Department of Digital Ajman has announced its collaboration with IBM to accelerate its digital transformation and paperless strategy, using IBM Cloud Pak for Integration. The move was designed to simplify and enhance citizen experiences in Ajman, United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the integration of services across different government entities in the emirate. To date, Digital Ajman’s paperless strategy has brought savings of approximately AED three million ($ 816,726) and helped reduce paper usage, saving nearly 200 trees.
Digital Ajman was established in 2017 with the mission of: “Together with our society we build the digital services ecosystem that drives Ajman’s competitiveness.”
“Digital Ajman launched the Digital Transformation Plan over three years ago with the aim of leading the digital transformation across the emirate and developing digital channels that are capable of providing smart and proactive government services to the citizens and residents of Ajman. A key priority for Digital Ajman was to connect local, federal and private entities in Ajman and across the UAE in order to streamline existing government services, improve efficiency and cross-functional collaboration and reduce operational silos,” said Ohoud Shehail, Director General, Department of Digital Ajman. “To achieve this goal, we knew that we would require a strong technology partner to help us tackle an enormously complex web of integrations between and among local, federal and private entities. IBM was the chosen partner to work with us to solve this challenge and help in achieving the set objectives and benefit from savings in the process.”
Using IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, Digital Ajman was able to create a centralised hub, based on a hybrid cloud environment, which supports integrations between various private and public entities and their data sources. To date, Digital Ajman connected around 200 integration points, enabling them to bring about financial savings and reduce the amount of paperwork required for government services.
“Digital Ajman has been leading efforts to encourage digital transformation across the public and private sectors, using the latest of what technology has to offer,” said Hossam Seif El-Din, General Manager, IBM Middle East and Pakistan. “Over the years, it’s been evident that citizen experience is at the heart of every transformation project Digital Ajman spearheads. Through their selection of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, they were yet again able to take the emirate’s digital government services to the next level.”
Ajman Pay: an official payment gateway developed by the Ajman Department of Finance used the capabilities on IBM Cloud Pak for Integration for integrating all local government and semi-government entities in the emirate to simplify the process of paying for fees and services. In the past, implementing such a project would have required the Ajman Department of Finance to go to each entity, check its capabilities, integrate point to point and overcome legacy system barriers. Through this project, Digital Ajman was able to integrate all engaged partners with Ajman Pay and connect them to the dedicated local banks for settlements and reconciliations.
Bait Amer: an integrated digital government service which simplifies the process citizens must follow in order to build a house and then move into it. In the past, building and moving into a new home involved 17 customer facing touchpoints with government entities. Through IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, Digital Ajman was able to connect Ajman’s planning, sewerage, telecommunications, electricity and water departments, among others and reduce customer facing touchpoints to only five.
Bashr: an integrated electronic service which allows investors to establish companies in the UAE within just 15 minutes without the need to visit any government entity. Onboarded onto IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, Ajman’s Department of Economic Development was able to smoothly connect with Bashr platform. The platform connects local and federal government departments, along with various bodies concerned with licensing economic activities in the country.
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