In the wake of the UAE’s government ‘paperless’ project, with more than 96 per cent of 337 of the nation’s most important day-to-day services now accessible via smart platforms – government officials are now working towards the next milestone: grow the smart government user base to 80 per cent by 2018.
To turn this figure into a reality, government officials have been asked to raise awareness of the smart government services. Broken down, this is no mean feat – specific lines of communication have to be opened up to better engage with end users, promote the availability of the new government services available on mobile. These communication channels, however, need to be both effective and non-intrusive.
As the market grows, more citizens interact with their mobile devices with ease. The mobile device has become the unified form factor for business, entertainment and social media interactions. Users have grown comfortable with entering their personal information into their mobile devices, to the extent that even their banking credentials can now be stored on their mobile devices.
If the business is looking for efficient mass market communication channel, one does not have to look much further than the mobile phone. In fact, mobile phone operators, retailers and brands have been tapping into the high penetration rates of mobile phones for years now to reach customers via mobile marketing campaigns. The SMS has long been the performance benchmark for mobile messaging campaigns with an open rate of 98 per cent compared to 22 per cent for e-mails. What if a similar, but slightly more updated and non intrusive method could be employed by governments to promote their services while receiving feedback from users?
Adopting the mobile platform, however, does come stitched on with a few challenges: Will the interactive messaging work on all mobile devices iPhone or an Android device? Which operator will I need to be with to get the service enabled? Can I opt-out and not be disturbed if I want to? Do I need to download something?
For best results, the system used to communicate and raise awareness on government digital services should be agnostic to the operating system of the end user as well as agnostic to the mobile operator and should offer a means for the user to opt-out.
Gemalto has pioneered the technology in this field with a solution called SmartMessage. In essence, the SmartMessage technology engages users via one-click interaction and provides a ubiquitous user experience to all mobile phone users irrespective of the make and model of their mobile phone, which makes it the perfect channel to address the masses, while still respecting individuals’ preferences through opt-in opt-out functionalities and a center of interest menu.
Already operational in many countries around the world for use cases that vary from registering births to promotions on digital and physical goods, the Smart Message technology has delivered ROI which are 2 to 10 times higher than simple SMS campaigns. Such interactive channel is definitely one that could be used to raise awareness on new smart mobile government services in the region.
Of course to become reality, the implementation of a Smart Message Citizen Engagement service will require the participation of the entire ecosystem – from government officials looking to promote their Smart Services to the region’s telecom operators such as Etisalat and du that offer a channel to the users. But if properly implemented, such a channel can be used for citizen engagement and to subsequently boost the uptake of smart government services and strongly support the target goal of reaching 80% of mobile government services users by 2018.