His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT) stated: "It is my pleasure to launch Silah Gulf which is established in line with Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030, through achieving the strategic objectives of the eGovernment Authority Program dedicated to provide eServices at the Kingdom of Bahrain, as Silah Gulf will be providing contact centre services to the public and private sectors, locally and internationally".
Silah Gulf is one of the leading initiatives for the Kingdom of Bahrain government towards contributing to the national economy to develop employment opportunities for Bahrainis. Such an initiative will attract the foreign investments to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
His Highness added: "By this inauguration, we aim at achieving the main objectives and offer the best services with the needed speed and easiness, according to international standards set by Merchants Company, which has 30 years experience in the field, which is evidence of the confidence of global companies in the economy of the Kingdom of Bahrain-based growth and development in various fields".
His Highness concluded: "I take this opportunity to thank the eGovernment Authority team for their great efforts, wishing them all the best of success."
His Excellency Mr. Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister of Cabinet Affairs started his speech addressing the importance of establishing the National Contact Centre and its impact on the quality of government services offered to the public. He mentioned that in order to create Silah Gulf Company, the eGovernment Authority collaborated with Merchants; one of the most reputable international companies specializing in the call centre industry.
The company is located in the United Kingdom and South Africa and has been established for 30 years. Its parent company is NTT, an international Japanese firm known to be the largest company in Japan with yearly revenues of 100 billion dollars. NTT is ranked 31st on Fortune's list of the 500 Largest Companies in the world. The fact that these large companies are investing in the Kingdom of Bahrain is evidence that proves their trust in Bahrain's economy and its ability to develop and generate income.
His Excellency confirmed the Kingdom of Bahrain's efforts in attracting large international companies to establish a national economy based on knowledge, information technology, telecommunications as outlined in Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030.
He also added that the National Contact Centre is one of the eGovernment's initiatives to offer the best eservices by gaining individuals' and businesses' satisfaction, and stated: "Silah Gulf Company is composed of professional teams that deploy world best practices enabling them to deliver efficient and high quality services to local and regional customers."
He concluded by extending his thanks and appreciation to the Board Members of Silah Gulf and the team for their efforts in successfully launching the company.
Furthermore, Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, CEO of the eGovernment Authority, Chairman of Silah Gulf indicated that Silah Gulf Company employs in its contact centres international standards which are considered to be the most unique and advanced in the region in terms of office layouts, logistics, and technical equipment due to the partnership it has with Merchants.
He added: "Silah Gulf Company owns a technological base that permits it to provide all sorts of services to any company. Additionally, it has great potential to expand in the future and for its services to reach further locations in the Middle East".
Mr. Al Qaed also covered the different phases of the launch of the contact centre in Bahrain, within its eGovernment program, in addition to the challenges that were faced during the establishment of the company.
He extended his thanks and appreciation to the members of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology (SCICT), for their efforts and support in bringing the dream to reality, in addition to the working groups of the eGovernment Authority, Merchants Company and Silah Gulf for their continued efforts on the inauguration of the company.
The ceremony was concluded with a presentation done by Mr. Joseph Tawfik, CEO of Silah Gulf, on the main objectives of the centre, success factors of this project and the specialized human resources utilized in the contact centre.
Mr. Tawfik added that since the inauguration, Silah Gulf has already started providing its contact centre services to numerous clients and employs over 200 staff. Silah Gulf has already started to implement studies and businesses with a number of GCC companies, in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab of Emirates, Oman and Qatar, as part of the company's strategic plan in expanding and recruiting 1,000 Bahrainis.
Mr. Adam Foster, CEO of Merchants Company stated: "We proudly announce the launch of Silah Gulf, that comes as a result of the hard work between us and the eGovernment Authority and the rest of the board members" he noted that Merchants Company has decided to partner with the eGovernment and invest in the Kingdom of Bahrain, due to the economic strong foundation Bahrain enjoys, in addition to its environment-friendly features which help business growth and obtain benefits to all involved parties.
"Silah Gulf will be one of the best call centre companies in the region, which will provide its services to the public and private sectors, according to the latest techniques utilized in the international contact centres, in order to guarantee the best quality of services provided to customers."
The launching event of Silah Gulf was attended by their Excellencies Members of the Supreme Committee for Information and Communication Technology, along with the Board of Directors of Silah Gulf Company, and the Executive Directors of the eGovernment Authority, representatives from both public and private sectors. During the event, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa and guests took a brief exploratory visit around Silah Gulf's offices and learned more about the most advanced technical systems used to operate their services.
Silah Gulf is one of the leading initiatives for the Kingdom of Bahrain government towards contributing to the national economy to develop employment opportunities for Bahrainis. Such an initiative attracted foreign investments to the Kingdom of Bahrain, where Silah Gulf was established in collaboration with the eGovernment Authority, and Merchants, a Dimension Data company and part of NTT, the second largest Telecommunications Company in the world.
The National Contact Centre, which will be operated by Silah Gulf, is considered as a channel that permits the Kingdom of Bahrain's Government to expand the services it offers to its citizens, residents, visitors and businesses by ensuring the prompt as well as simple access.
Furthermore, the National Contact Centre offers the same comprehensive services at an elevated level of quality to all ministries, government and private sectors on both local and regional levels through an easy to dial number on a 24 hour basis.
The National Contact Centre is part of the main national strategic objectives of the eGovernment Authority that strives to facilitate and to enable citizens to interact with the government through telephone calls, post, emails and by fax.
The National Contact Centre's number is 80008001 and operates 24 hours from Sunday to Thursday whereas on Saturdays from 8am to 4pm.
The centre is specialized in providing its integrated services of a long available list such as acquiring information, booking appointments, requesting assistance as well as technical support to all the service delivery channels at the eGovernment Authority.
In future, bill payment services, will soon be launched as well as the ability to reach all the services and information related to government departments from their sites, required documents, rules and procedures, visa services and etc.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Nadeen El Ajou
Quelle/Source: AME Info, 18.04.2011
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
