Page 49 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

ESS Sustainability

Given the success and the positive impacts of the ESS initiative in Dubai, Smart Dubai strongly believes that
a similar ESS model would significantly benefit public sector entities in other countries too.

ESS serves as one of the key pillars of the Smart Dubai Government strategy and also forms an integral part
of the overall city-wide digital transformation process.

Continuous innovation through enhancement of ESS and the implementation of new e-services in line with
the customer needs and emerging opportunities, are imperative to the sustainability of the ESS. Similarly,
effective customer support and management, operational excellence in delivery, appropriate
implementation of high service-levels and business continuity measures, have enhanced the sustainability of
ESS in Dubai.

Cross-entity collaboration is critical for a “whole-of-government” ESS approach. Depending on specific public
sector context, a wide spectrum of options are available to implement ESS, ranging from a simple project
based organisation to a formally established institution responsible for ESS deployment and maintenance (as
observed in Dubai case).
Many global public sector organizations are currently under fiscal pressure (e.g. high leverage and austerity
measures) to deliver their services. Centrally implemented ESS have enabled significant cost savings in Dubai
as opposed to each and every entity implementing them on their own. The cost savings achieved have been
redirected to other uses, which has in turn increased the output of the government in other avenues. This
enabled improved productivity in the public sector and has further sustained the ESS. The operational
efficiencies attained are also an important part of ESS sustainability in Dubai.
Centralized implementation of ESS has also achieved higher capacity utilisation of the underlying systems
and technology infrastructure through economies of scale. It has further helped in reducing carbon emissions
due to more efficient use of the underlying information technology infrastructure. Hence, ESS are also
environmentally sustainable (See Reduced Carbon Emissions).

3 Conclusions

Public sector electronic shared services can provide significant operational efficiencies for cities. ESS have
provided a competitive edge for the Dubai Government. In financially challenging times for public sectors in
cities around the world, operational efficiencies can be a strategic tool for delivering services to the public in
a more sustainable manner. In this context, ESS can serve as an ideal channel for improving operational
efficiencies in the public sector organizations.
Dubai saved nearly 1.2billion USD 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 wide-spread 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.

U4SSC series 45