Discuss about the Impacts of Use of Smart Services in Governments.
The advancement in technology has improved service delivery in the world. The otherwise involving services offered by organizations, governments are now done in a smart way; technologically. Service delivery is faster under smart service platforms and hence saving time. A smooth delivery increases a customer’s experience and this is an added advantage to the organization. In UAE, the Ras Al Khaimah state government has “adopted the smart services in service to its citizens” (Rahman & Ahmed, 2016, 5-7). The state has joined many others in the country which have also implemented the smart service delivery programs ensuring efficiency in the governmental interactions and service delivery to the esteemed citizens according to Zawati and Dweiri, (2016)
According to Thawani, (2014), quite many global governments have unleashed digitized survive delivery to citizens over the past few decades. Digital service is the preffered service delivery for these governments.The smart service offered by the Ras Al Khaimah government are “hosted in its portal; ww.rak.ae” (Criado, Sandoval-Almazan &Gil-Garcia, 2013, pp.319-326). The services offered are categorized into three main groups, “Personnel Services (G2C), Corporate Services (G2B) and the Government Services (G2G)” (Dameri, R.P., 2014, pp. 45-88). The Personnel Services (G2C) includes the services by the government to the citizens, visitors and all the residents of Ras Al Khaimah in general. Since this is the easiest and efficient way to reduce funds leakage the application for national identification cards, passport application, driving license application among many other smart services are the digital services introduced.
The Corporate Services (G2B) services include service delivery to the businesses and investment parties. The latter has made it possible to get all the government required services for any investor or business cooperate in the state of Ras al Khaimah as stipulated by Abdelhafez and Amer, (2014). Moreover, the government of Ras Al Khaimah state offers interdepartmental services within the government in its G2G smart service platform. According to sources, the Ras Al Khaimah has been “able to deliver many services efficiently” (Zawati, & Dweiri, 2016, pp. 881-885).It’s over and over again been the preferred service delivery even for businesses.
The impacts of the use of smart services are numerous. The use of “smart services by government saves the customers’ time” (Dameri, R.P., 2014, pp. 45-88). We can never under estimate the power of a satisfied customer.The smart services are characterized by a huge investment of governments’ money to achieve a faster service delivery to the citizens, businesses and the intergovernmental service delivery according to Gil-Garcia & Helbig (2014). The smart services delivery has enhanced “saving the citizens’ and businesses’ otherwise limited time and hence enhancing delivery in their respective duties” (Dameri, R.P., 2014, pp. 45-88). The Ras Al Khaimah state online portal has made abolished the traditional queuing method that has been in use for many years and hence the time that has been used in queuing for the government services can be used elsewhere in respective nation-building duties as stated by Gil-Garcia & Helbig (2014).
Besides saving time for the customers, the smart service program by the government of Ras Al Khaimah state has made it easier for the citizens as well as the businesses and parastatals to get informational updates on the government precedence. The Ras Al Khaimah state government uses social media like Twitter on updating its citizens and other subscribers on the state of the government and hence communicating the major governmental issues there according to Kim, Park, and Rho, (2015).This information in most cases is accurate since there is no interferences with the outside party hence reliable. The social media platforms incorporation into the smart services of the governments, especially the governor of Ras Al Khaimah state has seen “faster information sharing about the issues concerning the state” (Criado, Sandoval-Almazan &Gil-Garcia, 2013, pp.319-326).Also this adaptation saves the government any leakages of funds from its citizens when applying for any document.
The Ras Al Khaimah state smart services initiative has “improved efficiency in service delivery” (Thawani, S., 2014, pp.1-10). The otherwise complicated services delivery to the citizens, businesses and the government parastatals is now easier in the Ras Al Khaimah state as in most states of the United Arab Emirates according to (Thawani, S., 2014). The smart service programs in the governments; globally, are based on powerful servers capable of serving numerous customers at a go and hence the elimination of the analog way of delivering services that have been on the run for many years before the growth and maturity of the technology. According to Abdelhafez and Amer, (2014), the improved efficiency in service delivery is key to saving the customers’ valuable time.
Mansour, (2015) has it that the smart service delivery program by the Ras Al Khaimah state government has seen an improvising of the services offered through the feedback system. According to Mansour, (2015), the online governmental service has a feedback system where the customer gives his or her views on satisfaction with the mode of service delivery offered. The latter has improved the quality of the services offered by the Ras Al Khaimah state government which implements the suggestion made by its customers on “the smart service delivery portals” (Abdelhafez and Amer, 2014, 2).
“The e-government customer get quality services from the Ras Al Khaimah state government (Al-Jenaibi, B., 2016, pp.20-51). The quality of services offered in the Ras Al Khaimah has improved since the upgrade of the mode of service delivery in the UAE to match that of developed countries. The smart service delivery is automated and hence no bias or unfairness in the delivery. The customers of the e-government services are happy that they can be served in a “more efficient manner compared to the analog service delivery characterized by manual labor” (Rodrigues, Sarabdeen, and Balasubramanian, S., 2016, pp.18-39)
Globally, the normal way of service delivery by the government to the citizens and other parties has been faulted over many reasons according to Samara and Raven, (2014). The governments’ clients have cited lack of transparency in the way the governments does respond the citizen’s service mandate. A doubtful citizen means there is untrustworthiness to the government. According to Karmakar, (2015), the implementation of the smart service in Ras Al Khaimah state, and UAE, in general, has improved the otherwise compromised transparency in service delivery. The e-government smart service customers have trust in the government; thanks to this tremendous step in the modernity of the Ras Al Khaimah state government service delivery.
The smart services offered by the Ras Al Khaimah state are reliable. Abdelhafez and Amer, (2014) argues that the government of Ras Al Khaimah has made its services reliable in all aspects, to the customers; including the governmental parastatals, business parties as well as the citizens. The services are available at a click of a button at any time and any part of the world through the internet connection. The servers can work round the clock compared the phased out mode of service delivery involving employees who work on office hours as captured by Karmakar, (2015). Reliability on the mode of service delivery in Ras Al Khaimah has therefore saved the customers a lot of time.
Moreover, the implementation of smart service delivery in Ras Al Khaimah has seen the global connectivity of this state to other parts of the globe. The global connectivity enhances the governments to compare themselves in terms of better and efficient delivery.Also,It enables them to be in a position to upgrade the services whenever appropriate. Citizens from other countries or states who wish to visit Ras Al Khaimah can apply for business permits, or work permits online before visitation of this state and hence the global connectivity. “We want to make the information our customers may need….locally and globally…accessible to match with those in all emirates of the UAE and international levels.” The General Manager of the RAK eGovernment Authority is quoted. The Ras al Khaimah emirate government, therefore, peruses global competence in reliability in its service delivery to its customers.
The Ras al Khaimah emirate smart service portal has offered all the basic services to the customers. Educational, health and career services are available in the rak.ae gate and hence customer satisfaction. The inhabitants of this emirate are quite happy with the new mode of service delivery by their government. “Personal documents renewal is now as fast and efficient as imagined” (Rodrigues, Sarabdeen, and Balasubramanian, S., 2016, pp.18-39). “Business licenses are available on the government’s website upon demand” the manager of the government services stated in the program’s launch. The website for the Ras al Khaimah emirate has therefore enabled efficient service delivery to the interested business parties in this emirate and beyond.
The tourists intending to visit Ras Al Khaimah emirate have access to the reliable information to plan for their trip. “Tourists can apply for residence as well as visitation visas before their visit for them to explore tourist sites and heritage, recreational centers and convenient shopping places” stated the e-government services manager. The Ras al Khaimah emirate smart service delivery system includes the website that has all the tourist destinations in the country and hence very useful to tourists and those intending to visit the country as captured by Rodrigues, Sarabdeen, and Balasubramanian, S., 2016. Evidently, the Ras al Khaimah emirate government service delivery portal has been very useful to many parties, locally and globally according to government Al-Jenaibi, B., (2016).
Karmakar, (2015), states that the online service delivery systems have enabled many people to cut down their expenditures associated with the payment for the basic services. For instance, the launch of the Ras al Khaimah emirate smart service delivery system has seen the citizens pay for the most basic services like water bills, electricity bills efficiently. According to sources, the citizens of Ras al Khaimah emirate had to go to local banks and que for such a petty transaction water bill payment. The establishment of the online service delivery has seen the otherwise complicated transaction, involving the comparatively large amount of transaction cost become cheaper according to Karmakar, (2015). “The RAK government is dedicated to developing smart services to easy the citizens from the burden of processing transactions for their bills,” said Eng Ahmed bin Saeed Al Sayyah in the smart services development initial states.
More importantly, the online services delivery system of the Ras al Khaimah emirate has eased the long channels involved in the official procedures according to Abdelhafez and Amer, (2014). “The authority aims at cutting the procedures and time taken in governmental office consultations to an almost instant process…from almost anywhere in the world” The e-government smart services manager was quoted. Evidently, the office consultations in government offices, globally, are quite tedious and involving procedurally. The Ras al Khaimah emirate government has therefore set an interactive system where its customers; the citizens, tourists, business parties as well as the parastatals “can enquire on almost every government service instantly” (Thawani, S., 2014, pp.1-10).
References
Abdelhafez, H.A. and Amer, A.A., 2014. E-government in Selected Arab Countries: Analysis & Challenges. Egyptian Computer Science Journal, 38(2).
Abdelhafez, H.A. and Amer, A.A., 2014. E-government in Selected Arab Countries: Analysis & Challenges. Egyptian Computer Science Journal, 38(2).
Al-Jenaibi, B., 2016. Upgrading Society with Smart Government: The Use of Smart Services among Federal Offices of the UAE. International Journal of Information Systems and Social Change (IJISSC), 7(4), pp.20-51.
Criado, J.I., Sandoval-Almazan, R. and Gil-Garcia, J.R., 2013. Government innovation through social media. Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), pp.319-326.
Dameri, R.P., 2014. Comparing Smart and Digital City: Initiatives and Strategies in Amsterdam and Genoa. Are They Digital and/or Smart?. In Smart city (pp. 45-88). Springer International Publishing.
Gil-Garcia, J.R., Helbig, N. and Ojo, A., 2014. Being smart: Emerging technologies and innovation in the public sector. Government Information Quarterly, 31, pp.I1-I8.
Karmakar, A., 2015. E-Governance and Its Role in Infrastructure Services of UAE, Case Study—Dubai. In E-Governance for Smart Cities (pp. 81-97). Springer Singapore.
Kim, S.K., Park, M.J. and Rho, J.J., 2015. Effect of the Government’s Use of Social Media on the Reliability of the Government: Focus on Twitter. Public Management Review, 17(3), pp.328-355.
Mansour, A.M.E., 2015. Wiki-Government As Coproduction Of Public Policies And Services: Feasiblity Study For The United Arab Emirates. Australian Journal of Sustainable Business and Society, 1(1).
Rahman, M.H. and Ahmed, S., 2016. From E-Governance to Smart Governance: Policy Lessons for the UAE.
Rodrigues, G., Sarabdeen, J. and Balasubramanian, S., 2016. Factors that influence consumer adoption of e-government services in the UAE: A UTAUT model perspective. Journal of Internet Commerce, 15(1), pp.18-39.
Samara, K. and Raven, J., 2014. A Readiness For Change Model For Dubai.
Thawani, S., 2014. United Arab Emirates Journey Towards Excellence. American Society for Quality, pp.1-10.
Zawati, O.A.L. and Dweiri, F., 2016, December. Application of Quality Function Deployment to improve smart services applications, Dubai public entity as a case study. In Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2016 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 881-885). IEEE.
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