GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 29 Apr) – In a bid to improve its operations and service delivery, the Department of Labor Employment (DOLE) in Region 12 has adopted a feedback system using the short message service (SMS) or text messaging.
Ofelia Domingo, DOLE Region 12 director, said Wednesday the new feedback system is part of the agency’s continuing innovations to help bring better services and reach out to more residents within the region’s four provinces and five cities.
Dubbed “SMS Feedback Blast System,” she said the facility will mainly serve as their primary feedback mechanism for the public as well as the information dissemination arm of its programs, activities and services.
Domingo said mobile phone or cellphone users subscribed to any cellular network may send inquiries to the agency using their assigned SMS line.
She said inquiries or messages should be sent to SMS line 5656 using the format CRM<space>DOLE12<space>NAME<space>QUESTION/MESSAGE.
“The system will immediately respond to the inquiry like, for example, how much is the prevailing minimum wage in the region? It will later send a question to the user regarding the service to generate feedback,” she said during the system’s formal launching in Koronadal City.
Domingo said they will later use the system in relaying news briefs and information regarding job fairs, meetings and seminars hosted by the agency.
She said users will be charged a minimal fee of P1 per SMS inquiry but the response to the feedback question will be for free.
“We initially designed it as a free service but we later decided to include a P1 fee to give value to it and avoid possible abuses from devious users,” she said.
Domingo said the SMS feedback system, which will be managed by the regional office, was mainly developed by their information technology or IT personnel.
She said it was patterned after existing SMS-based feedback mechanisms being used by some government agencies, among them the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“We adopted this system to be more proactive in reaching out to our clients, especially in getting their feelings, perceptions and feedbacks regarding our programs and services,” she said.
In a project briefer, the agency said new system will help them get more feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of their programs and services as well as assist them in coming up with real-time reports on clients’ feedback.
Its use will eventually reduce DOLE-12’s paper and printing expenses, and generate some P471,400 in annual savings.
The agency will later innovate the system to facilitate its use in some office-related transactions and utilize it as a mechanism in reporting workplace accidents and related concerns.