Page 10 - Federal Computer Week, January/February 2019

High-Impact Government Engagement
With IT modernization, agencies have an unprecedented opportunity to design a user experience that rivals what the commercial world has to offer
THE GOVERNMENT’S PUSH
for digital transformation typically
focuses on modernizing IT to make agencies more effective and efficient, but the benefits go beyond the IT center and the bottom line. Modernization can transform the government’s ability to engage with citizens, partners and employees at a
level that more closely aligns with the commercial sector.
The gap in customer engagement between the government and commercial world
has widened in recent years. The 2017 American Customer Satisfaction Index
gave public administration/government a score of 70.5, which places it at the bottom of the 10 economic sectors the index tracks. Additionally, a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center found that half of Americans don’t trust the federal government to protect their data.
To truly meet their mission goals, agencies must go beyond updating IT and revamp their entire approach to customer engagement by providing streamlined, meaningful interactions on a wide range of platforms.
Customer-centric offerings are a key focus of the President’s Management Agenda, released in March 2018. Under
the fourth cross-agency priority goal of improving customer services, the document states that “federal agencies will provide a
modern, streamlined and responsive customer experience across government, comparable to leading private-sector organizations.”
The agenda
also specifies
using technology
to increase
communication
between agencies
and citizens and
transforming “the
customer experience
by improving
the usability and
reliability of our
federal government’s most critical digital services.”
At the state and local level, three of the activities listed on the National Association of State CIOs’ Top 10 Priorities for 2019 reference improving the user experience for internal and external customers. According to the results of NASCIO’s 2018 State CIO Survey, agencies’ digital transformation strategies have evolved beyond simply moving services online.
“State leaders aspire to have seamless citizen transactions, increase engagements, provide mobile services, establish common
online identities, and enable crowdsourcing and digital assistants to help navigate services,” the survey report states.
Personalized, intelligent services
To keep up with customers’ demands
for a level of engagement comparable
to the commercial world, agencies need faster access to information, streamlined workflows, automated processes, and the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively both internally and externally.
Many technological advancements are driving that transformation, and one of the
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