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Dubai eGovernment announced today, (Wednesday, September 21, 2005) the launch of its innovative Mobile Portal that will allow users to access information and carry out transactions instantly via handheld mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. This makes Dubai eGovernment the first in the Middle East to launch such a portal.
Users who want to utilize the eServices can log on to the Dubai eGovernment portal, www.dubai.ae. Its advanced technology allows mobile device users browsing these services to access the specifically-designed mobile portal, whereas those who log on to the portal via PCs will have access only to the main Dubai eGovernment portal.
“The launch of a Mobile Portal was imperative considering the major increase in mobile penetration in Dubai and more importantly taking into account the increase in the number of people who are constantly on the move and dependent on their mobile phones for accessing information,” said Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment. “We are now focusing on utilizing innovative channels in eServices provisioning and have adopted a multi-channel approach in an integrated manner.”
Surfing
“Another factor that will ensure the success of this new portal is the growing demand among consumers for mobile phones and PDAs that allow them to access the Internet. Offering eServices through mobile phones ensures that a large section of the population has access to these services and also guarantees a high degree of security and privacy,” he added.
The Mobile Portal is the result of public private partnerships that Dubai eGovernment has achieved to provide a range of electronic services to enhance customer service. Dubai eGovernment believes that the private and public sectors have important roles to play in the creation of a digital economy.
The services that can be accessed through the Mobile Portal have been divided into six categories: Traffic, Islamic, Financial, Travel booking, Dubai Information and Entertainment. Our partners in this initiative are the Dubai Government departments, Emirates Airline, Dubai Financial Market and Cyber Gear.
Some of the services available under these categories are visa information from Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD), Prayer Timings service from Awqaf and services from Dubai Police such as traffic fine enquiries and payments.
In addition, users can make Emirates Airline online flight booking, check the arrival and departure of flights from Dubai Civil Aviation Department. Users of the portal can also search for hotels, search for products in specific malls, be informed on sales and promotions taking place around Dubai, get updates on latest movies, find out the weekly television schedule for One TV, find a nearby embassy or consulate, use the currency converter service, as well as access valuable information from the Dubai Financial Market in the form of Mobile Quotes and Live Quotes. Mobile Quotes give the name of the company, Latest Deal (LD) price, volume and changes in stock prices, while Live Quotes gives the current stock rates for all companies.
The Mobile Portal was launched after an in-depth Mobile Portal survey conducted recently by Dubai eGovernment to assess the feasibility of providing Government services via the Mobile Internet as an innovative channel, for Government Department services, meeting customer needs and increasing usage of online services.
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The first meeting of the GfD Initiative’s Regional Working Group II on E-government and Administrative Simplification took place in Dubai, UAE on 12 – 13 September 2005.
Participants
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Nabil Ali Al Yousuf, Deputy Director General, The Executive Office, and co-chaired by Dr. Kuk-Hwan Jeong, Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA), Korea, and Mr. Vincenzo Schioppa, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Delegation of Italy to the OECD.
Ministers and high-level representatives from Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Bahrain, Dubai, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon. Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia attended the meeting. In addition, policy experts from 7 OECD countries (France, Italy, Korea, United States, The Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden), the OECD Secretariat, the UNDP, ARADO and the Dubai School of Government were present.
The chairs demonstrated strong commitment to achieve the meeting objectives including the identification of key priorities and challenges for Arab countries on e-government and administrative simplification, and the definition of an agreed work plan for the next steps. The Arab participants presented their national approach and experience in implementing e-government and administrative simplification and actively engaged in initial policy discussion with the international experts.
Outcomes
Key Outcomes of the meeting include the:
- Scheduling and launching of the questionnaire for the completion of the stock-taking phase in view of the preparation of country actions plan proposals for the 2nd working group meeting
- Identification of 4 action groups to progress on a results-oriented thematic agenda and the nomination of corresponding Arab country facilitators and action group members
- Scheduling of five high-level seminars on key components of e-government and administrative simplification to be held in 2005 – 2006
- Promotion of an online knowledge exchange forum organised by the Dubai School of Government with the support of ARADO
- Scheduling of the 2nd meeting of the working group for February 2005 in Dubai
Policy Discussion
The country presentations showed that Arab countries are facing a number of common challenges related to e-government implementation, ranging from lack of leadership and co-ordination across government to insufficient focus on user demand of e-government. The main areas where reform-oriented action is needed are briefly indicated below:
- Prioritisation: identifying and prioritising objectives on the e-government agenda (e.g. focus on building infrastructure or developing services?).
- Vision: high level vision for e-government exists but needs to be better communicated across government.
- Leadership: e-government leaders should be better identified and leadership better communicated and articulated at each level of administration (political, managerial, operational/technical) – Also the focus should be on the role of e-government leaders in reducing resistance to change.
- Relations with stakeholders: focusing on the value proposition for citizens when establishing services; defining approaches and strategies to market e-government to citizens and business; setting up framework for understanding demand and assessing the benefit to users; managing language diversity (official language and dialect) when dealing with service users.
- Co-ordination: improving co-ordination mechanisms and frameworks to ensure that e-government is uniformly developed across the country and between sectors, and agency integrate services.
- Public-private partnerships: identifying the main challenge and obstacles in partnering with the private sector; defining the requirements and mechanisms to engage in partnerships with the private sector.
- Back office management: ensuring that IT infrastructures and systems are developed and properly maintained.
- Legislation and regulations: creating the necessary legislative and regulatory framework for e-government (e.g. laws on the right of access and use of public information).
- Budget arrangements: ensuring the financial resources needed to implement e-government.
- Evaluation (ex post): understanding and evaluating the impact of e-government on administrative development.
- Indicators: building solid and agreed indicators of e-government advancement in the region building on existing country frameworks.
- Digital Divide: improving availability (i.e. building up infrastructure) and accessibility to Internet and other ICTs (i.e. enhancing IT education and skills for citizens).
- Capacity building: focus on the development of human capital and change management strategies; better integrate ICT people with decision makers in charge of reforms – bring them together and share knowledge.
The country presentations also showed that administrative simplification is a shared objective among Arab countries and a horizontal issue closely linked to transparency, accessibility, improvement of services for business and citizens, which are at the core of modernization of public administration. In order to achieve its goals, a number of common needs have been identified, in terms of strategies and political commitment, coordination among institutions, involvement of stakeholders and capacity building. They will be discussed in particular in the framework of the activities of the Action Group 2.
On the occasion of the launch of its new website, the European Parliament is holding debates on the use of the Internet as a tool of government information, on blogging and on the Internet as an opportunity for the formation of new political communities. The debates will take place in Brussels on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 September.
Countries are increasingly turning to e-government — the use of information technologies (IT) such as wide area networks and the Internet — to improve the delivery of information and basic services to citizens and businesses. They are realizing that e-government can lower business costs and stimulate private investment.
Some of the areas in which governments are applying information technology:
- business registration and license application,
- inspection clearance,
- customs modernization,
- tax administration, (e.g. electronic filing), and
- procurement of goods and services.
E-government has led to significant savings in terms of the time and cost required to conduct daily transactions. By introducing transparency and accountability, it has also increased trust in government. For civil servants, however, e-government offers a mixed bag: changes in management and leadership and retraining requirements.
Although e-government has been around since the 1990s, many developing countries have not fully reaped its benefits because they lack the key conditions for it to thrive: healthy political and regulatory environments, well-developed IT infrastructure, and a large pool of Internet users. Skeptics believe that e-government is not an appropriate tool for low-income countries with limited technical capability. But some developing countries, such as
Guatemala, have successfully implemented e-government in certain areas, despite this shortcoming.
Discussion Questions What obstacles do developing countries face in establishing e-government to facilitate business activity? Are there certain minimum technical or institutional requirements without which e-government is not feasible? Are there countries with relatively low technological development that have nevertheless successfully implemented e-government and witnessed an increase in investment? What new challenges do countries face once they do establish e-government practices? How can these be resolved?
E-Government and Administrative Simplification
Mr. Nabil Ali AL YOUSUF, Assistant Director General
The Executive Office
Rehab Lootah, eServices Acting Director, Dubai eGovernment.
The "push" service is designed to provide customers information from various Government departments through SMS, whereas the "pull" service requires customers to initiate a communication by sending a keyword along with the parameter to the Dubai eGovernment short code 4488, in order to receive an instant response to their inquiry.
Rehab Lootah, eServices Acting Director, Dubai eGovernment, said, "The addition of new DED 'push' and 'pull' services reflects Dubai eGovernment's commitment to ease the lives of Government department clients. eGovernment is focused on introducing new, innovative services and expanding the scope of current services to facilitate hassle-free interaction between Government departments and the public."
Ali Ibrahim, Deputy General Director for Executive Affairs, Department of Economic Development, said, "There has been a significant increase in the number of applications for commercial permits for diverse business activities in Dubai, which has made it imperative for us to leverage innovative customer interaction means. The introduction of the new 'push' and 'pull' services will greatly benefit our clients, who can now be assured of prompt communication from the Department, and at the same time access any other information they might want at the push of a button. We are pleased to contribute to Dubai eGovernment's vision for an e-society."
Members of the public who wish to seek information from DED about an application are given a reference number. They must type "DEDTRN" on their mobile phones followed by the reference number, and send the SMS to 4488. They will then receive a short message from DED relating to the status of the application.
Similarly, trade license holders can inquire about the amount of money to be paid for any license violation by typing DEDFIN followed by the reference number. For example, if the reference number is 51500, then the user must type DEDFIN 51500 and then send the SMS to 4488.
Dubai eGovernment has also added 5 new SMS "push" services from DED. The Department will send SMS to trade license holders regarding the expiry of their license 30 days before the date of expiry, and to holders of temporary advertisement license four days in advance. In the event of any important communication to be relayed to licensees, an SMS will be sent asking them to refer back to the Department.
Likewise, license applicants will also be sent an SMS requesting them to consult the Department for follow-up measures. On approval of the license, DED sends a short message to applicants informing them that they can collect the license upon paying the stipulated amount.
"The new measures will ensure that mobile phone users receive timely information and updates regarding all license-related issues, while allowing them to learn the details involving payment of penalty for any license violation," Lootah said.
"The mDubai service has become immensely popular among mobile phone users in the city, and the convenience, cost-efficiency and usefulness of the service have increasingly been prompting more and more members of the public to avail of the service," Lootah concluded.
Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment with the members of the Libyan delegation.
The committee was keen to gain first hand information about the experience of Arab countries who have adopted eGovernance.
The Libyan delegation also met several companies working closely with Dubai eGovernment, including its customers and suppliers, in order to derive a complete picture of the eGovernment initiative.
Highlighting the history and success of Dubai eGovernment to the visiting Libyan team, Salem Al Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment, said, 'Most government departments in Dubai have been using information technology since the 1980's, which made the task of adopting electronic services much more easier. In 2000, Dubai eGovernment was launched under the patronage and guidance of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and
UAE Defense Minister, with the main goal of introducing eServices to benefit the residents and corporate sector of Dubai.'
'Dubai eGovernment serves as a link between the various government departments in the emirate and integrates these individually automated departments under the single umbrella of the eGovernment initiative. We are focused on implementing IT solutions that are not too sophisticated, but address all our requirements in the most efficient way. Further, Dubai eGovernment is committed to offer customised solutions to cater to diverse requirements of its users.'
Dubai eGovernment regularly conducts training for its employees to ensure high degree of service efficiency and to stay abreast with latest technologies. It also outsources certain processes that would be expensive to develop internally, thus ensuring optimum utilisation of resources.
During their visit, the Libyan delegation explored the hurdles, challenges and achievements of Dubai eGovernment to fully comprehend the various factors that go behind the success of an initiative such as this in the Arab world.
'We were pleased to offer detailed explanations to the representatives from Libya, who chose to study the eGovernment program in Dubai as we have one of the most successful eService initiatives in the region. We will continue our strong focus to include newer, more innovative electronic services to further simplify processes that come within the purview of the government departments, and in the process benefit the users,' concluded Al Shair.
Dubai eGovernment adopted a comprehensive strategy of eTranformation based on the concepts of modernization & development by offering eServices with full integration thereby providing important core services as well as accomplishing targeted integration. These services are:
Ask Dubai
If you have any enquiries or questions concerning Dubai eGovernment, you may call "AskDubai" through your selected means from a range of options. If you do not have any enquiries and wish to express your comments and observations on the overall eGovernment services or on any aspect of its performance, you may use the comment service. If you prefer to chat, with one of our employees, or even through a call back service, then you need to request for an appointment. Our agents will then contact you through your phone.
mDubai
Through your mobile phone as a master communications channel, Dubai government departments can send SMS messages to all their clients. This mobile phone service is completely free.
eGovernment Portal
Dubai eGovernment has used state-of-the-art technologies to present and publish services of all government departments through a unified portal. Due to this strategy, it is possible to access the portal www.dubai.ae for use of all information about government departments and their services through a unified channel. Use of the portal depends on several core services, the most important of which are ePay and e4all.
Although the main purpose of the portal is to ensure for the clients an easy and simple access to eServices, these eServices were classified according to the targeted user's segments.
Community Outreach
The special community outreach team is responsible for communicating with the public through all possible means, especially by direct interaction, with the purpose of promoting e-awareness and in order to facilitate the process of e-transformation. The team's task includes encouraging the public to avail of eServices by explaining the advantages of transacting with different government departments through a modern electronic system.
The team instils confidence in the public regarding electronic transactions and explains the easy nature, cost-effectiveness time-saving and effort-sparing nature of this change and that such approach in government services means active interaction with modern developments in harmony with Dubai's progressive image in all fields.
The public outreach working program was prepared in two phases, the first targeting individuals and business using the Internet, and the second targeting the category of non-Internet users in order to adopt the Internet culture and the use of technology through innovative programs that will ensure a broad base of users.
e4all
Parallel to the technical & development efforts exerted for the transformation of eGovernment services from a traditional pattern to digital technology, Dubai eGovernment launched a series of training and educational initiatives to raise the level of public awareness of the importance of digital transformation and to prompt them to benefit from eServices. These efforts are arranged in several areas, the most important are:
eLearning, eEmployee, eCitizen, e4All.
Research
e-Government Institute undertakes extensive research on key policy issues that have a direct or indirect impact on the Middle East. At DSG we take the public interest at heart and as such we aim to improve the quality of government services in the region as a means to making citizens of the region stronger at the local, regional and global level. Our areas of research include, but is not limited to:
- Public Opinion Polling
- Surveys
- Value Research
- Organizational research (operational processes evaluation)
- International research (lesson drawing and comparative analysis)
If you have an issue or concern where we can be of assistance in helping you engage in a fact finding mission please feel free to fill in the form below and one of our research analysts will contact you.
