Abdullah Al Shaibani, Assistant Director General for Technical Services said that earlier using SMS was confined to e-government systems only. This systems used to send emergency messages to the mobile phone of the customer to inform him about specific information on the e-transaction. Whereas now, there is an option to use this technology towards both sides. That means the customer can send SMS message to the e-service that has taken up his transaction for implementation specifying the reference number of the transaction. The system will automatically send reply so that the customer knows the current status of his transaction or its outcome.
Al Shaibani said that adding this service comes as part of the Municipality's constant efforts to enhance its e-services and diversify the means of communication open to the public and relieve them from unjustified problems.
AbdulHakim Malik, Director of Information Technology Department said the technicians in the department have exerted a big effort for achieving this feat. 'For this they have utilized the infrastructure of the SMS technology provided by Dubai e-government through the Government Information Network (GIN),' he said.
Malik added that initially this technology was used to issue health certificates from the Municipality Clinic. 'That was before the experimental period. But, it became popular when other e-services were introduced, as it was just a matter of time,' he said.
Malik said that the Information Technology Department in the Municipality always try to provide different formats of communication channels to the customers of its e-services that suit the needs of different categories and various situations and scenarios.
Autor: Christine Haugseth
Quelle: AME Info, 06.10.2004
