Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority joins Dubai eGovernment's AskDubai platform

DAFZA joins an increasing number of government agencies opting to use a centralized response service to handle queries from business and public callers through multiple channels.

Following the agreement with Dubai eGovernment, DAFZA will be able to provide information on several issues in the first phase, including Employment Visas, Requests for NOC Letters, Visit & Transit visas, Collection of Passports, Visas Cancellation, etc.

"With a growing number of registered companies, Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority is flooded with a large number of calls pertaining to our services and procedures," said Adel Kalantar, IT Manager, DAFZA. "As a result, it was becoming increasingly difficult to handle these calls through in-house inquiry service."

"As a government department we provided our customer support from 7:30-14:30, but now Dubai eGovernment's AskDubai provided us with the right solution because it offered advanced interactive response systems," added Kalantar. "The AskDubai platform incorporates state-of-the-art CRM systems, allowing interactive 24-hour response mechanisms through a combination of agents and electronic systems to deliver customer satisfaction. We have ensured that agents are fully trained to provide accurate and updated information to our valued callers."

Mahmood Al Bastaki, Acting Director of eServices, Dubai eGovernment, said: "Key government agencies like DAFZA need to move to the next level of caller response technology. As the expense involved in acquiring hi-tech call centre equipment is very high, Dubai eGovernment thought of creating a unified call centre that could be utlilised by all government departments. AskDubai is finding increasing acceptance among various agencies because it provides the ideal solution through multiple channels such as the Internet, Fax, Voice Mail, SMS and Agents."

Describing the advantages of an integrated and shared call centre for government departments, Al Bastaki said AskDubai served as a single point of contact to government departments in Dubai, and it is accessible round the clock, provides bilingual support through multiple channels and unified inquiries, complaints and feedback.

Since its launch in June 2003, AskDubai has been adopted by several government departments, including Dubai Police, Dubai Development Board, Dubai Land Department, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Civil Defence, DOHMS and Dubai Economic Department.

Customers can contact AskDubai on phone line 7000 40000 or submit their queries to help@dubai.ae available on the portal www.dubai.ae or send a fax on 04 330 3399. Those wishing to post comments can go to "Feedback." There is a facility to chat online with one of the agents. Users can also go to the "Schedule a Callback" link to be called back at a designated time. They can choose "Chat and Talk" link if they want a representative to call them back on the telephone while they are still chatting online.