Sharjah Forum for Contact Centres reaffirms AI's importance

In presence at the closing ceremony were Tariq Saeed Ally, Director General of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB); Alia Bu Ghanem Al Suwaidi, Director of the SGMB; and Dr. Rashid Khamis Al Naqbi, Chairman  of the Municipal Council of Khorfakkan, and a number of directors of departments and officials, and specialists in the communication sector and customer service in the Gulf region and the Middle East.

Allay expressed gratitude to Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Sharjah Media Council, for sponsoring the event and providing unwavering support.

He stated, in his introductory remarks, that the current state of mankind demonstrates the critical role of contact centres in delivering government messages and supporting its objectives, serving the needs of informed masses, and helping to resolving pressing concerns and difficulties.

Director General of the SGMB added that the forum reaffirms the role of contact centres in assisting governments with development efforts and addressing crises by opening the doors to constructive communication, rapid response, and providing distinguished customer service, noting that the second edition of the forum discusses four major focuses in various sessions: communication systems and leaders' proactive visions, crisis management techniques and institutions' post-Corona attitudes, in addition to the future's safe digital transformation and innovation and technology in contact centres.

Brigadier Dr. Ahmed Saeed Al Naour Al Naqbi, Director General of Central Operations at the Sharjah Police, emphasized, during his inspirational speech titled "Contact Centres and Modern Digital Trends" that the UAE ranked first in the Arab world and 11th globally in 2021 for information and communication technology, a measure of the country's development and level of technology adoption.

Al Naour emphasised the importance of having a strong infrastructure that ensures the best service for contact centres’ work, utilising artificial intelligence and social media platforms when dealing with the public, and underscoring the importance of continuous training and qualification for human resources, as well as benchmarking best practices from other organisations in light of the world's rapid technological advancement.

On the side-lines of its activities, the forum hosted two seminars on enabling crisis management methods through contact centres, as well as their role in quick response and coping with health emergencies, using the Covid-19 crisis as an example.

The second edition of the Sharjah Forum  for Contact Centres came out with many recommendations, most notably: enhancing the experience of the Sharjah Contact Centre’s cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation during the Covid-19 crisis through a booklet that is circulated as one of the successful communication practices, the importance of collaborating with technology companies to expand the scope of research into the role of artificial intelligence and digital solutions in customer service, and the importance of intensifying training programmes for communication service employees and customers in accordance with management approaches and modern technology.

Tariq Saeed Allay, Director General of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, and Alia Abu Ghanem Al Suwaidi, Director of the SGMB honoured Speakers, session moderators, and workshop presenters, as well as partners and supporting institutions.