I was recently summoned for jury duty to serve on a trial, for the first time. Being a bit of a “Law and Order” nerd, I looked forward to it. It was one step closer to understanding how the US justice system works. The experience though was sub-par and disappointing, making me walk away hoping I would not be called again… at least for a few years. No one was willing to help guide me to the right room. Every employee (except the security police) looked grumpy like they did not want to be there. The check-in experience was terrible – with questions highly discouraged and had a do-as-I-say attitude. Thankfully, the judge was the highlight – cheerful, devoted, thankful, patient and humble, and saved the day for me. I was able to perform my duty whole-heartedly.
A decade ago, my expectation of the end-to-end experience would have been far more measured. However, I/we have gotten used to the experiences offered by companies from Amazon to Patagonia and now want the same level of experience from our providers in Financial Services, Healthcare as well as the (untouchable?!) Public Sector!
The hurdles though are a lot higher for the government….
- When customers have no choice, the incentive (for government agencies) to innovate diminishes
- Unlike private sector, where “target segments” is part of core strategy, Public sector has to serve everyone, not just certain customer segments, forcing a somewhat one-size-fits-all experience
- Lack of skills to perform deep-analytics and human-centered design reduces the ability to address gaps
- Silo-ed or incomplete data paints only a partial picture of the customer’s actual experience.
Good outcomes matter to everyone, including government leaders. And good customer experience (CX) reinforces critical outcomes across the board. Taking a human-centric design approach to solve problems is the key here. It helps move the budget conversation from labeling something as a “CX initiative”, i.e. a tradeoff, to a “good customer experience outcome” initiative. It also helps improve processes and efficiencies, subsequently lowering overall cost to public sector programs. Identifying 3 or 4 core customer journeys and investing in them will really make a difference for agencies to start untangling their plate of spaghetti.
by Kiran Uppuluri, verteXD