UAE in the context of knowledge management Documents... · 2014-04-01 · planning, in addition to transforming 1000 government services to smart ones in the next three years. During

1Issue 126 - April 2014

In older times, the three major elements of production were from land, labour and capital. In our new age economy, we rely more on knowledge, creativity and information. According to development experts, knowledge specifically has become the key focus in today’s global economy.

The term ‘knowledge economy’ or to use the newer term ‘knowledge community’, refers to an economy where information, communication technologies and creativity are the prime movers of economic growth; in contrast to the earlier production-based economy, where knowledge had a less significant role.

According to United Nations estimates, knowledge economies currently account for 7% of world gross domestic product (GDP) and grow by 10% per annum. Statistics also indicate that more than 70% of employees in advanced economies worldwide are information workers, with a growing percentage of factory workers relying on their intellect as well as their hands.

***It is taken for granted nowadays that those who have got

information, can plan, be creative and serve their customers better. Information is the dominant soft power, which we are busy producing, classifying and storing. We use modern technology to share, transfer and make sense of it, leading to a stronger knowledge economy. So we can see that information is the building blocks to a knowledge economy for most developing countries.

To access knowledge, it is necessary to follow the course of the natural evolution as laid down by experts in the form of what is known as the knowledge hierarchy: data, information, knowledge, wisdom. Data is a set of objective facts with no relationship to govern them. After being processed, data develops into information by being grouped, revised, analyzed and then given a clear framework (in a written form, as an image or as a conversation with another party) before becoming understandable to the recipient. The third phase, i.e. knowledge, is the outcome of information management and is composed of ideas and concepts generated from reports and managed by policies. The final stage of the knowledge hierarchy is wisdom, which means utilizing the available knowledge in an optimal and logical manner and employing it intelligently to serve people and make them happy as part of a chain in which each link leads to the other.

***We in the UAE have made great strides in the course

of this knowledge hierarchy towards knowledge economy, which materializes in the UAE Vision 2021 launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,

as per a methodology that focuses on a number of priorities, the most significant of which lies in building a competitive knowledge-based economy and a sustainable environment. Ever since Dubai Smart Government (DSG) was launched in 2000, HH Sheikh Mohammed urged that “the notion of Government has to be re-invented if we want Dubai to become a leading business hub in the new economy”. This was consolidated by a decision issued by HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, with respect to ensuring Dubai government’s information security to gain access to a secure information-based society that would contribute effectively to building a knowledge-based economy.

All the above is supported by a World Bank 2012 report in which the UAE was ranked first in the Arab world in the knowledge economy index and 42nd among 145 countries worldwide.

It is no exaggeration to admit that DSG also represents a model experience in this framework. For more than a decade, DSG has achieved successive accomplishments with respect to providing services to government entities and decision-makers in such areas as government resources planning systems and government intelligence. It has also provided government services electronically as per a clear vision that focuses on easing the life of all segments of society and serving the business sector by completing government transactions in a fast, efficient and reliable manner.

Director-General, Dubai Smart Government Department

e V i s i o n s

UAE in the context of knowledge management

...

General supervisionMedia and Content

Management SectionCommunication & Business Development Department

Editing and DesigningPRO TECHnology

Contact e4all Dubai Smart Government

Tel: 04-4056274Fax: 04-3532988P.O. Box: 90300

Email: [email protected]

An electronic version can be viewed on www.dubai.ae

The articles in this publication reflect only the author’s opinions and not necessarily those of the Smart Government or its staff.

Republishing of material in this publication is not permitted without attribution of this publication as the source.

Editorial

w w w. d s g . g o v . a e

The Official Magazine of Dubai Smart Government

Content

Government entities working together to make Dubai the world’s smartest city

Government call centres: current reality and future changes

Issue 126 - April 2014

P. 6

P. 11

4Sheikh Mohammed: We want a human-centric city

P. 4

Aspects of the structural change in the Dubai Smart Government 2021

P. 7

The vision of Dubai Smart Government is to ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the government and contribute to establishing Dubai as a leading economic hub.

Dubai Smart Government’s mission is to achieve a virtual government through the provision of high-quality customer focused eServices for individuals, businesses and government departments and to promote eServices adoption through customer management.

Dubai Smart Government promotes eServices through www.dubai.ae - the unified official portal for Dubai Government that provides all residents and businesses of the emirate with more than 1500 electronic services.

e4all is the official magazine of Dubai Smart Government, and helps in creating awareness of eServices to all segments of society and spreading an electronic culture for the well-being of all.

Our Vision

...


In line with its strategy to reach exceptional developmental goals in all fields of internal management, shared services and educational campaigns on smart and eServices; Dubai Smart Government (DSG) recently organized its first brainstorming session for its employees that generated over 500 smart ideas.

The brainstorming session on ‘Smart Ideas Day’ was held in the presence of H.E. Ahmad Bin Humaidan, Director-General of DSG; Wesam Lootah; Assistant Director-General; Marwan Salem Bin Haidar, Executive Director of Planning and Development; and a number of department directors and managers. During the session, participants provided over 500 suggestions. The brainstorming session also boosted employee morale, team building and involvement of staff to promote the work progress in the department.

Bin Humaidan opened the session and stressed on the importance of innovation and creativity in shaping the future and boosting the level of services provided to customers. He recalled the different stages that the UAE has gone through in order to achieve its exceptional position among the leading countries of the world. He also stated that the support of the visionary leadership, determination of Emiratis, willingness to adopt creative ideas has strongly contributed towards the remarkable development of the UAE.

The audience also got the opportunity to preview a special audio-visual presentation on the initiative ‘Dubai Government: Towards 2021’

launched by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council. The comprehensive efforts has paved the way for the government of the future to reach new horizons and is considered the first of its kind in developing the governmental work system and drawing the road map for the happiness, comfort and satisfaction of customers.

During the session, the employees also watched five short video presentations on brainstorming and its significance as a mode of communication; its role in building major projects and persuading employees to participate and suggest their ideas. One of the DSG specialists explained the core points of the department’s strategy, features of the government of the future, and the road map towards 2021 as part of Sheikh Hamdan’s initiative.

Bin Humaidan said: “Responding to the directions of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the brainstorming session contributed in boosting dialogue and exchange of ideas. This will enable us to achieve creative solutions to address key challenges while also promoting development across all levels--realizing the vision of positioning the UAE amongst the most developed countries of the world.”

“It is crucial for us to maintain the spirit of creativity and to think out-of-the-box, in order to continue developing and offering our services to

the public and government authorities and achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction. We were able to collect hundreds of suggestions and creative ideas from our staff during this brainstorming session. After assessing the suggestions, we chose the best 50 suggestions, which will be implemented soon. It is a great thing to have such a large number of ideas in one day,” added Bin Humaidan.

Bin Humaidan noted that after the success of the brainstorm session with the staff, the department is planning to hold another session with the public soon. There would also be a third session afterwards with its strategic partners. Dates of these sessions will be announced later at an appropriate time.

In an effort to involve participation from all department employees, including those manning critical ICT systems, the brainstorming session was broadcast live through video-conferencing systems at DSG’s headquarters. At the end of the brain-storming session, five employees were awarded valuable prizes.

eMonitor

First brainstorming session for Dubai Smart Government’s employees generates over 500 suggestions

Emaar Retail’s new Amazeme.ae entertainmentEmaar Retail has launched a

brand-new entertainment portal, Amazeme.ae, which brings together all leisure attractions of the premium entertainment provider, and offer visitors an array of unmatched promotions.

The portal builds on the strong internet and smartphone penetration in the UAE, and complements the Smart City initiative announced by

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The dedicated portal will significantly enhance the ease of visitors to access Emaar Retail’s popular leisure attractions including Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, SEGA Republic, Dubai Ice Rink, Reel Cinemas and KidZania® in

The Dubai Mall, and SEGA Republic Game Zone and Reel Cinemas in Dubai Marina Mall.

All the leisure attractions under Emaar Retail are showcased on the portal, and visitors logging on to the cross-asset promotion portal can purchase regular tickets in advance and enjoy promotional deals and offers that assure higher value for money.

4 Issue 126 - April 2014

Cover StoryCover story

Dubai - the world’s smartest city” strategy launched

Sheikh Mohammed: We want a human-centric city

‘Number One’, ‘No one remembers the runner-up, ‘Impossible is not in my dictionary,’ are some of the motivating slogans by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The new motivation is ‘the happiness of people. His Highness disclosed his latest thoughts and ideas while he announced Dubai, the world’s smartest city strategy.

Quality of life His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid launched

Dubai’s strategy to shift to smart city, in the presence of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, and General Supervisor of the Smart Dubai project; and HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai. The strategy includes100 initiatives and six pillars in transport, communications, infrastructure, electricity, economic services, and urban planning, in addition to transforming 1000 government services to smart ones in the next three years.

During the launching ceremony, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed emphasized that our country today is witnessing the start of a new phase in the improvement and development of the quality of life through this huge project. He declared that the work has begun with an unprecedented partnership between the public and private sectors to create a new reality and change the perception of the city in which man lives to become part of his/her smart phone; and man is its fundamental axis.

His Highness said, “Our ambition for this project is to touch the life of every individual in our country: every mother in her home, employee in his work, investor in his project, child in school, or a doctor in his clinic. Our aim is a happier life for all and we ask God to help us to achieve this.” HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed said, “HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid does not want us only to develop services .. he wants us to change the way of life in Dubai. He has not set goals for customer satisfaction only, the goal this time is the happiness of people. He wants a smart city, smart economy, smart education, and smart environment. He wants to make a different life not only for future generations but for his people right away.”


The Crown Prince praised the renewable vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, which seeks to create a new environment for the life of people in the emirate and said, “There are leaders who succeed in maintaining reality .. and others who make new ones .. there are leaders .. and there is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.”

Axes and initiatives of the strategy The strategy consists of six key directions:

1) Smart life 2) Smart Transport 3) Smart Society 4) Smart Economy 5) Smart Governance 6) Smart Environment

Central control room His Highness Sheikh Hamdan emphasized that the goal

is to make the whole city available on smartphones for its population .. He added, “We will have a 5-D room for control, monitoring, and operations of the city as a whole. It will be globally the largest, and we will use it for follow-up of transforming Dubai to a smart city, as well as overseeing government projects, service indicators, road conditions, weather, emergencies .. and others. “

Global laboratory for creativitySheikh Hamdan also stated that Dubai will have the

largest open global laboratory for creative people and specialized companies to experiment with all that is new in science and put it into practice immediately. Sheikh Hamdan added, “ Citizens, investors, residents and those interested, we promise them all major changes during future periods. We are the Mohammed bin Rashid team, up to the challenge he has put in front of us.”

Smart tourism His Highness Sheikh Hamdan stressed that the experience

of visitors to Dubai will also be different .. “We will make sure that this experience will start from the moment visitors enter the door of the plane before heading to Dubai until the arrival, during their tours and shoppings, and all the details of their stay with us. We promise them all a wonderful and globally unique visitor experience.”

Ready foundations HE Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of the

Executive Office and Chairman of the Higher Committee for Dubai’s transformation to a smart city, said that the next phase will include the creation of a technical and service integration between the systems in all institutions. HE Gergawi added that when the team began work on this project, they found that all the foundations of the infrastructure networks and databases were ready. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed at the time commented, “It seems that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid has already been aware of where he wanted to arrive at .. everything is ready

for this project, and we need only to raise the building because the foundations are already there, thank God.”

Communication, integration, cooperation The strategic plan is based on three basic ideas:

communication, integration and cooperation. These ideas will enhance communication between the residents of the city and its institutions and different facilities by facilitating access to and share of information and data of the city to keep residents informed about government entities, schools, hospitals, roads and transport, sensor systems, buildings, energy .. and others.

DSG readiness for Smart Dubai Dubai Smart Government (DSG) Department has affirmed

its full readiness to comply with the Smart Dubai Strategy to convert Dubai into the world’s smartest city, as announced by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister & Ruler of Dubai.

H.E. Ahmad Bin Humaidan, Director General of DSG, said: “Dubai is witnessing the start of a new, unique and unprecedented stage to enhance the quality of human life in all fields, thanks to a number of initiatives launched by our prudent leadership built on the infrastructure by our institutions and human resources to serve our citizens and residents.”

He added: “HH Sheikh Mohammed’s launch of the strategy to transform Dubai into the world’s smartest city gives us a roadmap to reach this goal with services and utilities on smartphones and the entire city designed in a smart manner to understand and serve the needs of all.”

Bin Humaidan clarified that DSG would be fully prepared to support this roadmap, thanks to its long experience in eTransformation including its advanced infrastructure, its unified and secure government information network and platforms; and its government resources planning systems used by 43 Dubai government entities, its shared services, and its leading smart phone apps; all of which are enablers to make Dubai the smartest city in the world.

Bin Humaidan pointed out that since HH Sheikh Mohammed announced the move towards smart government, DSG has already undertaken many practical steps to facilitate and expedite the smart transformation process. DSG put a package of its shared services at the disposal of government entities to enable them to optimize them and employ them in achieving the transformation into smart government and smart city, thereby contributing to attracting visitors and businesses to Dubai, thanks to the easy potential for accessing and conducting government services including the government service bus, ePay and MyID.

DSG has already completed four out of five smart transformation policies and guidelines for government entities. Bin Humaidan emphasized that DSG is putting all its potentials and infrastructure at the disposal of government entities with the aim of making Dubai the smartest city in the world.•


Smart City

Government entities working together to make Dubai the world’s smartest city

Smart transportation:HE Mattar Al Tayer , Chairman and Executive Director of RTA:«Smart transportation is one of the main pillars for smart cities. Recognizing this fact, RTA has put a comprehensive plan to ensure the provision of the smartest transportation in the world through developing the traffic systems and upgrading transportation technologies, in addition to creating a «Unified Control Centre» for all transportation and traffic. We will also provide more than 200 services using smart phones at the end of 2015.»

“Dubai Design District,” the world’s smartest district:Dr. Amina Al-Rostamani, CEO of Dubai-based TECOM Investments and developer and operator of “Dubai Design District”:«Based on the initiative of Smart Dubai, we seek to make “Dubai Design District “the smartest district in the world, by equipping its infrastructure with all of the smart biometrics solutions, safety and security sensors, the wide coverage of WAN networks, in addition to the smart mobility, with the aim of providing the community with a sophisticated and unique technological experience. Smart apps developers will be able– by providing them with a network open to information systems – to invest in developing creative mechanisms that facilitate businesses and enable businesses and shops, depending on the open sources of data and information, to provide smart solutions designed to meet the needs of their customers.»

Smart electricity:HE Saeed Mohammed

Al Tayer, CEO and Managing Director of

DEWA:«One of the most important initiatives in the coming period will be the development of the smart electric grid, which will enable homeowners in Dubai to sell their houses’ surplus solar energy to the government through this network. The authority has allocated a huge budget for the completion of the network and the provision of smart electricity meters, in addition to other services, such as changing residence, reconnecting the service remotely, and enabling the consumer to reduce consumption.»

Smart economy:HE Sami Al Qamzi , Director

General of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai:«The launch of the regionally-first-of-its-kind project, the ‘Smart Retail Sector’ comes in light of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai>s transformation into a smart city, to reach the smartest retail sector in the world. The project also tries to achieve sustainable development – one of the Department’s main objectives – and aims at enhancing the competitiveness of businesses according to the highest global standards.»

The world’s smartest police:Major General Khamis Mattar Al

Mazeina, Commander in Chief of Dubai Police:

«In its plan for the current year of 2014, and in line with the Smart Dubai Initiative, Dubai Police will implement a number of smart phone services which will relieve the public of the burden of visiting police stations to perform transactions.»

The government entities in Dubai have begun to work hard to keep up with the requirements of the new reality introduced by the project of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a smart city; in light of his latest human-centered strategy. The following are some comments that tackle this huge project by a group of leaders in government entities in Dubai:


Dubai 2021

Aspects of the structural change in the Dubai Smart Government 2021

Business and eCommerce services: Each company will have an e-shop as a regular requirement of the licensing and the establishment procedures. New ePayment options will be available, such as the mobile phone wallet and direct balance transfer provided by all banks in the country. Owning a bank ePayment account will be less complicated and less costly.

Smart tablets: Smart tablets will become a basic means of school education. The Government will give the opportunity for private sector companies to develop educational apps. Smart evaluation will be the method of Tests.

Smart apps: All smart apps will be pre-reinstalled by the factory phone settings, in addition to reinstalling the ePortal of the Government of Dubai with HTML5, government services will be free for all without the need for data packages.

Government data centres: They will be replaced by a single unified government data centre. A smart system will be applied to analyze large data on the behaviour of customers, and deliver eServices in the manner desired by each customer.

Dubai Government’s web presence: All government services will be provided by a single ePortal; the other websites of the government entities will be only offering information and news related to these entities. The Government of Dubai ePortal will give much more attention to information than to eServices, in compliance to the concept of «Content is King», to become one of the most important gateways of accessing information by the people of Dubai. Access to the ePortal will be through the unified ID card with the highest levels of safety and security.

A unified call centre: All call centres of the government bodies will be unified with a toll-free number for all entities. The smart IVR system will be adopted to direct the caller to the service required automatically. The call centre agents will be chosen from the best customer service teams, and outsourcing will be stopped. In addition to Arabic and English, several other languages will be used. The centre will be linked to a unified customer service system, as well as a unified system for the implementation of services and technical support directly over the phone, and will be linked to the unified ePayment gateway.


Dubai Government entities are making great efforts in mobile phone apps as part of the Smart Government transformation within the next two years. This has resulted in some of them neglecting their traditional websites that were started during the eGovernment initiative earlier.

To put right the tendency of focusing on smart apps at the expense of upgrading the the government websites, we review the best government practices in this area, which – despite the ongoing smart phone apps initiatives – deal with the ePortal as an indispensable substitute for smart apps. We will start with the Government of Dubai official website: Dubai.ae

What is a smart website?Briefly a smart website is a website

that can identify the type of mobile

phone used to access the website in addition to recognizing the operating system, browser, screen size and manner of display, in order to display all the basic website’s data in a manner appropriate to the smart phone used without glitches in the presentation or problems in the functions and services.

This type of design is called “Responsive Web Design,” which responds by altering its shape according to the type of device used for browsing.

How does Dubai.ae respond?

We have entered the ePortal of the Government of Dubai using several mobile phones, computer tablets, and PCs, and we have found that there is a real challenge faced because of the overcrowding of the data, visual

elements and ads that appear on the PC version. But the ePortal design team has succeeded in excluding all secondary elements and kept the basic components of the site to be displayed in a manner suitable for browsing via mobile phone with clear fonts whether in landscape or portrait layouts.

However, the Service Guide, an important component of the ePortal, appeared more clearly on PCs than on mobile phones as it is classified in several ways on the PC, while these classifications were not clear on the small spaces of mobile phone screens. Perhaps the use of classified icons in the design will help visitors via mobile phone use those tabs more properly so that they can take advantage of this important property that makes the ePortal a real one-stop-shop for all government services. •

Smart Websites

Dubai.ae as a model

Smart design for government websites


The Human Resources Management Information System “Bayanati" is an electronic system that enables the automation of all HR procedures in all government entities adopting it. The system is a qualitative leap in the work of federal agencies benefiting from it; as it establishes a unified database for the Federal Government covering all ministries, federal and independent agencies.

Bayanati, which can be accessed through the website of the Federal Authority of Government Human Resources, http://www.fahr.gov.ae , is one of the best practices that have been employed to serve federal agencies, because it covers all HR procedures starting from the appointment of the employee until the end of service. It provides a database of the workforce in the Federal Government, which aids the decision-makers, facilitates administrative procedures, and elevates the performance of HR departments in the Federal Government. The project, arising from the UAE’s vision to be among the best nations by 2021, aims to provide a comprehensively electronic work environment that speeds up procedures related to staff, and then reduce costs and raise production efficiency, as well as facilitate the issuing of accurate statistical reports on human resources.

Bayanati provides several important services to employees, including: a unified system for monthly salary payment, a statistical resource for the workforce in the Federal Government which constitutes a reference for decision-makers and helps in the planning process, and a self-service portal that allows staff to participate in the completion of HR procedures. The system currently operates in 18 ministries and three independent federal agencies whose staff members account for nearly 55,900 employees, and more independent bodies are now being connected to the system.

His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, has launched “the Advanced Scholarships System,” that provides scholarship services electronically via the Internet, as well as through smart phone apps.

Sheikh Hamdan said that the launch of the system, both electronically and via smart apps, has crowned several services that have already been converted into smart ones, pointing out that this system allows Emirati students to conduct all procedures related to scholarships online or via smart phone, which saves time and effort, and provides greater opportunities for communication between the Ministry and the students on the one hand, and students and the cultural attaches on the other. The Advanced Scholarships System provides more than 40 services related to scholarships starting from submission, follow-up, admission, registration and travel procedures, as well as follow-up of the student’s academic and financial status whether by the Ministry or the Cultural Attaché.

It is expected that this system would contribute in controlling the process of scholarships, and help watch over the situation of students abroad closely, which will facilitate overcoming some of the problems and obstacles that prevent students from completing their studies, especially in light of the results of the recent study conducted by the Ministry, which showed that the

percentages of students who canceled their scholarships during the study period were 56.6% for the bachelor’s degree, and 45.17% for the master’s degree.

During “GITEX 2013” last October, H.E Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan said, “The Scholarship Student App is in its experimental stage, and students who obtained scholarships in the second semester of the year (2013 – 2014) will benefit from it. This comes in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may Allah protect him, for federal and local government agencies to shift to smart government.”

More information about the service is available on the website of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research: www.mohesr.gov.ae.•

Smart Country

Scholarships, online & on smartphone

Bayanati: quantum leap in smart government apps

HR Department

HR Department and hiring life cycle

Employee’s KPIs

eJob

Planning

Departments

End of serviceTransfers

Training and Development

Financial Department

Fines and Penalties


RTA's services to be smart by May 2015 to be aligned with the smart government

On the purpose of simplifying procedures of accessing services by the public and to save their effort and time, RTA in Dubai has revealed a road map for converting its over 200 eServices to smart ones provided on smart phones and tablets.

The transformation will be carried out in five successive stages starting from next month until May 2015, a date by which all services provided by RTA are planned to be smart, which is considered a turning point in the RTA's mechanism of service delivery.

RTA's officials have confirmed the Authority's full readiness to support the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into the smartest city in the world within 3 years. They emphasized that the Authority will comply will all the criteria of Smart Dubai in developing and providing new services, in addition to the already existing services, such as 'mPay', 'ePayment Gateway', and 'My e-Identity.'

The Authority has unveiled its latest services that meet the demands of different segments of customers, including: experimental theory test in Arabic, English, and Urdu; tender services, which keeps suppliers informed of new tenders; inquiry about the status of NOC for school buses; the water taxi services, such as booking; and Nol-Card transaction log. The Authority also provides application requests for parking permits for the elderly and disabled via mobile phones, in addition to renewal requests in cases of expiry or damage.

RTA is currently offering 32 smart services, all of which are compatible with Android and iPhones. It will also test services on 11 different devices to ensure compatibility with the most widespread devices.

Dubai Police: “Smart Services Department” instead of “eServices Department”

Major General Al Mazeina, Commander in Chief of Dubai Police, issued a decree to change the name of the General Department of eServices to the General Department of Smart Services, in line with the initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, that has necessitated the change of the name of Dubai eGovernment to Dubai Smart Government, marking the new phase of the smart transformation.

Al Mazeina said, “The decision comes from the keenness of Dubai Police to implement the aspirations of His Highness to persist with innovation to keep pace with the requirements of the next stage of the Smart Government in the Emirate of Dubai, which offers its services to clients via smart phones in a creative and smooth way to keep abreast of global developments on the technical level, and as a response to the requirements of the public and the business sector, in order to achieve excellence and leadership of our country.”

Al Mazeina added, “We always keep in mind the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, to shift to the smart government and to achieve the number one in the provision of smart services, according to the requirements of the future government in bringing happiness to customers,” .. adding that Dubai Police was one of the first government departments to adopt the technical solutions in the delivery of its services.

Traffic violations can be fined with portable devices

Dubai police has revealed that traffic patrols have been equipped with portable devices that can monitor traffic violations and issue fines instantly. 100 devices have a new feature that enables drivers to settle fines immediately using credit cards, and a further100 device will be operating at the end of this year.

The new device has several properties, including checking the date of the vehicle, and issuing fines and sending them simultaneously to the system to be registered, in addition to presenting any notifications related to the vehicle and detecting any manipulation in the vehicle’s number.

The regionally-first-of-its-kind device has a number of features, including notifying vehicle owners of any traffic fines upon issuing. It also has video and photography cameras that enable policemen to take photos or short videos of the violating vehicles.

This device is directly linked to the traffic and criminal electronic systems, thus, as soon as the policeman enters the vehicle’s data, all traffic and criminal information is displayed: if the vehicle is to be impounded, whether it is wanted by police or other government entities in the country, whether its license has expired, and others.

News


Government call centres: current reality and future changes

The UAE Smart Government and Dubai Smart Government provide the finest services and facilities to the customer. The “personal government account” is considered an important means of contact between the citizen and the government, through which the citizen gets information, performs transactions, and receives notifications concerning these transactions as well as the irregularities that he/she might be exposed to.

It is the concept of “VIP service,” which the leadership in Dubai considers to be the basis for all future government transactions, out of a deep conviction of customer service, including responding to their queries and receiving their complaints, which is the duty of the government institution.

The reality of the government call centres

In facing this obligation of the government, methods of providing services by government call centres have varied. We will start from the call centres that offer relatively good services and review the inferior ones as well.

In the first position are the call centres that use toll-free numbers, work around the clock seven days a week, offer communication channels through social networks, receive messages via e-mail, and receive requests for online chatting in several languages.

These call centres end up by thanking the caller via an SMS with a reference number to the subject matter of the phone-call, which enables the customer to follow up.

Secondly come the call centres that have local landline numbers in one of the emirates in the UAE. They are free if the user contacts them from a landline in the same emirate only, but paid if called from another emirate or from a mobile phone.

The final category includes call centre numbers that are paid by the caller and begin with the number 600.. These numbers are considered expensive to the customer, and the companies offering them receive thousands of phone-calls daily, so they turn these call centres into a source of profit to achieve returns that cover the expenses of these centres. The cost of these calls is determined by the companies and the landline service provider. Fast-food restaurants are a good example on

this kind of call centre, where the call cost ranges from AED1 to AED1.5 per minute.

Consumer protection call centre

The editorial team has surveyed the government call centres and found that a significant number of these centres have adopted the paid number option, the most notable of which was the Consumer Protection call centre. The editorial team contacted this centre and noted that the voice response provided no information about the call cost. When we inquired about the call cost, the agent had no idea, which forced him to contact his administration to inquire about it.

However, it is worth mentioning that contacting this number from any landline in Dubai is free, and costs 30 fils when using mobile phones.

We believe that this number should be from the completely toll-free category that begins in (800), because this centre is mostly contacted by ordinary consumers who want to make complaints about cases related to small amounts of money, so no additional burdens should be imposed on them. •

Delighting customers


“Matajircom”: the first smart integrated eCommerce hotspot

in the region

According to the Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (TRA), the size of the eCommerce market in the UAE reached 11 billion AED throughout the last year; which is roughly equal to US 3 billion. This is almost 60% of the market size among GCC countries.

The GCC eCommerce industry is estimated to grow 35% yearly to USD 15 billion in 2015 according to Visa International, making it the world’s fastest-growing market for eCommerce. The regional eCommerce market is currently valued at USD 8 billion.

In cooperation with Dubai Customs and through Economic Zones World (EZW), Dubai has established “Matajircom”, the world’s first smart retail centre, as part of TechnoPark.

The total cost of the project is between 400 to 500 million AED. The project will be built in an area of 1.42 million square meters, with 70% of the area as rentable warehouses. “Matajircom”, will serve eCommerce companies locally, regionally and globally. It will provide store fronts developers in the centre in addition to integrated, smart and commercial platforms which are equipped to serve the existing or new projects that target the business and service sector provided by the commercial entities to the consumers (B2C), or to other commercial entities (B2B). Moreover, it will develop the front of smart stores on demand, and a complementary ePayment gateway, in addition to listing the products online as well as the integration with the accounting system. Furthermore, the project will provide complementary facilities including warehouses, offices and infrastructure logistic solutions.

The laws of the free zones The laws that will be applied to the new centre include

100% full ownership with the possibility of repatriation of 100% of capital and profits and 0% tax on income.

In addition, the laws specified to smart commerce and the unified window solution will provide many services like: licensing, leasing and service and facilities of high level on customs.

To implement this comprehensive initiative, the international economic zones in cooperation with Dubai Customs, set up a comprehensive business system that combines various key players on one platform to cooperate with each other in a harmonic beneficial pattern which enable customers to start commerce seamlessly.

A new Dubai Custom systemIn order to save time and money, Dubai Customs initiated

a new custom fees system specified for this city, through the seasonal payment since every company will have an account for the monthly payment.

This project represents a new shape for the business inside Dubai. In the past, companies in the free zones sent their goods to the local market by wholesale via trucks. So, the goods were not directed to the final consumer but to another retailer. Today, the companies which apply this project send one or more of their products by smaller vehicles which make it impossible to apply the traditional custom fees system and create the need for a new customs mechanism to accommodate this new business model.

e-StoresThe hub’s physical fulfillment facilities and services

will comprise eCommerce tailored small, medium, large warehouses (including 3rd party managed warehouses), offices, infrastructure ready plots of land, along with a highly efficient transport and logistics solutions.

The eCommerce hub’s financial infrastructure and payment gateway will allow fast and secure processing of international, regional and local credit cards, pre-paid cards, debit cards, or direct debit. High speed Internet will allow superfast, reliable and cost effective Internet access.

The hub’s store front developers will offer full-service eCommerce platforms ready to service enterprises or start-ups targeting B2C or B2B, developing customized storefronts, payment gateway integration, products configuration, backend integration to accounting systems and other web services.

Through e-marketplace service providers, a company will be able to list a product, ship to customers through a third party fulfillment services, and collect payment, making easy, worry-free sale.

Launching the centreThe work on the project will start in April this year. The

eCommerce business hub will be fully operational in the 2nd quarter of 2015. EZW eCommerce seeks to attract established e-retailers, large retailers aspiring to embark upon e-retail, start-ups and entrepreneurs interested in eCommerce. •

Smart Trade


750 e-Services

16,900,000 e-Transactions

Dubai Trade in numbers:

5 48

6working days *

documentsto archive

Kg of CO 2 6.9

30Km travel

3 litres of fuel

working hours for an

employee

papers per transaction15

UAE is ranked #4 globally in Trading Across Borders*

Dubai Non-Oil trade value in 2013 exceeded AED 1.3 trn which means an average AED 126,600 worth of trade transacted through Dubai Trade portal every hourSaving the Economy US 40.2 billion**

The total achievements of Dubai Trade e-Services

Infographic

750 e-Services

16,900,000 e-Transactions

Dubai Trade in numbers:

5 48

6working days *

documentsto archive

Kg of CO 2 6.9

30Km travel

3 litres of fuel

working hours for an

employee

papers per transaction15

UAE is ranked #4 globally in Trading Across Borders*

Dubai Non-Oil trade value in 2013 exceeded AED 1.3 trn which means an average AED 126,600 worth of trade transacted through Dubai Trade portal every hourSaving the Economy US 40.2 billion**

The total achievements of Dubai Trade e-Services


People in Dubai are blessed with comfort and tranquility with many expatriates preferring to live here as Dubai welcomes all, regardless of culture, ethnicity and origin. Thus Dubai’s lifestyle is characterized by peaceful co-existence.

Dubai has launched the Silicon Park project that adds to Dubai’s chart using smart touches.

Silicon Park Project The project is based on the idea of turning Dubai to a

completely smart city, and provides a modern lifestyle for residents, workers and visitors, based on the standards that keep pace with the strategic directions of the Government of Dubai towards the smart city, through six pivots: life, society, mobility, economy, governance and the environment.

The project has been designed to meet all the needs and requirements of the residents, visitors, businessmen, and families round the clock throughout the year. It will include a number of sites and spaces, one of which will host activities in the open space. These spaces are equipped with the latest devices and technologies, including smart display screens, 3D display devices, and lighting and sound equipment, in addition to smart seats, smart sound systems, and communication systems.

The project is in compliance with the UAE Green Building Regulations and Specifications, which support environmental sustainability, and it will be built with ‘green’ building material and control mechanisms as well as solar panels and double-glazed windows to reduce heat absorption. “Silicon Park” is characterised by its buildings topped with green roofs, which will include plants and trees that require minimal irrigation and utilise solar energy captured from the roof of the buildings. The project will also benefit from renewable energy resources and will apply measures to improve the efficiency of energy consumption.

Beyond constructionA notion that dwells in the conscience of the Emirati

planner in Dubai and is often reiterated in the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, that is “the making of life.” People of this part of the world are unhappy with cultural, industrial, and scientific decline, and by being mere consumers of products. Thus, this type of of creative projects aims, in essence, to reprogram the mood of the people of the region and stimulate their aspirations in order to recover what this strategic part of the world once enjoyed of leadership, and cultural and scientific prosperity. The project will be one of the landmarks through which next generations will learn to regain these values. •

Smart life

Silicon Park.. Smart lifestyle replete with modernity and technology


#MyDubai

Snapshots from the biography of Dubai on Instagram The first biography of a city through the eyes of its people

Leader’s tweets to make Dubai the happiest city

Social Networks

Tariq al-Shehhi.. father of four children .. UAE martyr of Duty in Bahrain*(*Translation)

Our goal is to create a better reality, build a new model of development, and achieve a happier life for our people

Today we launched a three-year strategy to transform Dubai into a “Smart City”. It has 100 initiatives & 1000 Smart government services

I was surprised by a group of employees brainstorming while on a morning desert safari with my daughter

Competed with my feelings.. I wrote this poem to Tariq al-Shehhi

Today we launched a project that will transform Dubai metro stations into museums of art and innovation

4 March - 3:50 AM 4 March - 8:14 AM 5 March - 2:15 AM

8 March - 1:31 AM16 March - 1:46 AM17 March - 4:17 AM


eServices Wizard

“Abnaee” is a new app intended for parents and can be obtained from Google and Apple app stores.It allows easy communication with government schools for parents and offers many features including:

Abnaee app from Ministry of Education

For more information, contact:

80051115

An attendance report with reasons for absences and whether they are excused or not

2

3

4

1Here the user finds a listing of the students’ grades in all subjects with the total and the percentage

A messaging service that enhances parents’ contact with the school and boosts mutual cooperation.

View of the location of the school and transportation service, in addition to contacting drivers to know arrival time, and the ability to report any complaints concerning the students’ safety