played a pivotal role in the Kuwaiti digital landscape. Helping to support and execute key government e-projects and IT training initiatives, the agency’s key role today is enabling government entities to migrate to the cloud.

To empower the government sector for digital transformation, it formed an IT assessment initiative named Tamkeen. It focuses on helping government entities understand their areas of technological strength and weakness—places where targeted guidance can result in a firmer footing for a digital future.

Laying the groundwork for change

“We feel it’s very important for all government entities to understand their level of technological maturity,” begins Dr. Ammar Alhusaini, CAIT Deputy Director General. “The type of assessments we are doing with Tamkeen are designed to show entities where they can start their digital journey. Our findings can then be translated into practical steps forward.”

Focused on three major areas—cybersecurity, applications, and infrastructure and data—the initiative’s core activities revolve around planning, data collection and analysis, as well as recommendations and future road mapping.

Upskilling and enablement

CAIT has faced a number of challenges in fostering a change-centric mindset. “Even though it has been challenging to organize appointments, we strive to meet directly with heads of entities to discuss our assessment results. We want them to see it’s a work culture that concerns everyone and not just the IT department,” says Alhusaini. 

CAIT’s collaborative approach is helping entities recognize and address key digital foundations for the future. One of these foundations is cybersecurity.

“Basically, cyberattacks were happening because the basic steps of cybersecurity were not being followed. Government entities equated cybersecurity with purchasing lots of products without fully understanding the importance of other aspects such as training and awareness,” Alhusaini explains. “We show the specific actions that can be taken to increase security, even with a low budget.”

Another aim is to guide entities in adopting a cloud infrastructure. Entities struggle with technical aspects such as choosing the right applications to move to the cloud and selecting the right model. Alhusaini says, “The first step is to show how existing applications can be made ready for migration to the cloud. Then, they can start to develop new applications that are either cloud-ready or cloud-based.”

To upskill staff for cloud implementation, CAIT has partnered with Microsoft to help staff obtain cloud certification. “Our focus is to form a group that can help supervise the migration and cloud adoption process. We have a great initiative with the Microsoft Enterprise Skilling Initiative to get 1,000 people certified in Microsoft cloud technology,” explains Alhusaini.

A trusted partnership for the future

Looking to the future, CAIT has a planned road map with Microsoft for further skilling and digital transformation initiatives. Microsoft will also provide Azure services to government entities who want to migrate to the cloud.

“We have a great collaboration with Microsoft to ensure that staff can use Microsoft services in the most effective way,” says Alhusaini. “We are glad for the enthusiasm and investment from Microsoft in our initiative. We believe that our strong relationship will help further the IT development in the Kuwaiti government.”