Published on the 04/11/2015 | Written by Donovan Jackson
The public sector could benefit from an omnichannel approach to service delivery much like the approaches being adopted by operators in the private sector…
That’s according to Tim West, Public Sector Product programme manager at UXC Oxygen. “Though the government in New Zealand has done well to leverage technology to improve service delivery, the biggest remaining issue in my view is that each interaction is seen in isolation. As customers or citizens, however, we don’t think of how we engage on the basis of a single interaction, but expect a similar experience and ‘recognition’ regardless of which department we transact with.”
West said this rings true whether the individual is engaging with a bank, a retailer or other private sector service providers, or with government. “We don’t see a channel, we see a brand and we expect consistency from that brand.”
Pointing to the simple (and inevitable) process of filing a tax return, West noted that to this day, individuals are required to provide the government with information it already has. “Wouldn’t it be a better experience if the forms were pre-populated with the opportunity to correct anything that has changed, rather than endlessly telling the government your name and IRD number?”
The key to it all is data integration – but even that has its challenges outside of any technical considerations. ‘Data matching’ emerged as something of a political football in 2013, with Orwellian headlines like this one implying that government use of the information it holds on every citizen was somehow sinister.
However, coming back to West’s point, when government uses information effectively, it drives up convenience and service delivery effectiveness for the citizen, in much the same way that the use of data by private companies allows for improved (and often amazing) service delivery. “Google can only give you an update on traffic jams or provide contextual news and other information if it knows something about you. Similarly, if the government leverages its data stores, it can improve delivery to everyone and also ensure that the available funds are used appropriately,” he noted.
West did add that, just as in the private sector, appropriate safeguards need to be in place to prevent abuse of data.
An example, of how poor information sharing can hamper service delivery (and drive up the cost of delivery) he said that the mapping of a social welfare process in the UK showed that one family had 17 different touchpoints in receiving its entitlements. It further emerged that case workers only spent 14 percent of their time on service delivery, with the remainder spent collecting data to feed administrative processes. “The upshot is that the quality of care is poor. Social workers are spending their time passing data backwards and forwards instead of working with collated information and a single plan.”
West added that the issue applies everywhere, not just in the UK. “Social welfare, certainly in English speaking developed countries, are all essentially modelled on the same principles of bureaucracy from the early 20th century.”
