06.6 Moving Forward – Technology an enabler for Change

MITA stepped into 2021 fresh from its recent 30th Anniversary. Over the years MITA has evolved from a company focusing on supporting Public Service reform to a multi-faceted Agency holding a pivotal role in the evolution of Malta into a world class information society and economy. Today, the Agency’s sole client base is the public service and sector, where it provisions digital services to all Ministries and nearly all public bodies.

Understandingly, provisioning and managing hundreds of information systems efficiently and securely is no easy feat, especially when services need to be provided around the clock and when such services are vital for public service delivery.

Backed with its expertise as a mature organisation and a trailblazer of best practices and innovation in the corporate ICT and public service scene, MITA has managed to build a human resource talent and technical infrastructure platforms which allow government to act agilely and productively in an ever-evolving working environment and public administration.

Globally, the COVID-19 situation has impacted the work environment and work processes of millions of workers, Malta and its public sector being no exception. Thousands of public sector employees moved towards working remotely; whilst the use of government online services by the general public and businesses rocketed. MITA’s provision of various digital technologies, tools and platforms acted as an enabler towards such developments whereby government administration could keep productivity while not compromising on quality and security. The demands on the Agency grew further as Malta took various measures needing the support of ICT infrastructure and systems. In parallel with the provision of tools and services, MITA was also involved in supporting the Health Ministry directly in initiatives ranging from Swab Test centers to the delivery of the COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Mobile App.

MITA’s strong client relationship is pivotal towards ensuring that government’s needs can be met efficiently and effectively. Being client focused is one of our keys to success, whilst providing 24x7 Call Centre services, a dedicated Customer Care function, and having various specialised teams for service provision and improvement. The Agency also has a dedicated team of Client Relationship Managers who work daily towards developing and strengthening relationships with government stakeholders.

The pandemic has enhanced the need for governments to be agile and ready for change, while working towards providing services of excellence. Governments now appreciate more the importance of service innovation and preparedness. Locally, digital technology was key in achieving business continuity for various business, government and essential services such as education.

MITA looks forward in continuing to partner with Malta’s Government towards the provision of excellent customer care and value-added services to the general public being citizens, practitioners and businesses.

As an Agency we look forward towards supporting government in providing solutions and services which are accessible and user-friendly as much as possible, leveraging a modern digital ecosystem and contributing towards the definition and execution of the Government’s digital strategies that sustain a modern digital economy.

06.7 Customer Care – Improving through feedback

Throughout 2021, the MITA Customer Care function continued to evolve its deliverables, further transforming towards a more far-reaching mindset. The idea of the function as being simply a reactive unit, only acting on dismayed clients, has progressed to a culture of feedback embracement, one that leads to continual improvement.

Caring for the customer is a sum of moving parts. It is a critical function that needs governance, awareness, structured mechanisms, collaboration, and more. For this purpose, MITA has strengthened the function’s position through the formalisation of the Customer Care Policy. This is the Agency’s demonstration of commitment, thus clearly showing the leadership’s support. Senior Management also continues to review the work carried out by the function at periodical intervals. To ensure compliance with the policy as well as improvement of the Customer Care function the enhancement of internal knowledge and documentation was also a priority.

Throughout the year, work was also carried out to ensure that the deliverables of the unit create more value. In line with this, a clear objective has been set to extend the visibility and include further levels of client feedback to widen the analysis of sentiment. The Agency received 672 complaints, of which 183 required further intervention with the majority being related to technology and processes.

The Customer Care function has thus become a pillar gateway for stakeholders to voice their post-service concern or make more recommendations. It is a day-to-day drive, and as time progresses awareness of this service is increasing, thus allowing more persons to communicate with MITA through this channel.

The peak of the relationship between Customer Care and the client culminates when the analysis of feedback results in improvements taking place. This of course requires meticulous analysis, discussions with various stakeholders, targets, effort, review, and implementation, where applicable. Throughout the year, MITA Customer Care identified and coordinated more than 60 improvements across different departments within the Agency.

While 2021 was a consolidating year for a relatively new function, MITA is aiming at further improving through the next calendar year.

06.8 Prague 2021 – European Cyber Security Challenge

October is the month dedicated to the awareness raising on Cyber Security across the European Union (EU). For the last five years ENISA, which is the Union’s Agency dedicated to achieving a high common level of cyber security across Europe, has been celebrating talent in this domain by organising the European Cyber Security Challenge.

This is a challenge lasting 16 hours spread across two days. Teams composed of ten members, aged between 14 and 25 years, from different countries compete against each other in jeopardy challenges. The aim behind this event is to enhance cyber security talent across Europe and connecting high potentials with industry leading organizations. After acting as an observer for 3 years, this year, Malta set up its own team composed of ten people studying various areas of technology. These were selected following a national cyber security challenge that lasted 24 hours, held between the 31st July and 1st August 2021. Following an interviewing process, twelve were shortlisted and had the opportunity to attend a boot camp delivered by a cyber security specialist. Another challenge of 6 hours was organised from which the best performing ten were selected. From then onwards, it was a roller-coaster of preparations for Prague, the city hosting the 2021 European Cyber Security Challenge. Preparations tackled both the technical aspect but also the social aspect. In preparation for the challenge various roles were assigned to different team members, including the roles of leaders and presenters.

During the competition both the coaches and the team worked together to achieve a positive result. The competion was concluded with an award’s ceremony where various honourable speakers were present, including partners, academics and representatives from ENISA.