Muna Al Dhabbah Championing service design to deliver ‘seven-star’ government services in the United Arab Emirates
At the 2016 Service Design Global Conference in Amsterdam, Muna Al Dhabbah (Director of Government Service Development, Prime Minister’s Office, UAE) was joined on stage by Simone Carrier (Head of Service Design at FutureGov) to share their experiences in applying service design to improve citizenMuna Al Dhabbah (Director of Government Service Development, Prime Minister's Office, UAE) is a leading expert in government customer service development with more than 15 years' experience. In her current role she leads development of federal government services, including the Service Factory, a programme in partnership with FutureGov that created eight userfocused government service bundles centred around major life events. Muna received her EMBA from Zayed University and is currently finishing a PhD in Public Administration and Policy at Virginia Tech.
government interactions within the UAE. Following the confe rence, Touchpoint Editor-in-Chief Jesse Grimes discussed with her how service design is working towards the goal of delivering ‘seven-star service design’. Jesse Grimes: Your presentation at the SDN's Global Conference 2016 was probably the first time that many people in the audience became aware of service design both in the UAE, and the Gulf region in general. From your local perspective, can you share your view on the current state of service design, in both the public and private sectors?
Muna Al Dhabbah: Service design has been practiced in Dubai and the region for some time, but under different titles such as service improvement, service re-engineering and service development. Many programs in the public sector - such as the Government Service Excellence Program - have created a cultural change through their various projects. These include the Service Development 84 Touchpoint 8-3
Manual, service quality manuals, service development projects, service awards, service key performance indicators and much more. The Service Development Manual is a guide for entities to enhance their services by being customer-centric when those services are being designed. It starts by focusing on understanding strategic objectives, then on customers’ needs, then on developing solutions, and finally implementation. This continuous cycle of engaging customers in improving government services and focusing on both efficiency and effectiveness is key to the success of service design projects. All of these projects were used as tools in training and developing service delivery in the government sector. Around 5,000 customer service employees
