Page 66 - FCW, October 2017

FCWPerspectives
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October 2017 FCW.COM
we probably need to figure out how to templatize to some extent,” he added. “Reaching out is something I think we often forget,” another executive said. “We don’t have to recreate the build every time. Pick up the phone
and call.”
She acknowledged, however, that one
must first know whom to ask. “I wish there was a better destination where we could share all of our information in some sort of knowledge base,” she said. “We don’t really have anything like that across the government.”
“We need an integrator,” another participant said. “We need somebody who is responsible for looking at what we all have in common, in terms of systems, and how do we integrate to make sure that we’re learning from each other, that we’re not reinvent- ing what has already been invented.”
The value of outside allies
And if agencies are slow to ask other agencies for help, they’re often outright opposed to looking outside govern- ment. That’s a mistake, several partici- pants said, because many associations and other intermediaries have sprung up because the federal government’s customer experience is so bad, and
they have valuable insights into what changes are most needed.
“There are organized groups out there who actually have a decent handle on customer needs,” one par- ticipant said — from veterans organi- zations to transportation associations to the tax-preparation industry. They often “have an ax to grind, so you have to be careful about that, but they’re essentially a part of the value chain.”
“You don’t necessarily have to disin- termediate them,” another participant said of such groups. “There’s a case to be made to do that over time, but for a little while anyway, take advantage of the fact that they’re there and pump them for all they’re worth. Don’t treat them as enemies.”
Don’t do digital for digital’s sake
More than anything, success depends on seeing digital as a means to a mis- sion end, not as a goal in itself, par- ticipants said.
“I’m not going to call out my agen- cy as a shining example of everything being perfect,” one executive said, “but we have an experience office and we are doing a lot of research to connect everything that we are doing with the people we are serving. I think that’s
changing some of the thinking about modernization — whether it is legacy system modernization or digital mod- ernization. \[We’re asking\] how do we transform the agency and do it from a customer perspective, not how do we make this thing shinier or digitize it.”
In addition, she said, “sometimes we open too many doors, digitally speaking. You have all of these differ- ent channels, but really, it isn’t about creating all of these open doors. It’s about really, truly managing the qual- ity of the information that you provide, even if you only do three. The biggest challenge is to make sure that the data fits the experience and is consistent across all channels. Otherwise, we’re defeating the purpose.”
A digital specialist from a much smaller organization agreed and said agencies of all sizes can fall into that trap. And although there will always be calls for additional features and digital functionality, she said, “the simplest, hardest thing in the world is to tell the truth. That includes saying things like, ‘This is a crappy contract,’ ‘You bought the wrong thing,’ or ‘You’re two years down the road building something and you never talked to the users.’ Just being able to stand up and say that is