Jury members share insights into Dubai's public service model

Here, four of the 2019 international judging panel for the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Program for Government Services describe their experiences of being a member of the panel and share their thoughts on the DMC framework and innovation designed to meet the Dubai government’s goal of making customers happy.

Q: What do you think of the DMC methodology and its objective in supporting the enhancement of government services in Dubai?

LTO: “By using a consistent methodology, but still allowing it to be continuously adjusted from year to year, government entities have a list of concreate tangible priorities of what is important for Dubai –it sets clear goals. The methodology is also flexible enough to contain indicators for what is important for the specific government entity’s business and use this to measure improvements from year to year. I also believe that having the same methodology massively supports the creation of cross-government services.”

NC: “My juror experience with the DMC has spanned five years and I continue to be impressed by its focus and commitment to the evolution, growth and transformation of government services from servicefocused delivery channels to high-performing, customer-centric service providers.” MMN: “The strength of the DMC method is its emphasis on both qualitative and quantitative results such as service quality, end-user and employee satisfaction, as well as productivity and cost efficiency. The short annual cycles are ambitious and aligned to national strategic objectives. The tools and advice provided by the DMC and its staff focuses on innovation and change management within the public sector and in Dubai as a whole. When combined, this h as resulted in a proven record of facilitating the successful transformation Dubai, particularly for public service production and delivery within the Emirate.”

NS: “As the Executive Director of Open Government and Innovation with the Executive Council Office in the Government of New Brunswick, it is part of my role to develop and integrate innovation capabilities throughout my government. To do so I have experimented with hosting an innovation challenge. The purpose of this has been to share an innovation framework, create space for experimentation with new tools, and build a network of innovators within the organisation. Therefore, the work of the DMC and the Hamdan Hub are familiar concepts to me. The challenge is crucial in two ways: it highlights the behaviours we want to see more of from our public sector colleagues and it allows others within the institution to learn from the experiments of others. Without this type of effort, visions for a more innovative government are simply fiction.

“The DMC methodology is robust and comprehensive and provides rich experiential leaning opportunities to public servants striving to improve customer experience. Furthermore, the DMC’s commitment to learning from global benchmarks and ambition to pioneer government service improvements is inspiring and commendable.”

Q: What do you think of the evaluation process of the government entities’ initiatives?

LTO: “As the DMC is working and supporting entities in their improvement efforts all year, we as a jury only see the top performers. The DMC evaluation process has been gradually fine-tuned over the years, and the focus on levelling the playing field for all participating entities through a set of common indicators is most helpful. The combination of the jury first looking at ‘the hard data’ and then interviewing entities is most helpful for the jury process. It adds reality checks to the process for the international jury.

“Finally, as the DMC is working continuously with entities, the evaluation provides an incentive for entities, as well as a cross-government measure of ‘how well are we doing’, and what is up and coming. The evaluation process is a good way of spreading knowledge throughout society of how government can work with new technologies and new ideas.”

NC: “The DMC service improvement framework provides a multi-phased structured approach to identify, baseline and measure the levels of improvement needed to make positive change in a scientific, disciplined manner. This approach, which started as a manual tabulation of service delivery systems, people and customer experiences, has continued to improve and evolve over the years to a more automated data collection process with calculated outcomes available for jurors to evaluate and apply to the initiatives being reviewed. And as their data collection process transitions to an automated ingest engine, this resource savings will allow more time for each entity to focus on creativity, agility and adaptability in their quest for service delivery excellence.

“The DMC framework provides the structural consistency needed to support the evaluation process of government entity initiatives. Without this framework and DMC team to support this effort, Dubai’s vision of service delivery excellence would not have seen the exponential improvements within their public and private sectors. I believe that as this framework continues to evolve, and in conjunction with their whole of government approach, this service delivery model is on track to become the global gold standard.” NS: “The evaluation process of government entities is rigorous and well balanced. I especially appreciate that the criteria balances efficiency with effectiveness and approach with scope of impact. The use of quantitative data, baseline metrics, customer experience data and site visits support a comprehensive evaluation framework.”

Q: What is the level of innovation in the evaluated initiatives and how has your experience been in dealing with Dubai government entities?

LTO: “Dubai society and government are overall very willing to innovate and to use new technologies. Every year the jury has witnessed a top tier of projects willing to try something new. The willingness to take risks when innovating is very impressive, but it does not stand alone. It is also appreciated and rewarded, and the resources for piloting innovation is there in Dubai. That is often not the case in other countries where government tends to be much more risk adverse.”

N C: “ The increased levels of innovation and integration across government entities as well as private partnerships, and improved contextualization in each of these initiatives, reflects the guidance and framework provided by the DMC team and their commitment to Dubai’s service excellence vision. My experience with innovative redesigns and transformational change demonstrated within the government entities and the initiatives I was privy to observe and evaluate continue to delight and challenge my vision of what is possible when a country has a singular goal of service excellence.

“Having evaluated several very innovative initiatives made this year’s award programme particularly difficult to rank and recommend a winner. My two standouts were: The Department of Economic Development (DED) Instant License [the eventual winner] and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Nol Plus initiative.

“The DED Instant License combines historically disparate services into a single service, integrating both public and private sector entities and significantly reducing processing time from multiple days to five minutes to start a business in Dubai, including bank account setup, establishing a VAT account, and paying fees to up to 1 4 government entities as needed. Born out of the broadest view of the customer journey and considering all the touch points of the customer within every organisation in the company-creation journey, this solution is highly customer-centric and has led to increased efficiencies with other agencies, and should establish a global benchmark.

“The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Nol Plus initiative extends the specific-use public transit payment card to a micro-payment cash and loyalty card, encouraging people to use public transportation in support of climate change considerations, building local businesses affinity relationships, stimulate participation in other public services (museums and cultural sites), as well as working to empower and tap into the economic strength of the ‘unbanked’ population. The innovation in this initiative is its simplistic approach to influence and change the behaviour of Dubai residents with the potential of solving other societal challenges.” MMN: “Over the years, I have witnessed an increase in real transformation. Initially the majority of initiatives focused on service innovation, that is the low hanging fruits of more traditional digital transformation of using technology to do things faster, cheaper and better. The proportion of initiatives addressing product, service and organisational transformation have increased with each cycle of the DMC method and the Awards.

“While traditional service innovation will always be relevant and have real impact, real transformation is in the complete rethinking of service types, their design and the way they are produced and delivered. I have observed that authorities have become both more comfortable with continues service improvement and change management and more ambitious. For instance, entities such as the courts, police, and customs, which globally are often seen as very traditional, have started to transform. Local courts not only allow the virtual presence of judges in court rooms, but even the different parties. Evolving organically within the courts, regulatory barriers have been removed while adapting procedures to ensure both privacy and security when it comes to identity management, even the risk of coercion in virtual proceedings.

“Similarly, internal labs and innovation teams experimenting with technology have become the norm in Dubai. Local pioneers like the Road Traffic Authority and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) have proactively reach out to other authorities to break down silos which often put a break on real transformation. For instance, DEWA started moving to digital by default at an early stage in Dubai, and quickly offered to share its billing infrastructure with other authorities to provide local businesses, citizens and residents unified billing and single payment options. Utilising existing infrastructure and partnering with authorities and local banks means costs have reduced and the end user is presented with a more whole-of-government experience. Now electricity and water subscription are automatically transferred and settled when people move. A service only made possible by partnering with local real estate agents and the Dubai Land Department which registers all address changes in the Emirate. The resulting ‘no touch’ service experience is based on a real change to service design, regulation and public sector ecosystem - a change facilitated in part by technology but also the innovative culture the DMC model and the Hamdan Hub have fermented locally.”

NS: “I am struck by their imagination, sophistication, creativity, dedication and inspiration. In conducting site visits I observed several very encouraging and refreshing themes. The DMC has demonstrated that it has imbedded innovation capabilities in many of the government entities I visited. Furthermore, I observed that many were actively applying the Dubai M odel.

“I have seen that the vast majority of the entities were engaged in collaborative and strategic partnerships that allowed them to combine resources, assemble components of existing initiatives and connect many diverse perspectives, skills and knowledge to better understand problems and explore unfamiliar territory to come up with truly novel solutions. Many government entities demonstrate a prototyping mindset where they are unafraid to try something new, learn from it, and make changes. This was observed especially in Dubai Customs where one staff person built a successful prototype and now holds five patents and at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority where existing technologies were assembled to work around the language limitations of their solution. In Dubai Health Authority a ‘gym for surgeons’ was created using low-cost commercially-available technology to train surgeons in a minimally invasive procedure called ‘The Dubai Stitch’. The Roads and Transport Authority has successfully leveraged behavioral science to encourage greater uptake of the Nol card through a loyalty programme.”

Q: Which has been your favourite winner from previous years and what is the reason of this selection?

LTO: “My favourite winner was from one from 201 5. Cross-government collaboration is always hard, irrespective of where in the world you are. Seeing four entities normally working within their own silo cooperating and creating a solution that benefitted all was very impressive. But there are also others from later years. As a jury member I have never left Dubai thinking that Dubai Government is at a standstill and that year presented nothing new.”

MMN: “This is a hard, if not impossible, question. The enthusiasm of the individual teams and civil servants is what I have personally enjoyed the most. As a juror I have had the chance to observe young professionals who with their sheer enthusiasm and optimism have been as instrumental in driving internal change as directors with decades of experience. The consumer protection team in Dubai Municipality is an example of how the creative combination of an app with bar codes, blockchain, and databases has enabled the local consumer to c heck health, beauty and cleaning products are not fake. It has even enabled consumers to become inspectors by providing key image and location data on products found to be fakes so the Dubai Municipality can follow-up directly with the retailer, importer or manufacturer –and often in partnership with the customs authority and local chamber of commerce.”

N S: “ This is difficult to determine. My favourite winner would be the most recent winner: the Department of Economic Development for the Instant License because it was a smart application of existing digital technology to make a set of government processes easier and nearly instant for the end user, which required collaboration across multiple entities as well as the private sector to execute.”

Q: What has been your overall experience working with the DMC team?

LTO: “It has been delightful. It is a very passionate and professional team. I believe that the phrase ‘Addicted to improvement’ is applicable to the whole of the DMC team and it shows. I have always been impressed with how willing the team has been to ‘take its own medicine’ and never become complacent.”

NC: “The time spent in Dubai working with the DMC is always a highly deliberative, collaborative and fun process, filled with new perspectives, exploring new ways to rethink existing paradigms, collaborating on project improvement principles and challenging service delivery norms in pursuit of better outcomes.

The DMC team provides a disciplined, professional yet very personal experience. The team is knowledgeable, personable, engaging and always intellectually generous. They provide consistent guidance and engagement to ensure the quality of the jury’s participation reflects the high standards placed on their public entities. The DMC’s global perspective and focus on world dominance in service delivery for Dubai on all levels of society provides an alternate world view, substantially different from that of our government structures in the U.S.A, nationally and locally. This more entrepreneurial approach on how government entities deliver services inspires streamlined, creative and innovative thinking to solving customer service challenges.

“The onsite visits with the government entities was by far the best part of this process. Watching each team present their ‘passion’ for their project was great and, in most cases, provided additional perspective to their application. I also enjoy collaborating with a diverse group of knowledgeable, creative professionals from all over the world, which creates an opportunity to exchange different perspectives and build long-term relationships.” MMN: “Working with the DMC team can be summed up in three words: professional, engaged and enthusiastic. It is an enriching experience to be a member of the Hamdan Hub jury and a pleasure to work with an insightful and motivated team. It is always an engaging and interesting opportunity to share local and global insights and lessons learned.

NS: “I love working with the DMC team and wish I could spend more time learning from them. What I admire most about the DMC team is their curiosity. They are so committed to learning and using their knowledge to improve government services. They are kind, hospitable and professional. I greatly appreciate what they have built, and their passion, and I am eager to see what they create next.”

Q: What is the impact of the Hamdan Hub on the government from your perspective?

LTO: “It has provided government entities with an improvement and innovation framework. It sets a level playing field for government entities as it transparently displays and measures innovation results, and it does so in a continuous process. It is never a one off or just once a year. That, coupled with another initiative called the City Maker Framework, has given Dubai the tool for tackling one of the hardest nuts to crack in government – cross-entity collaboration. Mapping the Customer Service Journey, introduced last year, was a real eye-opening innovation.”

NC: “When I began this journey to Dubai to participate as a juror five years ago for service delivery excellence, I questioned whether Dubai would maintain its resolve to become a best-ofbreed, best-in-the-world service provider. After many years of participation with Hamdan Hub and the Dubai Model Centre team I realise that this national vision is embraced in all levels of Dubai’s society and is fully supported from the top. Dubai’s investment in continuous process improvement is evidenced by its resource commitment – financial and human - to ensure achievement of their vision of whole of government service delivery excellence. This is no small thing, especially for a nation. I am particularly impressed with the consistent commitment and funding by the national leadership, remaining focused on improving customer service delivery to the nation and expanding access equity for all. This is a standard I would love to see embraced in the United States as we struggle with socio-economic disparities in education, healthcare, public service access and other government entity provided services. Such a model, when applied rigorously from the top, could make a huge difference for so many who are disadvantaged and disenfranchised in our society.”

MMN: “The combined impact of the Hamdan Hub and the DMC method should not be underestimated. The Hamdan Hub and DMC method are essentially two sides of the proverbial coin. While the Hamdan Hub is the front, the DMC method is one of the key tools with which Dubai is transforming its public sector from within. The high-level support of the Hamdan Hub and the DMC is essential. The sponsorship of the Hamdan Hub by the Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ensures visibility, prestige, and authority to the transformation process at the macro and strategic level. Embedding the DMC in the Executive Council of the Dubai Government provides the mandate at the both the micro and operational level. “This, combined with the user-centric, whole of government approach, with key strategic success criteria and operational performance indicators is what, in my opinion, makes for the winning formula of Dubai’s transformation.”

NS: “The DMC has measurable and immeasurable impact on the government. Firstly, the work the DMC does to facilitate and support improvement initiatives and build the capacity of public servants is critical. Secondly, the way the DMC fosters connections across the Government among innovators is a key to spreading innovation. Thirdly, the work to recognise and celebrate leaders in public service helps to sustain innovation and inspire their colleagues as well as governments around the world.”

Q: What is the future of public service delivery in Dubai from your perspective?

LTO: “Frankly, I simply do not know. The COVID-19 pandemic will affect all societies differently, both economically and socially. Dubai may need to run its public sector even more efficiently, cost effectively and with less manpower in the future. Some of the building blocks for doing this have been put in place in recent years and may enable Dubai to make that transition more smoothly than elsewhere. However, the transition to being much more cost focused can be hard, especially for government entities who have had a relative abundance of resources in the past. This may mean becoming more risk adverse, but it could also mean applying innovation and technology at an even faster pace.”

NC: “The future of Public Service delivery in Dubai is bright and full of great achievements yet to come. The Dubai public service sector is filled with dedicated people in search of a better way to deliver their products and services to the public at large. They are resourceful, creative and imaginative in ways that break through structured, rigid conventions to new pathways of exchange and engagement with other like-minded entities in search of a better way. Tearing down silos, collaborating with private sector companies, automatically exchanging data to enable fulfilment, and meeting the new customer ‘where they are,’ instead of where they should be. “I see a very bright future for Public Service Delivery in Dubai as they continue to promote and support their goal of service delivery excellence throughout the community and world.”

MMN: “I believe the next stage of Dubai’s transformation journey lies in a whole of government approach and using government as a platform to drive this. The first steps have already been taken with both tested and emerging technologies being mixed with changes to service design, processes, and regulation. I would like to see the continued strengthening of a public sector innovation and transformation culture. A culture mixing disciplines. A culture which puts the strategic objectives, the users and sustainable value creation at the centre. Not only at the centre of the public sector ecosystem for service delivery but of the transformation of Dubai as a city and society. “Still, Dubai, like other front-runners needs to increasingly look at breaking down organisational silos further. To continue the development of its data collection, interoperability and analytical capacities across service areas, and in partnership with society, the public and private sectors. A whole of government ecosystem for service production and delivery is already emerging. The cornerstones are in place, including for cross-governmental collaboration, data protection and identity management. But to continue the pace of transformation seen in the last decade, Dubai must increasingly look at digitisation and technology, agnostic legal and regulatory frameworks. Based on the assessments results and my observations I see this an essential next step.”

NS: “The future of the Dubai Public Service is without a doubt one that sees the Dubai government pioneering unprecedented collaboration across its entities in a human-centred way. Based on my experience, and the ambitions of the DMC, I believe Dubai will be the pioneer for end-to-end public service design.”

Q: What lessons from your experience would you like to share with others?

NC: “Innovation has no limits except imagination. Often I have felt bound to the limitations of funding, human capital, operational controls, vertical connections. My participation with the Dubai Model Centre and Hamdan Hub has awakened my understanding of what is possible when filters and preconceived notions of functionality and limitations are removed, allowing the ability to rethink, reimagine a different path to an even better result. Innovative thinking creates the space to get from Point A to Point D, without stopping at the other points in between. The business-as-usual activities that fuel today’s resultshold us hostage to legacy thinking and process design, thus blinding us to new possibilities. Working with the DMC team and government entities focused on innovation has awakened my need to see things differently and remove the barriers that stand in the way of changing, evolving… transforming. My engagements in Dubai continue to inspire my growth as I interact and collaborate with international experts in public innovation and digital government from around the world.”

NS: “I have published some testimonials about the DMC.” You can read these here: https://link.medium.com/ tlE0xD4YC6