When a Babylonian customer wrote a letter to a Mesopotamian businessman in 1750 BC complaining about the wrong grade of copper ore delivered to him, he perhaps penned the world’s first customer complaint. While we don’t know how or if his complaint was redressed, today, customer service plays an integral role in the success of many a business and government service.

But even two centuries after that first complaint, customer service wasn’t necessarily on top of the To-Do lists of most businesses leave alone government leaders.

Not so in Dubai, though. A fairly nondescript dot on the world map in the 1950s, Dubai in the Trucial States was one place where the Ruler and his government functionaries kept the interest of the customer — the people — close to their hearts even when resources and services were limited.

During the tenure of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, it was a common sight to find him conducting impromptu inspections of public-facing offices, especially Dubai Customs, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police, to gauge the people’s satisfaction levels with the government services and seeks suggestions.

During the tenure of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, it was a common sight to find the Ruler conducting impromptu inspections of public-facing offices, especially Dubai Customs, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Police

His son, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, followed the footsteps of his father by making surprise visits to government offices and interacting with the public spontaneously when he was the Crown Prince of Dubai, and also later as its Ruler.

Dubai has been a global pioneer in introducing the concept of customer care into active governance. After experimenting with several initiatives, the emirate took steps in the early 1990s to integrate a culture of customer care into the government departments’ appraisals.

Taking a cue from the best corporate management gurus, Dubai transformed its customer service centres into customer happiness centres. The objective — and the target — was clear: merely servicing the customer’s needs was no longer enough. Dubai’s government departments were expected to surpass the customer’s expectations and delight its citizens, residents — and visitors.

Through a rigorous system of support and supervision, Sheikh Mohammed has kept the Dubai government’s service standards the highest in the world. In April 2019, for instance, his team sent mystery shoppers to test the service levels of various government departments. HH did not mince any words when he found the levels lacking at Emirates Post. “This is not our level. These are not our services … and whoever continues to provide such level of services will not be among my team,” he tweeted while posting a picture of a trailing queue at one of the postal service’s branches.

“We dispatched a team to check the level of services in one of the centres in Emirates Post”, he wrote. “The team came back with this report. I present it to everyone to see with utmost transparency,” he said as he publicly shared a performance report that focused on how simple changes to working methods could bring big improvements. “And I say to everyone in the government: nothing will be overlooked but will be followed up with utmost transparency.”

It wasn’t the first time that His Highness took matters in his own hands and shared uncomfortable results for all to see. In 2018, he made his disappointment public when a survey showed that only 60 per cent of government employees at five offices were satisfied at their workplace. There were other offices where the satisfaction levels were as high as 93 per cent, but HH clearly wanted the laggards to up their game.

“These percentages are unacceptable,” he said on Twitter. “Employee satisfaction is key to customer satisfaction. We are giving the managers of these bodies six months to change the working environment. The government’s most valuable capital is its employees.”

Such transparency and rigorously high service standards have pushed Dubai to the top of the service excellence hierarchy. His approach is clear: If you don’t measure it, you won’t improve it. In fact, in 2016, he decided to pay surprise visits to several of Dubai’s government offices on the first day of the start of the school year: he spot-checked the emirate’s Land Department, its Department of Economic Development, the airport, and the Municipality headquarters that one fateful morning.

Sheikh Mohammed pays surprise visits and routinely conducts spot checks at government offices to ensure Dubai remains on top of its service excellence game

The Ruler is known for his largesse towards top-performers, and excellence among his team is extremely well rewarded. The message to non-performers was also made clear on that day. He was greeted by empty desks at some departments and, needless to add, heads rolled the next day. Nine senior officials at Dubai Municipality were ordered to retire by Sheikh Mohammed.

His focus on excellence has been there for all to see. In September 1997, Sheikh Mohammed ordered the setting up of the Dubai Government Excellence Program (DGEP), the first integrated programme for governmental excellence in the world, to provide distinctive services for all the customers. Three key rationales were given: excellence, measured effectiveness and efficiency. The first integrated programme for governmental excellence in the world had used the formerly European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model as the key to its blueprint for the programmes and devised the criteria to better focus on the evaluation of government institutions.

The excellence awards were divided into two groups: the excellence of institutions and the excellence of employees. The measured effectiveness came into focus in 2006 through the introduction of a customer complaints system. The core idea was to assess organisations through the eyes of their users. This came five years after the ‘Distinguished e-Government Entity’ category was introduced as e-government picked up pace in the emirate. The DGEP contributed to a radical change in the performance, concepts, practices and management methods applied in the government sector.

In 2016, the program became the custodian of the Dubai Government Excellence System. In September 2019, the DGEP introduced radical improvements on assessment and recognition schemes.

In February 2014, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed directed all (customer) service centres of ministries and federal institutions to comply with the Star Rating System. The service centres are rated between two stars and seven stars, based on their performances measured by the Prime Minister’s Office in coordination with the Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA). External auditors were drafted in the rating process to ensure the neutrality of the evaluation panel.

He ordered the number of stars indicating the rating of a government centre would be displayed on plates outside the centre so that a client knows its level of service. The indicators of performance are dealings with customers, speed of service delivery, reduction in waiting time, service accessibility and the office ambience, the use of technology and proximity of service outlets.

Happiness meters were connected to a central network operated by Smart Dubai Government that analyse the meters and send regular reports to Dubai Executive Council to identify the geographical and government zones that are the happiest and most satisfied with their services. The Happiness Meter is one of Dubai’s first strategic ‘smart city’ initiatives. As the world’s first, city-wide, live sentiment capture engine, the meter represented a measurement gauge for the happiness goal. The initiative is among the first-of-its-kind in the world to gauge delightful experiences across an entire city, including the private sector and government entities in parallel. The meter has been extended to include digital interaction channels in the private sector as well as the public sector.

There are now more than 1,000 of these touchpoints, including mobile applications and customer service centres. At the end of 2018, the Happiness Index stood at over 90 per cent. Smart Dubai ran an AI-based facial recognition pilot to measure how happy people are when they complete interaction at a customer services centre.

In May 2016, the UAE unveiled a Customer Happiness Formula to provide an effective tool for government employees to achieve the happiness goals under the National Programme for Happiness and Wellbeing. The launch highlights the government’s commitment to provide services that achieve customer happiness and ensure the happiness of the entire community. The formula consists of three main components: Employees who take pride in providing excellent government services; Government entities that are dedicated to making customers happy; Positive and proactive customers who are willing to provide suggestions and contribute to the development of innovative services that creates happiness, and Training for Chief Happiness and wellbeing Officers.

In July, 60 Chief Happiness and Wellbeing Officers from federal and local government entities were announced and were picked up for training to understand the ‘science of happiness’ and implement it.

“We don’t accept any delays or excuses. Providing the best services in the world is the main objective of every government entity in the UAE“

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

In November 2018, he told the government employees: “We don’t accept any delays or excuses. Providing the best services in the world is the main objective of every government entity in the UAE.”

In January 2020, the government revealed the best and worst-performing government entities for customer happiness in Dubai. The Dubai Customer Happiness and Mystery Shopper Index 2019 evaluated the service quality of various government entities. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) was ranked first on the index, followed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), and Dubai Health Authority. The lowest-performing entities were Dubai Public Prosecution, Dubai Land Department and Dubai Customs and Dubai Culture.

“Constantly enhancing excellence is the main focus of the government’s work. We must all work together to make Dubai the happiest city in the world. I call on all government entities to boost efforts to improve team spirit and meet the aspirations of customers,” Sheikh Mohammed said. In March, the UAE launched an eight-language ‘mystery shopper’ mobile app that enables customers to evaluate government services and leave feedback or suggestions to improve the level of service at UAE federal entities.

“More than 30 years ago we launched the Secret Shopper Programme… today we open the way for all members of society to be secret shoppers providing the government with immediate assessments of their experiences in obtaining government service,” tweeted Sheikh Mohammed.

In September that year, Finances Online revealed the UAE is in Global Top 10 countries for Customer Service Standards. From handling complaints to providing accurate and honest information, customer experience covers everything. The only entrant from the Middle East, the UAE is up there with the likes of Australia, Mexico and Russia.

Sheikh Mohammed has urged enhancing the government’s digital services and accelerating the pace of its work to achieve the country’s goal to be the best government in the world

In February 2021, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said the nation has adopted innovative standards for the development of the best government services and practices in the world. He approved the star rating results of the UAE government departments, and urged enhancing the government’s digital services and accelerating the pace of its work to achieve the country’s goal to be the best government in the world. This certainly won’t be the last step in Dubai’s customer excellence journey. After all, as he says, “The race for excellence has no finish line.”