June 18th, 2014, Silviu Matei
Mobile penetration rates are sky rocketing in the Middle East and results released by YouGov's UAE Mobile Government Satisfaction Survey (mGSS), show that mobile is increasingly consumers' preferred channel for interaction - even when interacting with government services.
YouGov’s mGSS measures UAE residents' level of awareness, usage and satisfaction with mobile-based government services, including m-services (SMS-based services) and mobile applications provided by governmental entities in the UAE.
The latest wave of this research measured the opinions of 4,151 UAE residents. Results show that overall, UAE residents give government mobile-based services an mGovernment Satisfaction Index (mGSIndex) score of 77.3. This score is over 10 points higher than the satisfaction score residents give for online services provided by government institutions, which is 67.1 overall for the same period.
The mGSI score is a composite index of four dimensions: overall satisfaction, recommendation, satisfaction with the mGovernment strategy and ease of interaction - i.e. the extent to which mobile services help consumers to interact more easily with government institutions.
Overall government mobile-based service satisfaction scores in the UAE
Figures represent averages
Research shows that overall, residents think mobile-based services offered by the UAE government help consumers to interact more easily with their institutions – giving them a score of 79.7. The results also reveal residents would highly recommend government mobile-based services to family and friends with a score of 79.1. Respondents also display high levels of confidence in the mGovernment strategy implemented in the UAE, giving an overall satisfaction score of 78.2.
Despite high levels of satisfaction among users of mGovernment services, overall awareness among the general population is low with only 4 out of 10 UAE residents (39%) having heard about the mGovernment Program. Awareness varies by nationality with Arab Expats (58%) and Emiratis (47%) being the most aware of the mobile initiative compared to other nationality groups.
Awareness and usage of government owned mobile applications (apps)
The RTA (Roads and Transport Authority) tops the government app awareness rankings grabbing the most attention (48%) from UAE residents for its RTA Dubai mobile app - closely followed by DEWA who claims awareness from 46% of the population for their app, and the Dubai Police who capture 41% awareness from residents across all seven Emirates.
The RTA Dubai mobile app also has the highest penetration rate (23%) in the UAE compared to other government-owned mobile applications. It is equally followed by DEWA, Dubai Metro and mPay – whose mobile apps are used by 15% of UAE residents respectively.
These four UAE government apps are all available on the App Store and Google Play™, with the most ratings for their apps on Google Play™. Despite sitting in 5th place for usage, interestingly Dubai Police has the best customer satisfaction rating on Google Play™ for their app, scoring 4.4 out of 5 overall – whilst the DEWA app currently has a rating of 4.1, the mPay app is 4.1 and the RTA Dubai app rating is 4.0 out of 5 overall.
Base: Those who are aware of each government owned mobile application.
Awareness and usage of government operated m-services (pull services)
As for the popularity of government operated m-services in the UAE, mParking - Dubai SMS, RTA - SALIK SMS, and Dubai Police - Traffic Fines SMS are the most widely known and used across the UAE. The survey reveals that 1 in 4 residents are aware of mParking - Dubai SMS (23%) and 1 in 5 are aware of the RTA - SALIK SMS and Dubai Police - Traffic Fines SMS (both with 21% awareness).
Of those who are aware of government operated m-services, when asked which service they have used recently, mParking - Dubai SMS has the highest number of users with over half of UAE residents (56%) saying they have used the service in the previous 3 months. RTA - SALIK SMS follows closely in second place with 53% usage, and 47% of residents have used Dubai Police - Traffic Fines SMS in the same previous three month period.
Base: Those who are aware of each government operated pull service.
Data was collected using YouGov's proprietary online panel from November 25, 2013 – January 12, 2014 among 4,151 UAE residents. Results are broadly representative of the online population in the UAE.
Google Play™ is a trademark of Google Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.