Making something easy is often the most difficult task of all.
Consider the government of Ajman. The smallest and one of the most agile emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ajman began its digital transformation journey in 2017 by creating Digital Ajman, a new department tasked with the goal of making life easier for the public. Achieving that goal would require Digital Ajman to tackle an enormously complex web of integrations between and among local, federal and private entities. Information was siloed and technology varied widely. It was the opposite of easy.
Digital Ajman selected the IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration solution, including IBM API Connect® and IBM® App Connect Enterprise products, to support the transformation.
Cost savings
>2 Million Dirhams saved due to simplified processes
Paperless approach
> 200 Trees saved by new paperless approach annually
Digital Ajman is acting as a main enabler for 12 projects in Ajman and UAE. To date, the organization has used the solution to complete 160 integration points, connecting local, federal and private entities in ways that simplify the lives of Ajman’s citizens. Three integrations in particular demonstrate the technological capabilities of the IBM solution.
First, there is Ajman Pay, a payment gateway developed by the Ajman Department of Finance and integrated with all local government and semi-government entities in the emirate to make it easy for citizens to pay for fees and services. Digital Ajman used IBM App Connect Enterprise software to develop the integration framework between all engaged partners.
In the past, implementing such a project would have required the Ajman Department of Finance to go to each entity, check its capabilities and integrate point to point. Some of the entities have legacy systems that would have brought about many issues. Using the IBM solution, Digital Ajman was able to integrate all engaged partners with Ajman Pay, then connect them to the dedicated local banks for settlement and reconciliation.
A second notable integration is the “Bait Amer” service bundle, one of Digital Ajman’s most prominent and advanced projects. This integration simplifies the process of applying for and building a new home by connecting Ajman’s planning, sewerage, telecommunications, electricity and water departments, among others. In the past, building and moving into a new home involved 17 touchpoints with government entities. Today, thanks to Bait Amer, it takes only five.
In a third integration, Digital Ajman was engaged as one of the main stakeholders for a UAE government accelerator project called “Bashr.” This is an integrated electronic service that allows investors to establish companies in the UAE electronically, without the need to visit any government entity. This can be done in just 15 minutes through an electronic platform that is integrated with local and federal government departments, along with various bodies concerned with licensing economic activities in the UAE. Many of the integrations are already complete, and there are more to come.
Digital Ajman plans to leverage the information it has gathered during these projects to develop proactive and innovative new government services.
Without question, the new integrations have helped Digital Ajman accomplish its chief objective of making life easier for the citizens of Ajman. The new services have been wildly popular, and the platform is already approaching one million transactions.
However, that is not all the project has done. Since its beginning, it has brought about savings of approximately AED 2 million by creating a centralized integration hub that supports integrations between various entities and their data sources.
The solution has also significantly reduced the amount of paperwork required for government services. In fact, Digital Ajman calculates that this solution has already saved nearly 150 trees, and anticipates that it will save more than 200 trees annually going forward.
The Digital Ajman framework project manager sums up the engagement: “We covered all of the scenarios in this project: going paperless, re-engineering capabilities, integrating with legacy systems, and much more to come.”
Digital Ajman (link resides outside of ibm.com) was established in 2017 to develop digital channels that provide smart government services to the citizens of Ajman, the smallest of the United Arab Emirates. It strives to provide high quality, responsive, integrated and innovative government services to the public anytime, anywhere. Digital Ajman is headquartered in the city of Ajman.
Legal
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2020. IBM Corporation, IBM Hybrid Cloud, New Orchard Road, Armonk, NY 10504
Produced in the United States of America, November 2020.
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, IBM API Connect, and IBM Cloud Pak are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/copyright-trademark.
This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in which IBM operates.
The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations and operating conditions. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.