For the third consecutive year, Dubai Customs has succeeded in winning the Platinum Category awarded by the UK idea for its efficient suggestions system.
The platinum category is the highest level of classification of suggestion systems applied at government and private entities. The “UK ideas” Competition is considered as a benchmark for testing performance.
The platinum category is granted to organizations if the efficiency of their suggestion systems reaches %90 or above according to the classification criteria accredited by the British Association (UK ideas).
The legislative and financial aspects, the suggestion system’s laws, procedures and its appropriateness to the organizational structure of the corporation and contributions to achieve its goals, communication tools and incentives systems, performance indicators, efficiency measurement tools, staff training and the system’s ongoing upgrading are among the 80 classification criteria of the UK ideas.
This high-level assessment is a big achievement to Dubai government’s unified suggestion system, which was launched in the middle of last year by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, who underlined at the time that the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, have focused on the importance of the participation of all segments of the society in the government’s development efforts, calling on all public sector employees to seize available opportunities and improve them to ensure a sustainable development for the structure of Dubai government.
H.E Ahmed Butti Ahmed, the Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone and Director General of Dubai Customs said that the customs department’s winning of the Platinum Category for the third year in a row for its suggestions system reflects the concept of the sustainable corporate innovation which the department adopted long time ago and applied to all activities, stressing Dubai Custom’s keenness on encouraging its employees and clients to submit their suggestions and innovative ideas that can contribute to enhancing the excellence of Dubai and the UAE.
In addition, Ahmed Butti Ahmed noted that innovation of the government agencies has become no longer a choice but more of a directive of the leadership, willing to see its country and people achieving high levels of excellence and innovation.
Dubai Customs was one of the first government agencies to apply the unified suggestion system of Dubai’s government, Ahmad Butti Ahmad said, pointing out that achieving a high-level classification of the suggestion system is a proof of the wise and piercing vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who always stresses the importance of achieving government excellence, quoting H.H. Sheikh Mohammed as once saying: “The culture of excellence and innovation should prevail all segments and institutions of the society as we live in a state that is committed to achieving excellence in all spheres.”
Dubai Customs has achieved a notable progress in the field of suggestions, Ahmad Butti Ahmad explained, saying that three of its active employees working in the field have won Dubai Government Excellence Programme Award in its recent round and that the department has entered several strategic partnerships and gained the memberships in the Ideas America Association and the German Institute for Business Administration (Dib).
Ahmad Butti Ahmad also explained that the suggestions of the department’s staff have consisted of several illuminating ideas to improve the customs business, increase the efficiency of the customs inspection and increase the satisfaction level of customers. He also indicated that the department’s employees have also come up with new idea suggestions that have been translated into facts on the ground such as introducing the “drugs case” which contains samples of drugs substances to train the customs inspectors and boost their inspection skills, organizing the first mass wedding for the department’s male and female employees and holding a yearly elections to choose an employee who works as a link between the employees and their administrations and helps in solving their problems and worries.
Buying cars for the department instead of renting was among the most distinctive suggestions of employees. The “Irtibat” Initiative, which aims at enhancing communications with the embassies’ commercial attaches in the UEA and their business councils, was also another distinctive suggestion and it contributed to strengthening dialogue with official and semi-official organizations tasked with organizing the relationships with business communities of countries that have trade partnerships and joint investments with Dubai Customs.
The Accreditation Certificate is scheduled to be extended to Dubai Customs during the international conference of “Ideas UK 2012”, slated to be held November 7,8 in Bristol, Britain.
Ideas UK is a non-profit organization that is concerned with enhancing and supporting employees’ initiatives worldwide and works on motivating its member states and providing them with the latest suggestions systems and opportunities to exchange expertise and knowledge with various international public and private entities.