COMMENTARY: Serco Experts Comment On The Establishment Of Dubai Digital Authority

Following the announcement by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, to establish the Dubai Digital Authority (DDA) yesterday, Serco Middle East’s experts share their insights on what this means for the future of Dubai, how this falls within the next 50 years plan for the Emirate and finally, how can this data be utilised by the government.

Paul Bogan, Serco’s Chief Digital Officer on the digital journey

The establishment of Dubai Digital Authority is about improving the customers’ experience across all government services in a safe and secure way.Having DDA with its own judicial identity and legal authority enables the right framework for accelerating technological advancement and adopt the latest ICT advancements that support social and economic prosperity and improve the people’s living standards

Digitising government services will also ease registration process and removes barriers, which means there’s a higher opportunity for new businesses to enter the market, and eventually nourish the economy and attract more expats. Additionally, the digital transformation programme will allow all government entities to raise their efficiency and performance levels by enabling government departments to automate their work, operations and services, and as a result, offer a better service to citizens and residents.

Based on analysis of a ground-breaking nation-wide survey of UAE citizens and residents, the Serco Institute found that an astonishing 90% of people described themselves as being very happy with the government services they had used in the past two years.

Now, look at the next 50 years plan,the UAE wants to be seen as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and an end-to-end digital government experience is just another step forward to deliver this huge ambition.

Additionally, data is key to driving new insights. Collecting and analysing users’ data will help Dubai government to better understand their citizens’ needs earlier to identify new areas of improvement to enhance their social happiness index.

Kristine Pitts, Director of Serco’s user-centred design agency, ExperienceLab Middle East, on the customer experience

Dubai government is already ahead of the curve in providing a wide range of digital services to citizens and delivering happiness at the same time. In our recent survey by Serco Institute,85% of people said their experience of government services impacts their overall happiness. The majority of respondents also said that one bad experience with services provided by the government also effects their ‘trust’ in government service more generally.

However, digital transformation and evolution never stops, in fact it is accelerating year on year. Also, citizens might be happy now, but as government digital services improve – so does ‘what’ or ‘who’ these services are being compared to. Yesterday, the comparison might have been to governments in other countries around the world,today, you’re setting the new benchmark, and tomorrow you might be compared to the Amazon or Uber in terms of experience and service.

Delivering an end-to-end interconnected customer journey is the next level to aim for. As an example, imagine that as soon as you agree on an apartment rental contract, you and the landlord will both sign the agreed contract using a digital service. This service could then initiate all the next steps to register for Ejari without the need of doing anything else. You could then receive the contract which could contain the move in date, so next you receive a request from Dewa to confirm the date you want your services to start. In 5 minutes, you could have completed the full process of government registration for moving into your new house. Everything could then be sent to your email and can be accessed online for when you need it.

The future is omni-channel, interconnected, focused on digital, yet personalised to the needs of individuals. Digital services start to anticipate what you need rather than just respond to your requests. The Dubai government has been working on these type of services already through the accelerators, but there is still work to be done.

Taking a user centred approach to designing these services will be key to ensuring that they have the desired impact. Mapping the journey people go through when interacting with government services, their needs, expectations, pain points and what influences their decisions is important. Digital services designed in a way that meets user needs and expectations can deliver transformational change, and if it was done poorly, it can cost governments the trust of their citizens as seen in many examples around the world.

The investment in digital and establishing an authority isnot just to drive digital transformation, but to also ensure everything is delivered to the same standards and integrates well, which is a great step forward. Hopefully within the same approach, investment will also be made to take a user centred designapproach that involves the user at all stages of development, from discovering needs, designing new ways to deliver services that meet those needs, to testing prototypes and informing continuous improvement.