His Excellency, the president of King Khalid University, Prof. Faleh bin Raja'allah Al-Solami, commended Saudi Arabia's tremendous global achievements in raising digital standards, on the governmental services level, and on many more; including digital transformation, cyber security, and digital government. He praised the high ranks of the kingdom in those fields and their immense role in achieving the vision 2030.

Those remarks were a part of the e-services and systems launch ceremony at the university, organized by the General Administration of Information Technology on Wednesday evening, entitled "ITX 2023" at the university Center for Conventions and Conferences at the University City.

His Excellency, affirmed that priming the digital infrastructure is a path that will lead to sustainable development and digital economy, which the university is aiming to achieve, in light of its strategy and in conjunction with the Asir Developmental Strategy "Qimam and Sheyam", as well as being one of the most important methods to raise cooperation in social and volunteer responsibilities.

Al-Solami, also praised the efforts of the General Administration of Information Technology, which made King Khalid University a digital beacon of light on the level of educational and training authorities; crowned by the digital, global, and national achievements the university accomplished.

During the ceremony, the General Supervisor of the General Administration of Information Technology, Prof. Hamid bin Saleh Al-Qahtani, showcased the new services and achievements, led by (EXPO) which aims to motivate students to attend such programs to prepare them for the job market. These programs include dialogue and counseling sessions, workshops, and training courses to acquire basic professional skills, contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Saudi Vision through developing human capital. The iT CEO also highlighted the Student training platform, which enables university students to find training opportunities with ease, allows digital evaluation, and connects students to the training authority and the training supervisor.
The university tracking system, a prominent service launched to follow the university's strategy, enabling the administration to monitor and manage its initiatives and indicators related to different university authorities.

Another service that was launched, "Estathmr", aims to manage and optimize investment procedures in the university through automation, contracts-management, and archiving requests and documents.

In addition to Cloud Laboratories Platform, which enables faculty members and students to remotely access the university's cloud laboratories, providing them with a number of programs and specialized research applications on computers, engineering, and business, it will also help them work on research and software programs outside the university campus.

The launched services also included the International Students Platform as a part of the "Study in Saudi Arabia" initiative, which aims to attract students from outside the kingdom. The platform encompasses everything students need to know about the educational environment, including training and academic programs, basic facilities, and medical services. It also allows students to explore and get to know Asir region with its enchanting nature and tourist sites.

"IT GEEK", a service for all members of society no matter how different their interests are; they can reach a wide range of courses and digital fields through rich and organized content in the form of educational videos, short tests, and instructional texts and attachments, which helps trainees effectively understand technical content.
Al-Qahtani added, that the KKU Event Service has been launched, and is considered the biggest most unified platform to digitally manage and organize events at the university. The platform offers specialized technical tools that suits the needs of every event.
The Consumer's Voice Platform, which enables consumers to connect with decision makers transparently, and equip them with the ability to formulate, participate, and vote on technical policies.

It’s worth noting that during the span of two years, 416 digital platforms were launched, including websites and services, greatly attributed to the use of "Agile" methodology.
Al-Qahtani pointed out, the university percentage in the digital transformation governmental eighth indicator was at 64%, which rose up to 77% in the ninth indicator, followed by 87% in the tenth where the university jumped from the 14th position all the way up to the three leading positions among 36 governmental authorities in the field of education and training. In the field of governance and digital legislation compliance, the percentage reached 93%, and 73% in the field of strategy-related projects.

In the field of initiatives and technical programs, Al-Qahtani explained that the General Administration for Information Technology has conducted 44 training programs, two training camps, and "Hackathon". The number of participants reached 36,000 trainees and 35 instructors, with a total of 600 hours of training.

To conclude the ceremony, His Excellency received the ISO 22301 certificate from the donor company for cyber security enforcement and ensuring the continuity of business and services, which the General Administration of Information Technology recently earned. His Excellency also honored a number of authorities, colleges and individuals, winners of the King Khalid University Award of Digital Transformation, in the fields of digital transformation enrichment, support, and innovation.

Finally, he honored the winners of the innovation and creativity competition (i Tronaut) where team "iT Whisperer" won first place, in second place was "Your Friend on the Go", and in third place "Echo Tech