August 2011
Civic Agenda Briefing Customer Focussed Services
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The Government has set out in the Open Public Services White Paper its intention “to shift the approach of government from ‘public services all in one place’ (focused on how departments want to deliver) to ‘government services wherever you are’ (open and distributed, available where citizens want to access them)”1. Developing Customer Focussed Services lies at the heart of current Government policy to syndicate its content and services to the private and not for profit sectors, with the intention that they will provide a more convenient portal for their customer-‐bases to access Government transactions. The Cabinet Office has followed Martha Lane Fox’s recommendation for appointing an Executive Director of Digital, with Mike Bracken taking up the post in May 2011 under the remit of improving user experience. Martha Lane Fox, the Government’s Digital Champion highlights that: “For years, businesses have been using digital communications to improve services and engagement with their consumers. Government should take advantage of the more open, agile and cheaper digital technologies to deliver simpler and more effective digital services to users, particularly to disadvantaged groups who are some of the heaviest users of government services.” The Government aims to develop Customer Focussed Services in a number of key ways: Demand-‐driven services The Government has set out that its plans to stay ahead of technological developments and requirements by reorientating itself as a “wholesaler”2 of services which have been developed as a result of specific user demand. For example, the NHS website already directs visitors to independently developed applications for smartphones as well as its own, and the Open Public Services white paper sets out plans for more general support for privately offered digital services through the Government Digital Service (GDS)3. The Government Digital Service also intends to leverage the growing online trend for crowd sourcing expertise and opinion, epitomised in Wiki-‐ applications. The Government envisages that in the future all digital services will be open to feedback4, thereby ensuring transparency as well as continued review of service quality and relevance for users in the face of changing technology and demand. 1
Open Public Services White Paper, July 2011, p. 52. http://www.openpublicservices.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ Martha Lane Fox, Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution not Evolution, October 2010, p. 2. 3 Open Public Services White Paper, July 2011, p. 53. 4 Ibid. 2
Delivering services through new channels There are rapidly changing trends in users’ choice of device for accessing digital services. For example the number of UK smartphone users grew by 70% between January 2009 and January 20105, and by August 2011 reached 12 million people, or 27% of all UK adults6. Market share of smartphones compared with older devices is also increasing in the UK, with a 34.3% increase in 2011, up from 21% in 20107. David Elms, head of media at KPMG UK, notes that there is a clear “appetite for paid-‐for 'on the move' content. The proliferation of apps and devices is driving expenditure online at a faster pace than fixed-‐ line computers”8, and GP Bullhound’s Technology Predictions 2011 observes a surge in demand for payments through mobiles in the private sector9. This research suggests an increasing user preference for completing transactions through mobile platforms, and new digital services must therefore take into account the demand for access from a variety of sites and devices, and be designed appropriately. Adapting to user behaviour online By opening up Application Programme Interfaces (APls) to third parties10, the Government can take advantage of changing trends in how users access information and interact with organisations and service providers online.
Case study: Services and social media Social media is an ever-‐increasing focus of users’ time online, with Facebook witnessing an 18% increase in unique visitors between July 2009 and July 2010 to over 25 million (6.76% of total internet site visits from the UK11). Other websites are increasingly integrating delivery of online services with Facebook in order to reach users where they spend most of their time online: There are more than 2.5 million websites integrated with Facebook, with an average of 10000 new sites integrating each day since April 201012. This provides an opportunity for customer-‐focussed delivery of public services; for example, the over 55s, a demographic generally poorly connected to the internet and therefore a key target for inclusion13, spend most of their time online on AOL and Facebook, and less time on NHS sites than the national average14. This briefing has been produced by Civic Agenda for the Digital Leaders Programme. For further information please visit www.civicagenda.co.uk or call 0207 387 0422 5
ComScore, March 2010. Ofcom, Communications Market Report: UK, August 2011, p. 49. 7 ComScore, February 2011. 8 David Elms, quoted at http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-‐uk/news/2078533/smartphone-‐ownership-‐hits-‐uk-‐users-‐tablet-‐sales-‐ double 9 GP Bullhound, GP Bullhound Technology Predictions 2011, January 2011, p. 4. 10 Proposed by Martha Lane Fox in Directgov 2010 and Beyond: Revolution not Evolution, October 2010, p. 2. 11 eMarketer, UK Internet Users and Usage: Top 2010 Trends, November 2010, pp. 6-‐7. 12 As of August 2011, https://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics 13 The over-‐55s make up 83% of the 8.71 million people who have never used the internet as of Q1 2011, Office for th National Statistics, Internet Access Quarterly Update, 18 May 2011, p. 3. 14 ComScore, Media Metrix, March 2011. 6