2016 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards Gold Winner - Ministry of Defence (MINDEF)
Company: Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Singapore
Category: Award for Innovation in General Information Websites
Entry Title: The NS Portal
The NS Portal (www.ns.sg) is an initiative by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), to reach out and provide the National Service (NS) community with convenient access to NS-related services through portal and mobile means (all male citizens or second-generation permanent residents from 18 years old in Singapore enlist for military training for 2 years). It is the first unified portal for all NS personnel in Singapore, including those from the MINDEF, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
Prior to NS Portal, National Servicemen were required to carry out transactions in person at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB). MINDEF envisioned a unified user-centric service portal that integrates all NS-related services and which promises accessibility, convenience, speed, and security in service delivery.
MINDEF’s integrated service delivery portal engenders a positive NS experience through service excellence and engagement. In line with its commitment to service quality to meet user requirements, MINDEF continually refreshes the NS Portal’s overall design concept and content regularly to meet the evolving expectations and priorities of its different target audience groups. In Oct 2014, the NS Portal was enhanced with a new, sleek design layout that gives prominence to eServices and NS-related content.
The enhanced NS Portal also incorporates new media and social networking technologies to provide a richer and broader experience of NS.
At the heart of MINDEF’s integrated service delivery platform strategy is a strong focus on engendering a positive NS experience through service excellence and engagement with the broad NS community.
Today, the NS Portal is one of the most visited websites in Singapore, having grown more than 200% over the last 7 years to about 600,000 registered users and an average of 10 million page views per month. In 2014/2015, NS Portal received 7 awards from local and international award organisers, in recognition of the value proposition for its users and high level of customer satisfaction survey results.
To date, the NS Portal consistently achieves a rating of more than 95% for its customer satisfaction surveys, thereby reinforcing its commitment to service excellence. The NS Portal, NS Call Centre and NS Mobile consistently achieve ratings of more than 90% in their respective customer satisfaction surveys. These reflect MINDEF’s commitment to service excellence.
The NS Portal has been consistently recognised for its leadership, innovation and commitment to connecting Government and citizens by leading local and global industry organisations. Its many achievements and accolades include 17 international and local awards.
This is part of the ongoing drive to position the NS Call Centre and NS Portal for recognition of its commitment towards continuous improvement and innovation to better serve the NS community, and to seek validation and benchmarking of standards.
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