Cabinet Office and PSOJ Sign MOU to Promote Service Excellence

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been inked between the Office of the Cabinet and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) to promote service excellence within the public and private sectors under a Service Excellence Programme.

Under the initiative, the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Division (PSTMD) will be working to build the capacity of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), introduce new technology and eliminate archaic, inefficient and manual-based processes and systems.

The aim is to ensure the consistent delivery of efficient and high-quality services to the public, making it easier to access government-related information and service.

Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Douglas Saunders, said the Service Excellence Programme recognises the importance of reducing and, where appropriate, eliminating red tape to improve the ease of transacting business with the Government.

He was speaking at the signing ceremony held at Jamaica House in Kingston on January 24.

Ambassador Saunders noted that the PSOJ is a critical and most appropriate partner in the campaign to promote service excellence nationally.

He said the collaboration between the two organisations will entail a worker-exchange programme that will see staff from the private and public sectors being given the opportunity to work in each other’s organisations to facilitate knowledge transfer and cultural exchange.

It will also entail best-practice sharing, which will see the creation of a Public-Private Sector Leaders’ Network that meets regularly to exchange ideas and arrive at a common approach to dealing with service-delivery issues.

“It will include promoting service excellence, which will highlight both public- and private-sector entities that have been recognised for excellence in their service delivery,” Ambassador Saunders said

Meanwhile, outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PSOJ, Dennis Chung, said customer service is essential for anyone wanting to conduct business in Jamaica.

“This partnership is critical… the issue of service excellence in the public sector is critical for social and economic development,” he noted.

“We see this partnership as a stepping stone to helping to achieve the objective of proper public-sector reform… we think it is a value that we can add (and) we look forward to advancing our customer-service delivery,” he added.