Dubai e-service for licence renewal

The Dubai Department of Economic Development launched a new e-service for businesses on its website for electronic license renewal  www.dubaided.gov.ae/English/eServices

I have not yet used the Department of Economic Development’s e-service portal, would appreciate any feedback regarding ease of use, overall experience etc

I have used other government websites, Dubai traffic, fines , Salik and whilst they enable to user to perform the task required, the overall experience is very stale and flat.

Personally I feel that most government websites globally need an overhaul in terms of IA and design, but at least in Dubai e-services are being rolled out to residents and businesses, it’s a good start.

Keep collaborating,

Campaign Magazine’s viewpoint about Peace Day UAE campaign

As you may (or may not) be aware, I have been supporting the Peace Day UAE initiative on behalf of Collaborate Marketing, providing marketing assistance and managing the brand online (built the website with Flip Media and organized the social media Twitter, facebook etc).

Below is Campaign magazine’s opinion on the initiative and the fact that so many agencies can come together and work to create a multi media campaign in a very short time frame, in the name of a very noble cause.

Campaign Magazine - Opinion

Working on this initiative I have formed friendships with colleagues from numerous agencies and really enjoy the late nights planning and discussing the aspects of getting everything up and running for the 21st September.

We meet once weekly and are in contact each day ensuring the campaign runs perfectly.

So, what will you do to support peace on the 21st September?

Keep collaborating,

Claire

peaceday.ae

Been working hard to finalize the www.peaceday.ae website all week, collaborating with the team at Flip Media and the Peace Day UAE team (of which I am a member).

The site will launch today, Thursday 27th August, in conjunction with the screening of Jeremy Gilley’s film Peace One Day, a documentary detailing his pursuit to achieve a permanent annual day for peace, which he achieved and that day is September 21st

peaceday.ae website design

The Scene Club will be hosting the screening at the Knowledge Village Auditorium.

The screening will be attended by numerous ambassadors to the UAE and H.H Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan Minister of Higher Education will also be addressing the 500 guests with his own video message of support and solidarity for the project.

The UN International Day of Peace is 21st September, so please visit the UAE Peace Day campaign website www.peaceday.ae to see how you can get involved and join us to support Peace on September 21.

Peace Day September 21

A commitment to peace pledge event will take place at Cinestar, Mall of Emirates, Dubai on Peace Day September 21, all the details are on www.peaceday.ae

Amazingly this site was just an idea 4 weeks ago and with the assistance of Flip Media and the Peace Day UAE team, we got it up and running quickly.

Overall we have achieved so much for the Peace Day UAE campaign in so little time, so many creative people got involved and the response we received has been immense.

Keep collaborating,

Claire

Annoying things about the web today – part II

Staying on the theme of all things not quiet satisfactory on the web, today I received an article specific to e-commerce, retailing online.

The article was written by Carrie Hill at Search Engine Watch – http://searchenginewatch.com/3634726

Again most of what Carrie says make’s perfect sense, yet so many online retailers stumble and fall, frustrating their shoppers.

Alot of issues arise due to concerns of security and customer data.  Shopping online is a balancing act between the objectives of sales & marketing and IT & security.

Research, and our own experience, tells us,  that customers want to be able to come to your website, find what they want (or indeed be told what they need) put it in a shopping basket, checkout, receive confirmation and 2/3 days later their product arrives.   “It’s rudimentary, my dear Watson”  but alas many website’s can’t achieve these simple tasks.

etailers need to be sensible when selling online, you need to plan your customer journeys, ensure that they are well thought through and make sense, have good customer service (so important and many etailers fail on this basic service).

When I worked at tesco.com, we worked hard to achieve good customer service and experience, just because you are online, doesn’t mean you can ignore the basics of good service, it pays off in the end.

If you hit brick walls, eg how you list your products & prices, store your info, manage your supply chain, find a solution, everybody will benefit.

In Dubai and the UAE we don’t actually have many online retailers, most of us (including myself) order from international companies and have our products shipped in, (this is partially due to the fact that we can’t get these products here).

But wouldn’t it be great if we could buy our groceries, get household goods and furniture, electrical goods etc online and have everything delivered to our doors, I for one would be very grateful.

Keep collaborating,

Claire

65 most annoying things about the web today

Article from blogger UXbyDesign, looks at user experience online, interesting article and most of what he mentions is correct.

http://tinyurl.com/pd58tj

From my experience I find that the issue is often ‘timelines’ the ‘we need it now’ attitude. I know this is a reality in business but clients need to understand that if you are going to move your brand online you need to do it right and planning is key.

Take a little more time, plan, build and QA correctly and you should avoid alot of the issues mentioned in this article.

Thanks to Flip Media for bringing this article to my attention.

Keep collaborating,

Claire