All levels of government in the UAE have never been slow when it comes to seeing the potential for new technologies, embracing the developments, and implementing change and innovation to enhance the efficiency, transparency and delivery of services to end users. Whether it’s rolling out apps to help everyone with their day-to-day interactions with ministries and emirates, developing smart portals to help employers and employees find new opportunities and work, or making sure that the regulatory framework needed to ensure all the expatriates living and working in the UAE are accessible, open and transparent, the network of public sector workers serves us all well.
One new development in the pipeline will result in a small change for expats, with the current system whereby residency visa stickers are placed on passport pages to end in the coming months. Instead, officials envisage the entire residency visa process happening online. While the end of the passport pages’ system would be the only effect on most, for administrators the change would be considerable. In a trial version of the system tested recently in Ajman, the time spent by administrators on getting the passports processed was cut in half. That represents a real-time gain in productivity and efficiency.
This new initiative ties in with the goals of Vision 2021 and is indicative of the general trend towards eliminating paperwork, creating efficiencies and increasing productivity while also lowering costs. Yes, society and our relationship with work is bound to change in these coming years. The secret is to embrace change, work smarter, and figure out how new advancements in technology can work for us. And clearly, our public-sector workers are at the vanguard of this.