IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Dubai eGovernment, the region’s pioneering initiative that facilitates online transactions and communication to ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the Dubai Government supported the two-day Fourth Middle East Mobility and Broadband Summit that was held at the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai on September 13 and 14 on the theme ‘Mobilising the Government, Mobilising the Enterprise.’

Through its booth and a presentation on the first day by Rehab Lootah, its Acting eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment highlighted its evolution from an eGovernment regime to an mGovernment system through the use of mobile wireless communication technology to offer services in health, communications, payments, education, transportation, administration and democracy to the emirate’s corporate and resident communities.

In her presentation, Lootah pointed out: “Adopting an mGovernment system has allowed the emirate of Dubai to increase productivity and effectiveness of public departments by improving delivery of government information and services to the people. Our pioneering portal, http://mobile.dubai.ae has increased channels for people’s interaction with the government and lowered administration costs while at the same time ensuring higher levels of public participation in governance. However, authorities need to consider the challenges of infrastructure, privacy and security, accessibility, legal implications, costs-efficiencies and customer awareness and readiness before deciding to adopt an mGovernment system.”

Given the UAE’s high mobile penetration level of 120 per cent, Dubai eGovernment was able to successfully move to an mGovernment system, offering Push SMS services for driving licence renewals, traffic jam information, health card renewals and trade licence renewals to 7,036,902 customers till August this year. Similarly, Pull SMS services such as flight information, traffic fines and trade licence status were delivered to 168,623 customers.

Since its launch in September 2005, the innovative portal has served as a single contact point for accessing all public services, thus eliminating the complexity and delays of bureaucratic procedures. Shortlisted for the Mobile & Wireless 2006 Best Practices Awards Programme, the portal furthers Dubai Government’s objective of involving the private and public sectors in building a digital economy and is part of its commitment to introduce secure and value-added electronic services to benefit larger segments of the population, particularly mobile phone and PDA users with access to the Internet.

A first-of-its-kind initiative to be launched in the Middle East, the portal allows users to access information and conduct transactions instantly via handheld mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. Its advanced technology enables mobile device users browsing these services to access the specifically-designed mobile portal, whereas those who log on to the website via PCs gain access only to the main Dubai eGovernment portal.

“Though not a substitute for eGovernment, an mGovernment system should be conceived and developed as part of the overall eGovernment strategy and programme by putting in place, user-friendly applications with suitable back office systems that will reach the growing body of mobile device users,” Lootah added.

The mobile portal allows users to access visa information from Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD), Awqaf Department’s prayer timings service and Dubai Police services such as traffic fine enquiries and payments. Portal users can also search for hotels, products in specific malls, get updates on sales and promotions in Dubai, latest movies or weekly television schedules; find addresses of embassies or consulates, use the currency converter service, and access valuable information from the Dubai Financial Market in the form of Mobile Quotes and Live Quotes. While the Mobile Quotes service give the name of the company, Latest Deal (LD) price, volume and changes in stock prices, Live Quotes lists current stock rates of all companies.

Organised by Arabcom Group, the Summit explored the evolution of the mobile government and enterprise, from infrastructure and security to devices, device management and access to critical business intelligence. The event and parallel exhibition provided an interactive and networking forum for decision makers, business partners, companies and investors seeking to benefit from the booming growth of the ICT sector across the Middle East.

Quelle/Source: Maktoob Business, 14.09.2006