Page 21 - FCW, May/June 2020

conference included a session on how to improve services and customer experiences with design thinking.
‘Understanding the root
causes of barriers’
Better CX benefits both agencies and customers (citizens and partners of all kinds). Experts say people are more likely to comply with directives, engage proactively and forgive mistakes when agencies offer good CX, while agencies can save money and enhance their ability to accomplish their missions.
But as with any change, there are challenges. The CX CAP Goal Team identified several of those challenges, which include executives and employees who don’t make CX a priority, program leaders who don’t understand their customers and unhappy employees who aren’t motivated to provide good CX. Agencies also struggle to find the funds to buy the next-generation technologies that power CX, such as cloud and artificial intelligence, and cite the
lack of a workforce skilled in using those technologies.
Addressing such challenges will require agencies to go beyond modernizing IT. According to the CX CAP Goal Team: “Understanding the root causes of barriers to delivering the outcomes we seek may require policy changes, rethinking how enrollment processes work and their timing, how information is presented and framed, how choices are presented, how we structure
incentives, or even connecting people between federal programs or broader systems of support.”
Furthermore, McKinsey and Co. has identified six hallmarks of best-in-class CX practitioners that can guide government improvements:
1. Define a clear aspiration
2. Develop a deep understanding of what
matters to customers
3. Use behavioral psychology to manage
expectations
4. Reinvent customer journeys using digital
and design thinking
5. Use customer journeys to empower
frontline workers
6. Establish metrics and a governance
system to constantly improve
Progress even in a pandemic
According to Deloitte’s “Government Trends 2020” report: “Government leaders who are looking to make a triple value impact — improving customer satisfaction, increasing efficiency and enhancing mission effectiveness — are increasingly focusing on CX as a core function of government.”
Many agencies are seizing the opportunity to achieve those goals by revamping
their approach to CX. The Education Department’s Next Gen Federal Student
Aid initiative, for example, addresses the complexities associated with applying for, accessing and repaying student loans. As part of that initiative, the agency combined three
websites into an improved digital portal at StudentAid.gov, which launched in December 2019. Now students can more easily file their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and consolidate and track their loans.
Additionally, the agency released the myStudentAid app last year to enable students to fill out and file FAFSAs
via mobile devices, and the new Loan Simulator helps them develop repayment strategies — all of which benefits the department and the people and partners it serves.
State-level efforts include New Jersey’s own 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act. It calls for the state’s agencies to transition from paper-based to digital processes, adopt citizen-centered design and ensure accessibility to “change the paradigm for the delivery of government services and dramatically reduce the cost of government operations.”
Far from stalling such efforts, the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating them in many cases. By exposing gaps in agencies’ ability to provide seamless digital experiences, it has forced them to come up with solutions quickly to continue providing vital services even as offices closed and employees worked from home. Those changes are unlikely to roll back once the crisis ends. That’s because the need to meet customers where they are has never been more apparent.
Learn more at Carah.io/Salesforce-Trust
Digital experience BY THE NUMBERS
14%
Americans who
trust the federal government to do what is right “most of the time”
67%
Amount of trust in government that can be explained by CX
51%
Americans who prefer digital access to government services rather than phone calls or personal visits
78.3
Customer satisfaction with mobile government pages and apps (on a 100-point scale)
30%
FCW survey respondents who said improving digital CX is a top priority at their agencies
Sources: Brookings Institution, FCW, McKinsey and Co., Pew Research Center, Statista
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