His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, launched the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Future Centre for Customer Happiness at Ibn Battuta Mall. The inauguration was attended by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD&CEO of DEWA. This is the first integrated smart customer happiness centre in Dubai, which depends on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, and provides smart and innovative services to all stakeholders. The event was also attended by HE Ali Rashid Lootah, the Chairman of Nakheel, Marwan Bin Haidar, EVP – Innovation and The Future at DEWA and many senior employees.
“The Centre represents a practical translation of the UAE’s objectives to build the government of the future, and embodies the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to enhance service delivery and enable customers to access comprehensive, integrated and smart services that save time and effort. DEWA is keen to implement the objectives of the Dubai 10X initiative, launched by His Highness, to propel Dubai towards the future making it 10 years ahead of other cities of the world, through government innovation,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer.
“The Centre contributes to achieving customer happiness, and is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, to ensure that the government environment is completely paper free by 2021. DEWA strives to enrich customer experience, and contribute to providing seven-star quality services, as well as transform them into centres for innovation and creativity, in line with its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility,” added Al Tayer.
“DEWA adopts an integrated strategy, plans, and innovative frameworks to use the latest technological solutions and systems to serve society, in line with the Dubai Plan 2021 to make Dubai a smart, integrated, and connected city that is sustainable with its resources, and its vision to become a sustainable innovative world class utility. Due to the efforts of its teams, DEWA has succeeded in raising customers’ awareness about its smart services, which enable them to complete their transactions easily and securely anytime, anywhere, using DEWA’s smart app or website, without having to visit the customer happiness centres. This saves their time and effort,” noted Al Tayer.
“The centre relies on the latest technologies to achieve customers’ satisfaction and exceed their expectations. The services have smart self-service booths to help customers complete their transactions with ease. These include Rammas, the virtual employee that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to answer queries, the Tayseer smart bill payment platform, live chat and the Future Services section to get design and develop DEWA’s future services, in line with the highest international standards,” added Al Tayer.
“DEWA has made great strides in its smart transformation with its strategy to keep up with the latest technologies and developments and best international practices. DEWA has succeeded in transforming all its services into smart services, less than a year after the launch of the Dubai Smart Government initiative. The adoption rate of DEWA’s smart services reached 80%, ahead of the deadline set by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to reduce the number of visitors to government offices by 80% by 2018. This is part of DEWA’s efforts to promote the adoption of smart services,” Al Tayer explained.
DEWA is currently working on closing two centres at Discovery Gardens and Jebel Ali Free Zone, which are located near the Future Centre for Customer Happiness, at Ibn Battuta Mall, and converting them to smart service centres.
“DEWA depends on Dubai Government’s smart service excellence model, which provides the criteria for service quality for all government organisations in Dubai. DEWA has fully implemented these criteria in all its smart services, including accessibility, usability, look and feel, content, and functionality,” added Al Tayer.
DEWA works to achieve the happiness of its customers. That’s why, it provides its smart services through various channels in cooperation with the public and private sectors. This has resulted in providing quality, innovative and seamless services to fulfil their current and future needs. DEWA provides all its services on its smart app and website, as well as the smart channels of Dubai Smart Government, including mPay and DubaiNow. The services are also available through Etisalat payment machines, Emirates NBD cheque deposit machines, and the smart and electronic services provided by the banks. DEWA also integrates its services with other government organisations to provide innovative services that have positive impact on customers by reducing the steps needed to complete their transactions. These include Ejari service, which enables customers to get electricity and water services as soon as they attest their rental contracts at any of the 800 real estate offices approved by Dubai Land Department, without having to visit DEWA’s customer happiness centres.
DEWA was the first government organisation in the UAE to launch Rammas, which acts as a virtual employee, making use of AI to answer customer enquiries. Rammas is characterised by its ability to learn and understand the needs of customers, according to their enquiries. Rammas analyses these based on available data and information, and takes action to accurately answer most queries. Rammas is available on DEWA’s website, smart app (iOS and Android), Facebook, and Amazon’s Alexa service.