The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has added one more prestigious award to its credit while implementing the best customer service practices. Ashghal has won the Golden Award for Excellence in Public Relations for Consumer PR for an existing service from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), Customer Service Excellence Programme making Qatar the only Arab country to win this award in 2021.
Jassem Ibrahim Fakhroo, the national co-ordinator of IPRA in Qatar handed over the golden award to Abdulla Saad al-Saad, Public Relations and Communications Manager at Ashghal.
An official statement quoted IPRA that Ashghal bagged the honour among 93 winners from all over the world under several categories. Winners in the same category include Romania, Britain, China and Hungary.
Al-Saad said Ashghal’s means of communication with the public expanded through many channels with a huge increase in the number of our customers and partners over past years. “Now customers are able to utilise these channels to apply for our services, communicate with us and provide comments or inquiries quickly and easily,” he noted.
In order to reach the largest number of customers, Ashghal continues to enhance its presence on social media platforms, boosting interaction with citizens and residents and keeping them informed about the latest developments of Ashghal’s projects and services through its most viewed social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. This is in addition to partnering with the best developers to improve and develop Ashghal's official website and the services covered.
Al-Saad explained that the public can browse Ashghal website, which is updated daily to serve individuals, companies or government entities through a unified customer service portal. “Visitors can register basic data and fill out electronic forms linked with the databases of the concerned entities to facilitate delivery of service, and such requests can be raised from anywhere and at any time,” he added.
Regarding development of systems, Abeer Faleh al-Hajri, Information Systems Department Manager, said that Ashghal places customer satisfaction at the top of our priorities. “We update all programs and systems that help us in facilitating communication with the public while striving towards developing the form and content of our electronic channels, introducing them to the public and achieving a better electronic experience,” al-Hajri said.
With the aim of monitoring all customer feedback and evaluating the performance of the team concerned, Ashghal has developed the integrated Customer Relation Management (CRM) system implemented in cooperation with Microsoft and it undergoes constant developments. Ashghal launched the Customer Service Excellence Program in 2013 to include implementation of many initiatives aimed at enhancing experience, interaction with customers and reducing response time for stakeholders.
Ashghal implemented Customer Service Excellence Programme to monitor all customer feedback and evaluate performance of the team concerned. This is an ongoing program designed to place Ashghal within the platform of the best customer service entity in Qatar and the region. It also aims to implement best practices in government service excellence, besides achieving enhanced customer satisfaction in applying Ashghal’s strategic value of "service oriented".
Jassem Ibrahim Fakhroo expressed his pleasure saying that this achievement has raised Qatar’s name on the global map of public relations, where Ashghal is considered to be the first Qatari entity to win this award. “The award is held annually by IPRA with the wide participation of public relations institutions from different states across the world. Ashghal was able to pass the various stages of evaluation, meeting all conditions set to win, such as requirement to complete the public relations programme before the start of the annual competition, where awards in 37 categories are awarded to outstanding institutions in this field, from the public and private sectors. This is implemented as per carefully developed international standards, and through a professional, independent and impartial jury,” he said.
The evaluation jury consisted of judges from countries across the world like Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Philippines, the US and the UK.
“The participation of Qatari entities in this award enhances the spirit of competitiveness in public relations excellence, and the Awards uplift the standards of leadership in the public relations system, upgrading skills of its practitioners, and achieving sustainability in this field,” he added.
Philip Sheppard, secretary general, IPRA – Britain, said that Ashghal has emerged through its outstanding contribution within an extremely competitive category, which is Consumer PR for an Existing Service. “Ashghal has demonstrated creativity and inspiration in the way the customer service program is crafted, we have never had a Qatari winner in this category,” he said.
The IPRA Golden World Awards initiative, established in 1990, recognises excellence in public relations practice worldwide in a wide variety of categories. The awards are celebrated annually for outstanding achievements of PR professionals and provide a platform for collective exchange and learning.
