RIAC awarded international quality certification - Communication

Secretaria Regional das Finanças, Planeamento e Administração Pública

The Integrated Citizen Support Network (RIAC) has obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification for its Quality Management System (QMS). This recognition confirms that RIAC operates under strictly defined processes geared towards continuous improvement, with a view to providing a simpler, faster service that is closer to citizens and businesses.

RIAC ensures the centralised provision of public services in the Region, providing a vast network of offices and digital channels that facilitate access to services from various government departments. With a mission focused on administrative simplification, the network serves as a facilitator of the interaction between citizens and the Regional Administration, centralising procedures and ensuring that the Azoreans can manage their affairs in an integrated manner.

The certification covers the Regional Public Administration Contact Centre as well as the Content and Services Office. These units operate together to ensure high-quality, consistent multichannel service. While the Contact Centre responds to citizens via telephone and digital channels, the Content and Services Office coordinates and monitors procedures, ensuring the consistency of information, quality of processes and direct liaison with the various entities involved.

The implementation of this international standard represents a milestone in the administrative modernisation of the Azores. ISO 9001:2015 requires risk-based management and organisational effectiveness, ensuring that RIAC has the necessary resilience to respond to highly demanding contexts and complex information flows. This level of quality aligns the Azorean network with European best practices in public management, raising the standard of institutional performance.

As a fundamental link between the administration and the territory, RIAC certification is a driving force for cohesion, ensuring that services throughout the archipelago follow identical standards of excellence. This investment in standardising processes eliminates bureaucratic barriers. It also optimises the interaction between the public sector and the business community, ensuring that administrative responses promote economic and social activity in the Region.

This step in consolidating the Quality Management System also prepares RIAC for the challenges of digital transition and technological innovation. In optimising internal coordination and data flows, the structure provides a solid foundation for integrated new digital services, ensuring that network modernisation is matched by constant monitoring of user satisfaction and response times through this privileged point of contact with citizens.

As such, ISO 9001:2015 certification further underlines RIAC's commitment to the quality of service provided in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, ensuring increasingly efficient, transparent and strictly citizen-oriented service delivery.