Greater collaboration and leveraging new technology are keys to providing better digital customer services in the federal government, according to a new report by the Partnership for Public Service and Accenture.
Citizen satisfaction with government services is down to 66 / 100 as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, lower than all private sector industries. High standards established by the private sector for online services factor into the lagging scores and a reversal of consecutive years of positive gains, notes the report, “Serving Citizens: Strategies for Customer-Centered Government in the Digital Age.”
Agencies need to put their customers first and embrace new technology when designing services. The report, which derives lessons learned from federal efforts such as Recreation.gov and Business.USA.gov, calls on agencies to use cutting-edge technologies to lay the groundwork for better customer engagement and experience.
“Constantly improving technology is allowing agencies to implement new customer-centered solutions to effectively manage processes, people, interactions and content, and meet ever higher customer expectations,” according to the report, adding, “Federal agencies should embrace this shift and adopt technologies that tie together the foundational elements at the core of their mission to provide excellent services.”
The report also recommends that agencies build their customer services systems incrementally, based on customer feedback, and advocates for piloting cross-agency initiatives such as the MyUSA single sign-on user account for many transactions across a wide range of agencies.