eCompany participates in 12th GCC eGovernment Forum

The conference which runs untill May 24, is aimed at showcasing regional eGovernment developments and participants will have the opportunity to learn from successful practices via global case studies.

Shadi Ezzeddine, Project Manager, eGovernment at eCompany's Program Management Office within Etisalat spoke to attendees from across the region on Digital Governments and how this can help transform government services in order to improve public services and help government departments improve service levels, efficiency and reduce costs. eCompany is the strategic technology partner for the Federal eGoevrnment project in the UAE and provides a fully managed business solution allowing ministries to improve services and reduce costs .

Speaking about the need for Customer Centric services, he said, 'Public services are being transformed and there is a need to rethink the role of the government from an internal and external perspective. The needs of the public would be better served if government eServices were structured according to the needs of public rather than the traditional way of delivering services based on Ministries and Authorities.'

According to Mr. Shadi, 'Shared Services are the need of the hour for transforming eGovernment services by reducing waste and inefficiency through the reuse of assets and sharing of investments . Shared back-office services can improve services delivery and moving Government services to shared services across every level in departments can lead to process efficiencies through standardisation, simplification and sharing.'

Mr. Shadi then spoke about eCompany's experience with the UAE eGovernment programme. 'The challenge was to create a integrated one stop single point of entry for the residents, businesses, and Government of the UAE. This demanded a solution which was customer-centric with rich content & a comprehensive directory of services. Based on these parameters, eCompany developed the unified online portal in order to offer access to all eServices. Another important aspect was the initiative to link all individual ministry websites and link them to the portal through a single Content Management System (CMS) so that the portal information could be updated automatically whenever a ministry or entity site is updated.'

The benefits of these initiatives were manifold with Internal benefits like improved organizational performance, streamlining of internal processes, Improved process effectiveness, online integration and collaboration between different departments and local governments and reduced levels of paper work. On the external front, customers and the common public experienced improved Levels of service, reduced bureaucracy and quick access to information anytime and anywhere.

While talking about the drivers behind eGovernment services, he talked about Internal drivers such as governments recognizing the need to be more agile, a strong desire to reform programs and services, changing working practices at individual and organization level and the need for greater intergovernmental cooperation and collaboration. On the external front, globalization, changing expectations from the public and technological advances have made the task of delivering eGovernment services more significant and compelling.

In conclusion, he stressed that the successful transformation of eGovernment is acutely dependent on executive support, change in governance and the mechanisms of administration
change and convergence of the rules and policies of business, human and financial resources, and a comprehensive change management program.