Ministry of Finance call centre exceeds targets as AI boosts customer service performance

Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Finance has announced the performance results of its call centre for the first half of 2026, highlighting the successful integration of generative AI solutions that enabled it to exceed all approved operational targets while improving service efficiency. Among the key achievements, the call centre recorded a First Contact Resolution (FCR) rate of 97.11%, reduced the Average Speed of Answer to just eight seconds and increased Customer Happiness to 95.43%. Younis Haji AlKhoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, said the results reflect the ministry's forward-looking vision to strengthen its digital leadership and help shape the future of innovative government financial services in line with the UAE's strategic direction towards smart solutions. He said the achievements demonstrate the value of the ministry's investment in generative AI and its positive impact on operational excellence and customer happiness through faster and more reliable services. AlKhoori added: “The ministry remains committed to continuously advancing its digital ecosystem and modernising its services to build on this institutional excellence and sustain its innovation journey. We will continue to deliver an integrated, interactive customer experience by empowering our people with advanced digital capabilities and the latest enabling technologies to ensure consistently high performance and respond to evolving customer expectations.” Performance results showed that the call centre exceeded all approved operational indicators during the first half of the year. First Contact Resolution reached 97.11%, surpassing the 90% target, while the Service Quality score rose to 92.41%, well above the target of 80%. Customer Happiness reached 95.43%, exceeding the 90% benchmark. In addition, 93.40% of calls were answered within 30 seconds, outperforming the target of 90%. The centre also improved operational efficiency by reducing its Average Speed of Answer to eight seconds, significantly lower than the 20-second target, while Average Handling Time improved to four minutes and 35 seconds compared to the target of five minutes. The Call Abandonment Rate was limited to 1.88%, substantially below the target of 5%. The ministry said the results were driven by an integrated suite of smart platforms and applications deployed across the call centre. These include an AI-powered sentiment analysis system that assesses customer sentiment by analysing voice tone and language used during calls, as well as speech-to-text technology that converts calls into written transcripts and generates feedback for employees to improve service quality. Generative AI has also been integrated to provide real-time responses to customer enquiries around the clock. The call centre additionally offers a "Chat with Documents" solution that allows customers to retrieve information from PDF documents and user guides through natural-language interactions with AI. Other technologies include Tableau dashboards for real-time performance monitoring and the Talbiyah platform, which is designed to receive and fulfil customer requests with a high level of efficiency.