Case Study: Best Business Change and Transformation - Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources KSA

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources was established as part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's vision to diversify its economy and enable high-quality digitised services. The main goal was to increase GDP in the Industrial and Mining sectors separate from the Ministry of Energy, the primary government entity responsible for overseeing oil production.

A fundamental strategic approach to help the Ministry reach its results centred on the need for brand-new digital services. The idea was to have a new platform for licensing, exploration and discovery. This platform would enable new investment, remove manual processes, lower overhead costs, and do away with bureaucracy.

What did they do?

In January 2020, the Ministry made the decision to begin a fast-tracked program of digital transformation and enablement by creating an integrated electronic platform. Its function is to support the industrial investor's journey via integration with service partners; it provides data, information and industrial services with one unified portal. The introduction of this platform has proven a massive success. The platform became one of the most transparent public access services globally, with full Open Data provided for customer interrogation. It simplified license application processes and moved away from the old paper-based activity, reducing bureaucracy and enabling new investment in the Industrial and Mining sectors.

The Ministry understood that some users won't adopt these new digital services right away. To reduce potential friction from the public around the process of transformation, the Ministry suggested creating regional hubs at local government offices for training and support. These hubs offered support with completing applications, enabling 100% digital acceptance and guiding users through the entire process.

What did they achieve?

The results speak for themselves: the number of new factory registrations increased by more than 1000 in the first year of operation alone; this contributed to GDP growth above 15%. In addition, 100% of all licensing applications are completed digitally, which is one of the Ministry’s primary aims for this project. This facilitates adoption of digital services and simultaneously educates users for future engagement, increasing repeat business and investment. The innovative support provided through regional training hubs removed tedious manual processes, allowing for new investment to flow in.

The Ministry takes great pride in its new platform: it enables fast investment decisions and continues to draw both repeat and new business. Applicants can better access data that facilitates their planning and decision-making.

For this initiative, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources KSA won SILVER at the International Customer Experience Awards 2021 in the category "Business Change and Transformation". We look forward to seeing how this story develops in the coming years!