By: Prof. Jibril bin Hassan Al-Arishi*

The knowledge economy is that economy in which knowledge becomes a source of capital, and in which modern cognitive technologies become the means by which cooperation is organized, as well as the organization and use of information. It is the one in which the role of the human being who builds and invests in knowledge increases, using knowledge technologies to achieve competitive advantages and improve work procedures in a way that raises efficiency and increases flexibility, as wealth building becomes increasingly dependent on them, and is not limited only to money and natural resources.

This knowledge must find a new work environment for involving others and teaching it to them. In this environment, focus is placed on cooperation in processes that use shared resources, on the style of work that achieves blending and participation, and on the interaction between workers in a single institution in a way that achieves mutual learning resulting from participation in work practices, or what is known as learning by doing, which necessarily leads to individuals not knowing that they possess a huge warehouse of dynamic knowledge that is constantly renewed, and which creates added value for the national economy. Production of new knowledge.

Electronic platforms - which have spread significantly - are considered the most important tools used to provide that environment, through which the value of participation, integration, and knowledge exchange and sharing among employees in any institution, and between institutions and each other, is maximized. They provide stakeholders in any institution with information and ways of communication that were not available to them several decades a, so they can now view the institution's strategy, mission, financial reports, management reports, press releases, and so on.

It has also become possible now for a single electronic platform to gather a number of participants greater than any number that a single conference can include, and to produce cognitive effects - through the types of interaction and communication it provides to these participants - that exceed the cognitive effects that this conference might produce.

In the field of business, electronic platforms help increase the speed and flow of economic activity that requires the ability to make quick decisions close to the "problem". They constitute a tool for decision support by increasing the ability to benefit from information sources available on computer devices, where research abstracts, reports, data analysis and information available in massive databases can be obtained.

In the field of e-commerce, electronic platforms have spread greatly, as all traditional commercial activities have moved to them, after they became a means for larger sales and more profits. Through them, purchase orders and procedures can now be managed, and product images, characteristics, and prices can be viewed, in addition to data analysis, user security documentation, creating auctions, achieving trust-building requirements, securing communication between buyer and seller, publishing buyer and seller data, obtaining a qualification seal from well-known companies, and so on. One study showed that the use of the internet in e-commerce operations between companies reduces the cost of purchasing operations by 57.7%, as well as reducing transaction costs by 30-70% and storage costs by 25-40%.

In the field of education, a highly educated workforce is considered one of the success indicators in building a knowledge economy. The problem of financing education and developing it physically and humanly is considered one of the important and acute issues facing developing countries in particular, as their budgets are unable to finance the establishment of new universities or absorb a larger number of students. Here comes the role of electronic platforms through which education services are provided using distance learning systems, which reduces the cost of education and training and increases its efficiency by the possibility of reaching large numbers of learners that traditional education and traditional universities are unable to absorb.

Their use in the field of e-vernment has led to facilitating the lives of citizens regarding vernment transactions, and their best models are those in which all services provided by different vernment departments are integrated through a single electronic platform, with the aim of reducing bureaucratic and routine procedures and accessing all vernment services from one window.

This is in addition to the spread of electronic platforms in the fields of e-health, e-mail, e-publishing, e-museums and e-exhibitions.

Electronic platforms in the Kingdom have achieved tangible successes in some sectors. E-vernment applications are the most prominent of these successes, which reflected tireless efforts on the path to establishing the pillars and components of the knowledge society and the knowledge-based economy through adapting communication technology and information technology in the service of state sectors.

The 2016 UN report - which monitors the use of electronic platforms in providing e-vernment services - pointed to this success, showing that the Kingdom has achieved an advanced ranking among the world's countries, reaching the (44th) rank.

As for citizens' engagement in e-vernment activities (e-participation) - which is measured based on the capabilities of providing citizens with information and their participation in decision-making through vernment electronic platforms - its ranking was more advanced, reaching (39th) worldwide.

In the field of e-learning, the state launched the "Afaq" project on a national level, which includes developing a comprehensive long-term plan for higher education to meet present and future challenges. This plan includes the expansion of e-learning and distance education through electronic platforms. We perhaps need now a moment of self-reflection to evaluate the current situation, as the success of e-learning policies, systems, and institutions should ultimately be measured by the results achieved: the number of beneficiaries of the e-learning service, and the quality of the educational service provided.

As for the field of e-commerce, the use of electronic platforms has not yet risen to the ambition of users in the Kingdom. Some studies indicate the limited recourse to e-commerce methods by a large percentage of small and medium Saudi companies, which represent about 95% of total commercial companies in the Kingdom, numbering 1,345,000. Only (8%) of companies sell through the internet. While (30%) of commercial companies and (13%) of vernment entities buy through electronic platforms available via the internet. This is due to several matters including: the lack of financial ability to establish interactive sites capable of managing sales and purchase operations via the internet, and the lack of technical capability and the necessary trained individuals for that, so most prefer to use ready-made electronic marketplaces available on the internet.

In the field of e-health, we still dream of a day when the elderly citizens of the Kingdom - whose percentage is 5% of the total population, i.e., more than 1,300,000 elderly people (over sixty) - enjoy telemedicine services, through which electronic patient records are made available for secure circulation via electronic platforms.

From the above, we find that - with the exception of e-vernment fields - we believe that we still have a lot of work ahead of us for electronic platforms to be used in the manner required for entry into the era of the knowledge economy.

* Professor of Information Science - King Saud University

References:

1. Adel Bahaddad , Rayed AlGhamdi , Salem Alkhalaf , Adoption Factors for e-Malls in the SME Sector in Saudi Arabia
2. pdf.1504.01112/1504/https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers
3. Communications and Information Technology Commission Report – 1435 AH
4. Report: The State of E-commerce in the Arab World
5. 69o124hw7d/4419830/http://digioh.com/emd Adel A. Bahaddad, Luke Houghton & Steve Drew,
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