Tuesday, Jun 28, 2016

Dubai: Dubai government has saved Dh4.3 billion through shared smart services between 2003-2015, announced Smart Dubai Government (SDG) on June 28 at the Dubai Media Office.

The statistics were a part of the ‘Shared services impact report,’ a six-month study compiled by IBM, which highlights the impact of SDG’s services and their benefits to the Government of Dubai since their inception in 2003.

The report analysed SGD service portfolio, expenditure reports and projected cost savings to determine the cost-to-savings ratio for the Government of Dubai as a result of shared smart government services.

“For the first time, we can quantify the benefits that we are delivering to the government due to enhanced efficiency; greater agility and higher responsiveness in government services,” said Wesam Lootah, CEO of Smart Dubai Government.

The report showed an average saving of Dh358 million per year [Dh29million per month] over the 12-year period.

It also found that the Government of Dubai has saved Dh5.6 for every Dh1 spent by Smart Dubai Government since its inception.

“The results of this report are further evidence of our ongoing commitment to ensuring the most efficient government, in line with our mandate to deliver world-class smart services and infrastructure as the technology arm of the Smart Dubai Office,” he added.

In 2015, SDG saved the Dubai Government an average of Dh35.5 million every month. They also saved Dh4.2 for every Dh1 spent by SDG in 2015, the highest cost-to-savings ratio of all time, and a growth of 20 per cent over the previous year.

Efficiency

The report further identified savings in hardware and software installation and maintenance costs, as well as savings to daily operations and personnel costs. Savings are identified across all business categories, demonstrating the value-add of SDG connected and shared services for all government partners.

“SDG were able to provide 70 per cent of a government entity’s department services from day one. Our service portfolio drives significant benefits for the whole government — from increased cap-ex efficiency; to removing redundancies; to reduced carbon footprints resulting from shared services,” said Lootah.

He explained that smart government services also contribute to increased employee efficiency through improved asset management, and has drastically reduced maintenance costs.

“Through smart technology, we are empowering an agile and connected government to meet the future of Dubai,” he said.

Four main areas of saving

Total savings were calculated across four Smart Dubai Government service categories: Infrastructure management; Government Resource Planning (GRP) services; Smart Services; and the annual GITEX event.

Government Resource Planning (GRP) contributed the most significant savings to the Dubai Government, accounting for over Dh1.2 billion, saved over 12 years. GRP services include daily business support services such as finance, HR, procurement and asset management.

Infrastructure Management saw the highest cost-to-savings ratio, saving the government Dh5.2 for every Dh1 spent on network services, cloud services, data and disaster recovery, and communication support services.

Dubai Now app

Smart Services have also contributed an additional Dh443 million in savings to the Dubai government over 12 years.

These services include the DubaiNow application, the secure single-sign-on digital ID service MyID, and the payment platform ePay. The report showed that 22 entities were using the DubaiNow application, which includes over 50 services, in 2015. Over four million transactions and 130, 000 downloads were made on the app during 2015.

Savings from SDG smart services have been growing at a rate of 6 per cent per year. “We expect savings to significantly increases as more government entities adopt smart services, in line with Dubai’s smart city transformation,” said Lootah.

Smart Dubai Government will also soon be extending its service portfolio to the whole city, with cost savings and benefits expected to increase significantly for all constituents.

By Jumana Khamis Staff Reporter

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