Page 48 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

• Reduced Administrative Overhead: ESS are implemented to provide a single point of contact for
government entities in terms of customer issues, incidents and support. If this were not the case,
each entity would have to replicate such efforts to deal with ESS customer issues in a decentralized
manner, thereby making the implementation process for ESS more complicated. Additionally, ESS
entail forming partnerships with private sector solutions and service providers. These partnerships
were formed on behalf of the entire government and all the entities leverage on these partnerships
by utilizing ESS. This is exemplified by electronic payments in Dubai for which Smart Dubai
Government has formed alliances with the following stakeholders in UAE:
(i) Banks: to handle credit card transactions, direct debit or account transfer transactions;
(ii) Ministry of Finance to utilize its eDirham prepaid payment method;
(iii) American Express to handle AMEX payments, etc.

It is also noted that a single service can require multiple partnerships. Entering into these
partnerships would involve the handling of all related complex contractual and legal issues. In the
absence of ESS, every entity would have to replicate these relationships and handle the legal
agreements and contracts management processes separately. This poses significant administrative
overhead when one considers the number of entities involved.
• Knowledge Sharing across the Government: ESS provided a concrete platform for sharing and
exchanging ideas across the government. Through this platform, business requirements,
recommendations and use-cases are shared openly across government entities. In this regard, when
an innovative idea conceived by one entity is implemented, it would also become available to all the
other entities. There are various such innovative ideas for services which originated in one entity
and then subsequently adopted by all the others. In fact, almost all the enhancements and
subsequent releases of ESS are based on this concept of sharing ideas.

• Contribution to ICT Sector Development: Dubai is considered a de facto hub (cluster) for ICT
companies in the Middle-East region. Most multinational as well as regional ICT companies have
established their regional headquarters in Dubai due to the high demand for ICT-based solutions
and services from the public and private sectors in the Emirate. The launch of ESS have also
contributed to this as many of the ESS implemented were innovative and were also considered to
be path-breaking applications in the Middle East region. The large scale deployment of GRP as part
of a “whole-of-government” implementation strategy was the first in the Middle East region.
Similarly, electronic payment was considered a pioneering initiative when it was launched in 2003.

mDubai SMS messaging service was also launched along similar lines as a public private sector
partnership (through strategic outsourcing). In some cases, the customized solutions provided by
ICT companies for various ESS have been commercialized and turned into products and marketed
to other private and public sector organizations (e.g. electronic payment vendor has commercialized
and productized the solution for the whole region). Effectively meeting mature and sophisticated
demands originating from ESS requirements, have also helped the ICT sector to boost its capabilities
and competencies. This has further helped the ICT sector to contribute to the technological
advancements in Dubai.

• Reduced Carbon Emissions: ESS are unified and centralized solutions used by several government
entities. They have circumvented the need for government entities to replicate ICT infrastructures
in their own premises. This has helped to considerably reduce the total number of ICT equipment
(network equipment, server equipment, etc.). Limiting the installation of ICT equipment (through
ESS implementation) has resulted in the reduction of carbon emissions. Therefore, the
implementation of ESS can also be considered to have a positive impact on the environment
through emission reduction.

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