Page 52 - FCW, June 2017

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
STRATEGIC CUSTOMER SERVICE
Citizen engagement is at the heart of agencies’ overall mission success.
SPONSORED CONTENT
NATALIE FEDIE
VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS, GRANICUS
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES are realizing citizen engagement is essential to their ability to achieve their larger goals and objectives. Fortunately, that realization comes at a time when the technology is
becoming more sophisticated and automated. The ability to measure success in those areas continues to evolve.
To have the most impact, officials should align their digital engagement initiatives with their agency’s strategic priorities. And this process must involve anyone who’s responsible for citizen engagement at the agency, including the communi- cations team.
Whether agencies are just starting out with digital engagement or want to increase their efforts, they must first define their desired outcomes and then identify the relevant audiences. They also need to ensure they have the right tools to reach that audience and the skills to use them. Software as a Service and other cloud-based technologies help agencies test new tools without committing
to a huge procurement. They require less effort to implement. Finally, agencies should use data to measure their success and report on that success.
All About the Journey
Successful engagement starts with mapping the citizen journey. That involves identifying all the ways citizens interact with an agency or service. The first part of the journey might be a visit to the agency’s website or office to receive informa- tion about a program or service. It also includes ways the agency reaches out to citizens through traditional media. The goal is to map the journey from beginning to end and determine the type of experience you want citizens to have.
Complex internal workflows often result in frustrating processes for citizens. So once an agency has mapped its customer journey, it must streamline its back-end workflows to enhance collaboration and improve the citizen experience. Agency employees need to think outside their
own offices and agencies. Providing services in a customer-focused way often involves centralizing information by subject area so people can access a service without having to first know the govern- ment entity from which it is offered.
Identifying opportunities to cross-promote initiatives or events can be especially important when it comes to collaborating on educational awareness projects. For example, if an agency’s mission is to combat human trafficking, it should ensure it’s working with other agencies to reach potential stakeholders. Once again, the process involves identifying the audience and thinking about where and how that audience interacts with government services.
Many of these activities represent a new un- dertaking for agencies, but they don’t have to go
it alone. The government has a wealth of online resources for networking and sharing best practic- es. Agencies should encourage their employees to take advantage of them.
Many agencies also provide educational webinars and user groups to assemble employees working in the same field. In the private sector, those types of groups compete against one another for an audience, but government agencies thrive when they share experiences and ideas. Indeed, the more agencies collaborate, the more efficient they can be.
Furthermore, enterprise software systems that can scale and integrate with other systems give agencies the ability to share data with one another and further improve the customer’s experience. As budgets tighten and priorities evolve, the public sector is becoming increasingly results-ori- ented. Citizen engagement offers unparalleled opportunities to measure and improve outcomes and help agencies achieve their strategic goals.
Natalie Fedie is Vice President of Customer Success at Granicus.
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