Government CX is no longer an option, and governments can no longer offer services on their own terms. In a rapidly changing digital world, the pressure to modernize government and deliver citizen services in new and innovative ways has risen to the top of the global agenda.
And public engagement – open two-way conversations about what governments and institutions do and why – is becoming increasingly important and vital to ensure the expectations, trust, and needs of citizens are met.
The challenge is one of citizen satisfaction – or dissatisfaction – with government services. And today’s social media platforms offer citizens unprecedented opportunities to make their voices heard.
Whether that’s demanding greater openness and transparency about how public money is spent – and why, calling for the greater accountability of elected representatives or institutions, or voicing dissatisfaction whenever the people’s views, sensitivities, and needs aren’t listened to or acknowledged.
Government CX moves the citizen engagement agenda forward
Engaging with citizens is of increasing strategic importance for governments seeking to strengthen their relevance, responsiveness, and accountability – and, perhaps most importantly, build trust and satisfaction among the citizens they serve.
Today’s tech savvy citizens and voters expect a much greater say in public decision-making. And many governments are striving to move their citizen engagement agenda forward to become more inclusive and responsive to citizen needs.
By rethinking traditional governance models – where citizen input is received just once per election cycle – to a more inclusive and open governance approach, they’re discovering that using digital platforms to close the ‘feedback loop’ between citizens and governments has the potential to be a real game changer when it comes to improving the government CX.
This new mindset opens paths to more transparent and collaborative governance approaches that:
- Boost citizen engagement
- Enhance local decision-making processes
- Make it possible for citizens to co-design and co-implement programs in partnership with governments and public and other civil society institutions
Empowering citizens to make their voices heard, however, is just the start as far as citizen satisfaction is concerned.
To win and close the experience gap, governments have to listen, understand, and deliver on voters’ needs and interactions across all channels.
What citizens really want: a digital-savvy nation
Many of today’s citizens are smartphone empowered consumers who expect civic digital services that are comparable to those they encounter from commercial providers – like Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix – which they interact with on a daily basis.
Indeed, a citizen.e survey of more than 6,000 citizens in Australia, France, Germany, Singapore, the UK, and the United States found that today’s citizens are more than eager to embrace the digital delivery of public services.
But respondents were clear that whether or not they adopt new digital self-service tools and other digital initiatives depends on whether these are time saving and convenient (38%), easy to use (34%), and work on their phone (23%).
Clearly, the citizen experience of digital services is crucial to driving engagement and uptake. And that’s crucial, because the goal of government is to enable digital services that both boost citizen satisfaction and generate savings for the public purse.
Christchurch City Council is bright example of citizen engagement. Check out how they deliver 46 public services, with a tailored, omnichannel experience for their 380,000 citizens.
Citizens want more opportunities to engage
Alongside more digital information and transaction services, respondents at citizen.e survey also expressed a desire for greater personalization, and easier, more secure ways to share and access data.
Interestingly, new research highlights just how much personal data citizens would be prepared to share to support the evolution of the digital delivery of government service and improve government CX:
- 42 percent would willingly use Internet of Things (IoT) devices to share personal data with government in return for discounts or improved services
- 73% would provide biometric data – like fingerprints or voice ID – to government in exchange for more personalized services.
One thing is for sure: today’s digital natives are eager for rapid government innovation that utilizes technologies like AI and machine learning to make their lives easier. Whether that’s gaining access to information and services that simplifies how they live, work, or commute.
Governments at all levels need to proactively explore ways to involve constituents in initiatives – to develop a collaborative, responsive, and personalized experience with their constituents. Indeed, 45 percent said they were willing to engage with governments and institutions to participate in focus groups or committees and provide insights that would help to improve the services they use.
But delivering successful digital services and a positive government CX depends on government agencies establishing trust and transparent value propositions that encourage meaningful engagement from a citizen perspective.
Enabling an improved government CX
Digital technologies offer new ways to strengthen the citizen-to-state relationship and enable closer and more responsive citizen-state interactions.
Alongside offering policy makers new channels to listen to and respond to the wider electorate, digital technologies also offer a powerful way to accelerate the transfer of information. This ability enables data-driven decisions about which value-added services and initiatives to prioritize for future development.
The key to turning data into constructive information, however, depends on how effectively governments can bring this data together for analysis to ensure citizen requirements can be quickly identified and responded to. Only then can governments work more efficiently and improve citizen trust, engagement, and government CX.
