Internal and external customers at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service will now receive improved service as a result of its new programme, ‘Driven by Service Excellence’.
The programme is the Strategic Road Map of the Ministry, which aims to streamline services to create more data-driven, efficient service delivery.
Speaking with JIS News, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, at the Ministry, Shelly-Ann Weeks, said the programme will change the way business is done at the Ministry for both internal and external customers.
“This is the strategic direction of the Ministry for the next few years. The Ministry of Finance has invested in technology and the team to ensure that we put the customer at the centre of our service. This mantra, Driven by Service Excellence, is what we’re going to be using as we move into the next three to five years,” Miss Weeks said.
She told JIS News that the Finance Ministry has 65 service points and will ensure that the customer experience is optimal. As such, everything they do will be driven by the mantra.
“The purpose and the foundation of everything that we do is driven by service excellence… even ensuring that the bathrooms at the Ministry are renovated if that is the need, to even ensure that the way persons apply for their scholarships and the level of service that they get is excellent. So, it’s not just a campaign that we are running,” Miss Weeks said.
She explained that the programme was born out of extensive research at the Ministry.
“The strategic direction was launched out of research that was done to see how we can optimise what we are doing. Internally, there are some systems that we had that were no longer working, and so we had to optimise our systems so that they are more proficient in the service delivery to the customer, as well as what we need in terms of analysis and data so that we can make more informed decisions,” she noted.
Miss Weeks pointed out that customers will notice some of the changes at the Ministry.
“It really is the spirit behind everything that we do, especially the service experience for the customer. So, the customer benefits at the end of it, but internally there are some things that we are changing to ensure that the team has the tools that they need to give excellent service as well as their experience as an internal customer is also at its optimum,” Miss Weeks said.
She told JIS News that the Ministry is so invested in the mantra of service excellence that they are willing to ask customers to hold them accountable for service delivery.
“We invested in human resource, because if you’re going to change the system, then we have to ensure that our team is trained to operate these systems at the optimal level. Everyone is involved in the process – our team, and also our customers – because they will know what to expect from the Ministry and they can also hold us accountable if we don’t meet these standards,” Miss Weeks said.
She said the Ministry is pleased with the response from staff and has committed to helping to shift the culture of how business is done in the Ministry.
“We recognise that the culture is going to take some time to get people to come on board, but the good news is that persons are excited by what has been done so far, and persons are interested in moving towards ensuring that we meet the goals that we have,” Miss Weeks said.
Source: Jamaica Information Service