Page 38 - FCW, June/July 2021

IT Modernization
By focusing attention on delivering a
great experience for customers, agencies will provide great value for the people
they serve.
Section 280 also sets guidelines for a high-performing CX organization in terms of service effectiveness and per- ception of value, simplicity and speed; equity and transparency; and employee interaction. All are goals that TMF invest- ments can support.
The Section 280 guidance requires that agencies transform into organiza- tions with a culture of meeting constantly evolving customer needs by using a con- tinuous customer feedback loop to drive innovation. That innovation includes out- of-the-box thinking that does not simply make incremental change and automate existing processes but reimagines ser- vice delivery based on all-important cus- tomer feedback. Imagine if technology experts had simply automated taxi dis- patch instead of creating new services such as Uber or Lyft. Today’s personal- ized transportation experiences exist because entrepreneurs modernized by taking the latter approach.
In order to optimize improvement from customer feedback in develop- ing TMF and related proposals, agen- cies focused on great CX must discern when the landscape begins to shift and customers change their expectations. Customer feedback can come from mul- tiple sources, both digital and human. Digital feedback data can be generated through something as simple as a survey
taken at the end of an individual’s online transaction.
Direct human-to-human feedback is extremely valuable and somewhat more complex. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs produced a video to show the approach it took to transform the process by which veterans apply for benefits. In the video, a CX manager met a veteran at a Starbucks coffee shop and observed how the veteran interacted with a new customer interface page when applying for benefits. Through this observation and verbal feedback, the manager made the interface sim- pler and more user-friendly. Both types of feedback can help pinpoint needed CX improvements.
Members of the public are not the only “customers” of government services. Government employees represent a key part of the delivery value chain in their interactions with the public, and gov- ernment employees are also negatively impacted by a subpar digital customer interface. And both government and pub- lic customers are affected when a digital interface to a transaction meets expecta- tions but the back-end systems that sup- port the processing of the transaction have not been modernized for speed, efficiency and accuracy. The public only sees the end result, which government can transform by modernizing the end-
to-end transaction process.
In making TMF investments that meet
the CX goals of the OMB guidance in a holistic fashion, agencies must also address legacy systems “behind the curtain.” In other words, CX must be addressed holistically.
When developing a business case for TMF funding that supports CX improve- ments, agencies should demonstrate that the project has a positive and measurable impact on CX. TMF investments can also highlight a mature agency approach to CX that incorporates changes in culture, governance and process to support suc- cess. A clear demonstration of all the fac- tors that affect CX will lead to a positive return from TMF funding — one that builds trust by being visible to the public that government serves and to the gov- ernment employees who deliver those services. n
Dan Chenok is executive director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government and former branch chief for information policy and technology at the Office of Management and Bud- get. Margie Graves is a visiting fellow at the IBM Center for the Business of Government and former deputy fed- eral CIO. Both Chenok and Graves are winners of FCW’s Federal 100 Eagle award.
36 June/July 2021 FCW.COM