| Danial Norjidi |
THE Customer Friendly Service Programme, an initiative by the Management Services Department (MSD) under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), was recently launched with the aim of improving customer satisfaction levels.
The programme was launched during a ceremony on May 20 at the PMO Building. Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Roselan bin Haji Mohamad Daud as Acting Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office said in a speech at the event that frontline civil servants will be expected to provide better customer service to members of the public.
In his remarks, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Roselan explained, “In the era of globalisation and a changing environment, the main challenge, especially for government agencies is to continue to improve customer satisfaction and to be more responsive to the needs of the public.”
Recalling His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s titah in conjunction with the 22nd Civil Service Day in 2015, he further highlighted, “His Majesty stated that the civil servants need to understand the public’s needs, especially those of entrepreneurs and investors. They always expect the best: fast, quality treatment and the demonstration of leadership; if we fail to deliver this, this signifies failure on the government’s part.
“The government has always tried to introduce and implement programmes as well as activities that are geared towards providing excellent and the best services. This is evident in Brunei Darussalam’s improvement in the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) rankings in recent years,” Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Roselan stated. “This drive to improve Brunei’s EODB was led personally by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, as Chairman of the Steering Committee of the movement.”
He went on to say that, through a whole-of-government approach, “various initiatives have been implemented including the introduction of processes as well as new regulations aimed at improving customer service and facilitating the set up of businesses in Brunei Darussalam”.
Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Roselan added that the country must not be complacent, and still needs to keep looking for areas where customer service can be improved. Working towards this, the Government of His Majesty has also drafted a Civil Service Framework (RKPA), which was first introduced in 2016.
The RKPA, he pointed out, “supports the realisation of Brunei Vision 2035 through one of its strategies, an institution development strategy which plays a role towards providing Excellence Service Delivery as an outcome on the national level.
“The PMO as the joint lead places focus on service delivery in the public service, and this is measured through the Government Effectiveness Index.”
As a means towards improving the Government Effectiveness Index, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Mohamad Roselan said, “The RKPA has helped the government in the reformation of the civil service. It serves as a transformational action plan, giving focus on leadership, excellence in governance, and providing services to facilitate the economic growth of the country. RKPA is supported by three themes, namely leadership excellence, organisational productivity, and pro-business and pro-public environment.”
The PMO, he revealed, “Has set the target of 90 per cent level in customer satisfaction for the financial year 2019/2020 through its key performance indicators (KPIs) under the theme Pro-Business and Public Environment.
“The anticipated outcome is an increase in customer satisfaction levels which will be measured through the Customer Feedback Survey conducted by the Management Services Department.”
In addition, following the launch of the Customer Friendly Service Programme, the Acting Director of the MSD, Aminuddin bin Haji Buntar delivered a presentation entitled ‘Delivery of Government Services’.
In his presentation he spoke on the government’s target to achieve a 90 per cent customer satisfaction level under its key performance indicators.
According to findings, the customer satisfaction level for 2015-2016 stands at 65 percent. Therefore, to reach the 90 per cent goal, the projection target for customer satisfaction level must be increased to 70 per cent by 2016-2017 and 75 per cent by 2017-2018, it was shared.
Aminuddin pointed out that 12 government agencies with public dealings had not furnished the MSD with information on customer satisfaction levels (for 2015).
Meanwhile, data collected has shown improvement in the handling of complaints.
The performance indicator in solving complaints under MSD for the periods 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 showed a drop in the number of complaints with 66 recorded in 2015/2016, compared to 40 this financial year.
The number of complaints resolved has increased, with 26 resolved in 2016/2017 as compared to 22 in 2015/2016. The speed in resolving complaints too has increased by 30 per cent as compared with both financial years.
With the existing indicators showing that customer satisfaction stands at 65 per cent for the financial year 2015-2016, he said, “The indicator suggests that the Civil Service still needs to increase efforts to achieve higher customer satisfaction.
“This will require the concerted effort of all government agencies, with the involvement of leaders, management of the department, supervisors and frontliners and any individual rendering services. Without such effort, the target will be difficult to achieve,” he said.
DST Communications Sdn Bhd Customer Service Assistant General Manager Datin Hajah Umikalthum binti Haji Mat Daud also delivered a presentation entitled ‘Case Study – Project 3C’ to share DST’s experience with relation to supervision in customer service counter.
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