Page 23 - Enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Enhancing Innovation and Participation

manner. In this context, ESS can serve as an ideal channel for improving operational efficiencies in public sector
organizations.
Dubai saved nearly USD 1.2 billion between 2003 and 2015, indicating that there is a strong potential for value
creation in public sector organizations through electronic shared services, if and when implemented carefully.
These savings allow ESS to function based on a self-financing model. In essence, ESS capture value by creating
operational efficiencies through:
▪ economies of scale in ICT assets and human resources in various public sector organizations utilizing ESS,
and

▪ economies of scope through a complete and wide range of solutions.
ESS can incorporate flexibility and scalability in their design to accommodate a large number of organizations.
Scalable design and widespread implementation have been key for Smart Dubai to achieve economies of scale.
Furthermore, this has enabled incremental efficiencies in terms of cost savings to be achieved over time as more
organizations utilize ESS.
Smart Dubai has applied a coherent strategy and policy for ESS and has concretely delivered a large number of ESS
with favourable uptake from the customers. Smart Dubai strongly believes that the positive ESS experience in
Dubai will be beneficial for other countries too. With strong leadership and political will at the top, other cities
could also implement similar ESS for their public sector entities. This can be supported by the adoption of
appropriate strategies and policies, well-defined governance frameworks and robust operational processes, which
take into account the specific urban requirements for each city.

The cost savings gained through the “whole-of-government” approach, have paved the way for reallocating these
funds to better serve the needs of the public in Dubai. Dubai Government has been successfully able to divert and
utilize these cost savings for its core public services.
The Dubai ESS approach has been taken as a model for public digital transformation for other emirates. Some Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are also following the same approach and learning from Dubai’s experience
in this domain. It is important to note that the implementation approach of ESS can vary based on the actual
context of the public sector (in terms of stakeholders, expectations, culture, institutional framework, etc.).
However, the benefits (as outcomes) are expected to be similar, thereby advocating for the implementation of
ESS.

A References

Smart Dubai Government ESS Overview.

Smart Dubai Achievement Report 2014-2016.
Smart Dubai Government Lean Administration Support Services Project Reports 2016.

B List of discussion partners/interviews

Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr
Director General, Smart Dubai Office

Younus Al Nasser
Assistant Director General, Smart Dubai Office
Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Data Establishment

Wesam Lootah
Chief Executive Officer, Smart Dubai Government Establishment

U4SSC series 21