Challenges for
mGovernment marketing
Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri
Deputy Director General
Information and e-Government Sector, TRA
We
are about to complete one year since His Highness Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime
Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the mGovernment initia-
tive in May 2013. In a few weeks, we will reach half the timeframe set by
His Highness to provide government services via mobile platforms within a
comprehensive concept that revolves around achieving customers’ happi-
ness and not just their satisfaction.
To assess what has been achieved so far, we can say that we have ac-
complished more than the target set for this short period of time. Thanks
to cooperation and collaboration from our brothers in the federal and lo-
cal government entities, we have succeeded in laying solid mGovernment
foundations in the UAE.
Development has been achieved both vertically and horizontally. While we
were working on drafting the roadmap, defining its parameters and major
milestones, everyone was involved in setting priorities, developing services
and providing them through different platforms and channels. The Mobile
Government Guidelines document, with its criteria and standards, has be-
come a uniform reference in the different mobile services and applications.
Today, while we stand halfway near the target we look forward to achieve,
I have to refer to an important issue. The successes we have achieved
should not make us ignore the challenges in front of us. One of these main
challenges is the actual usage of smart and mobile services. It’s needless
to say that developing services using the best platforms and technologies
will be ineffective unless we customers use the new services eagerly. That
is the essence of achieving customer happiness.
In order to achieve this goal, we must adopt intelligent and thought–out
awareness, marketing and promotional campaigns. These campaigns
should be linked to well-defined KPIs that measure impact and not only
outcome. At the end, we are in need of strategies that lead to higher service
take-up rates and enhanced interaction among users and government enti-
ties. When this becomes the criteria for judging our media and promotional
efforts, we will achieve what we aspire to in due time, God willing.
