Director General of the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) His Excellency Dr. Raed Mohammed bin Shams stressed on the importance of the output of customer service programs, which reflects the degree of client satisfaction with the government services throughout performance, efficiency and quality, adding that the beneficial and the workable investment is investing in human capital, which forms the cornerstone of sustainable development in the Kingdom of Bahrain, owing to the principal role played by human resources in advancing the government performance and achieving working quality and excellence. HE Dr. bin Shams indicated that the staff of the customer service are the first link to clients of citizens and residents from one side; and on the other side, they resemble a second link with all government services, offered by various government ministries and bodies in the Kingdom.
HE Dr. bin Shams praised the great support offered by the eGovernment Authority in making the Institute’s training programs in the customer service a success, and spoke highly of eGovernment support for the Institute’s programs in the customer service sector, this came during the graduation ceremony hosted by BIPA for the trainees in the excellence program pertaining to managing government services (Excellence) and customer service in the public sector (Service), in the presence of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the eGovernment Authority (eGA) Mr. Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed.
HE Dr. bin Shams added that the eGA's support to the Institute programs would meet the needs of the Government in advancing and developing professions cadres in customer service sector, emphasizing the importance of exerting every possible effort by the graduating trainees to apply the received training in their various fields of work in all government ministries and agencies. BIPA's Director General urged trainees to be full committed with the rules of dealing properly with all clients for the great importance it bears in improving the services offered by the government to its clients.
For his part, the CEO of the eGA Mr. Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed stated that spreading the culture of customer service through training programs, is only a part of the comprehensive eGovernment national strategy that is based on the directives of the wise leadership, which reflects the keenness on continued development of the government services and electronic channels, that commensurate with the technological development and meets clients' needs. Furthermore, the eGA has adopted various means to listen to the views of clients, including the National Suggestions and Complaints System (Tawasul), which has been developed at the directives issued by His Royal Highness The Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, in addition to the questionnaires and focus groups organized by the eGA, in order to ensure continued and direct channels of communications between citizens and officials of the Government authorities, to fulfill and serve the aspirations of the citizens, in an effort to increase customer satisfaction.
In the context of speaking about the eGovernment program and its objectives, aimed at providing effective and high quality services and improving users experience and increasing the proportion of usage, eGA's CEO indicated that the first stages of implementation start through procedures re-structuring, to eliminate bureaucracy which cause delays in completing the transactions and raise public dissatisfaction, and finding appropriate alternatives to deliver services in a distinctive way through multiple channels, and for winding up the action system adopted by the eGA, the focus on advancing the skills of customer service staff comes to reflect the government keenness and interest in taking advantage of the government services in every possible way.
Mr. Al-Qaed stressed the eGA's keenness to raise the level of customer service staff in various government ministries and bodies, indicating that incurring change in customer service culture requires appropriate training, which the delivery of it was made certain through eGA partnership with BIPA in both (Excellence) and (Service) programs. Mr. Al-Qaed stated that the most important desired objectives of providing specialized training programs in customer service is to develop the skills of staff in dealing properly and positively with customers, to provide high-quality and efficient services to obtain customer satisfaction and to reduce bureaucracy in the delivery of government services. Mr. Al-Qaed concluded by stressing on the importance of the programs provided in customer service, expressing thanks to BIPA on the partnership and looking forward to offer electronic services by Bahrain that are more advanced than what are being presented in the developed countries.
It should be noted that BIPA in partnership with the eGA have launched both excellence program in management of government services (Excellence) and customer service in the public sector (service) during 2013, with the recognition of the British Institute of leadership and management (ILM). The (service) program is targeting all first row workers, either directly or indirectly, however the customer service program (Excellence) is targeting heads of departments and sections heads and supervisors who are dealing with customer service in the public sector.
Both programs are aiming at linking the concept of service excellence to the Bahrain vision 2030, the social and economic strategy and the Government action program for the years 2015-2018, and promoting the culture of excellence in customer service in the public sector, as well as developing the skills of personnel in customer service in all functional levels. In addition to working with governmental ministries and institutions to develop unified service-delivery standards that competes with the standards adopted in the developed countries.