Dubai needs to spend a lot on mGovernment integration

Dubai: Even though Dubai started the mobile-government (mGovernment) initiative ahead of Abu Dhabi, Dubai needs to spend a lot on software integration as each entity uses different application platforms, said a top official.

“In Dubai, each government entity builds the application on different platforms like SAP and Oracle. So integration is difficult and costly but in Abu Dhabi, it is one platform — Oracle. So integration is easy and less operation costs,” said Saif Al Ketbi, Vice-President of Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) and its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services.

mGovernment provides government services to the public using smartphone applications.

All government entities across the country have begun intense work to make the shift from the eGovernment era to the new mGovernment era.

“We have already moved all our applications to mobile platform one year ago. The mGoverment is not a new initiative, it started four years ago. The UAE is one step behind in terms of structure perspective. We have not fully utilised the eServices yet. We are jumping one step ahead to mServices,” he said.