Making a Business Case for Customer Experience in Government

Making a Business Case for Customer Experience in Government RE SE ARCH BR I E F

Making a Business Case for Customer Experience in Government

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Executive Summary For years, you’ve heard about the value of good customer experience (CX). Today, improving CX is more important than ever. According to a recent Forrester report, as much as 72 percent of businesses say that improving customer experience is their top priority. Studies indicate that organizations stand to lose more than $62 billion due to poor customer service. And recently, Forbes predicted that, for customers, value and experience will continue to outweigh price when they make decisions about service.

Good customer experience is much more than achieving customer satisfaction. Regardless of whether it’s coming from the private or public sector, good CX must be: accessible, engage customers on the channel of their choice (digital, in person or voice) and proactive in determining customer needs. And today, more and more, agencies are realizing the real return on investment that comes from customer experience initiatives.

Engaging with citizens digitally and in real time not only improves government services, but also helps glean actionable insights from citizens to improve processes. Many agencies have used digital services to improve their customer experience outcomes. For example, the General Services Administration has

helped agencies leverage digital services to improve public-facing services like websites or applications; implement new laws or mandates while being transparent with the public; and streamline internal systems to reduce risk and save time.

To find out how public-sector employees at all levels can make a better case for CX in government, GovLoop and Genesys, a leading customer experience solutions provider, conducted a survey of 219 government employees in which respondents shared their views and challenges regarding customer experience. Additionally, Jodi Thompson, Senior Principal Strategic Business Consultant for Genesys, helped break down those survey results and explain why investing in CX is so important to enhancing government services.

In addition to addressing the importance of CX and challenges to enhancing customer experience in government, this research brief offers tips and solutions to overcome those obstacles. You’ll also learn how to leverage strategic CX and make a better business case for your agency to prioritize customer experience.

Research Brief

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The Importance of Customer Experience in Government Despite government’s efforts to progress, citizens still view the public sector as a poor service provider. According to Forrester Research’s Customer Experience Index, federal agencies account for five of the 10 worst customer service providers across 21 leading industries in the U.S. To compound this issue, Americans are only increasing their expectations of government to provide services comparable with those they receive from the private sector. In an effort to help agencies compete with the private sector, Congress is working on legislation to prioritize CX. Recently, the House introduced the Federal Agency Customer Experience Act of 2017 that would authorize federal agencies to gather feedback (voluntarily and anonymously) from U.S. citizens regarding customer services.

“Government is there to provide services and resolve issues,” Thompson said. “It’s critical that agencies keep up with the private sector because citizens want to cooperate. Government needs to let them. You can’t make it difficult for them to go through appropriate processes. Instead, you need to reduce the efforts on the customer’s part.

Citizens are used to easy, accessible services and getting status updates from their banks, online retail services and other industries. Government’s mission is aligned to keeping pace with those expectations.”

While government’s ratings against private industry seem to spell doom and gloom, the good news is many governments at the federal, state and local levels are recognizing the importance of customer experience and trying to make notable improvements.

According to GovLoop’s survey

respondents, 87 percent rated robust CX as essential or very important to organizational mission (Figure 1). And when asked if CX is a priority across all departments, a majority said it was (Figure 2). Finally, 73 percent of respondents perceived CX to be a high or very high priority among their organization’s leadership (Figure 3).

Despite low favorability ratings from citizens, public servants are indeed striving to deliver stellar customer experiences. When employees look at their touchpoints with citizens, they believe they’re doing the best they can with the resources they’re given. GovLoop’s survey reflected this sentiment, as 82 percent rated the customer experiences they provided as average or above average (Figure 4).

Even so, citizens still expect more of their entire customer journeys from start to finish. Additionally, governments are often failing to invest in the necessary strategies and tools, which cause major roadblocks to better connecting with citizens.

“Respondents probably rated themselves higher because of the sense of calling they have,” Thompson said. “When they have their interactions with citizens, they’re doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, even given their resource constraints, which can cause productivity issues. But citizens are looking at their overall customer journeys with the agency.”

FIGURE 1: How important is creating robust customer experiences to your organization’s mission?

ESSENTIAL 55% VERY IMPORTANT 32% IMPORTANT 7% SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT 5% UNIMPORTANT 1%

Is CX a priority across all departments of your agency?

FIGURE 2:

YES 56% NO 26% I’M NOT SURE 18%

FIGURE 3: How do you perceive CX as a priority among your organization’s leadership?

VERY HIGH PRIORITY 37% HIGH PRIORITY 36% MEDIUM PRIORITY 17% LOW PRIORITY 8% IT’S NOT A PRIORITY AT ALL 2%

FIGURE 4: How would you describe your organization’s CX?

EXCEPTIONAL 11% ABOVE AVERAGE 38% AVERAGE 33%

With government agencies falling behind the private sector in customer service satisfaction, the impetus for enhancing CX is clear. Agencies need to provide better services, improve their digital channels and enhance methods of citizen engagement. Enhancing CX, however, is easier said than done.

Making a Business Case for Customer Experience in Government

BELOW AVERAGE 14% POOR 4%

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Challenges to Enhancing Customer Experience While government wants to meet citizens’ expectations for the ideal customer experiences, there are many challenges that stand in the way. Budget constraints and lack of the necessary digital tools are some of the primary hindrances to enhancing CX. Additionally, many agencies lack the right metrics to understand how they’re really performing and how to improve processes. Without the insights from metrics, it’s extremely difficult for government to progress in the journey to better CX. “The challenge is agencies don’t have the granularity of data needed to enhance CX,” Thompson said. “Agencies need to start looking at how to partner and join together with other agencies and the private sector while being respectful of their budget constraints. At the same time, agencies are looking to modernize and innovate. They need to be able to update their data, despite having antiquated and siloed systems for customer touchpoints.”

CH AL L E NGE #1: BU DG E T CO N S TRA I N TS Governments are often limited by lack of funds that prohibit agencies from improving citizen touchpoints (i.e., website usability), and investing in the time, people and resources needed to improve CX. Too often, agencies spend dollars in the wrong places, like digital channels that aren’t getting enough traffic.

All these unused digital channels and technology solutions only add costs and complexity in terms of management and measuring citizen satisfaction. For many agencies, the uncertainties of a new administration and shifting budget priorities make investing in CX even more difficult.

GovLoop’s findings reflected government’s continual struggle with budget constraints. Only 22 percent of respondents said they have a strategy and budget in place to improve CX solutions (Figure 5), while less than half expect to shift to more advanced CX technologies within the next one to two years (Figure 6).

Making the case to invest in CX proves increasingly difficult when agencies already feel budgetstrapped. For government, agency leaders will require proof of future cost savings and an understanding of the potential impact of enhanced CX.

FIGURE 5: Does

your organization have a strategy & budget in place to transition from legacy systems to more integrated, robust CX solutions?

YES, BOTH 22% STRATEGY BUT NO BUDGET 21% NEITHER 27% I’M NOT SURE 30%

What is the estimated timeline for your agency to transition from legacy systems to more advanced CX technologies?

FIGURE 6:

LESS THAN 1 YEAR 21% 1-2 YEARS 27% 3-5 YEARS 23% MORE THAN 5 YEARS 4% I’M NOT SURE 25%

Research Brief

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CH AL L E NGE #2: LACK O F TH E RIGH T CX RE S O U RC ES Despite government understanding the importance of CX, many agencies fail to invest in the “right” resources to enhance it. Agencies tend to focus too much on trying to find the silver bullet in technologies rather than empowering employees. According to one report, federal agencies have more than 325 different mobile apps for citizen engagement, with only 5 percent being used. This means that government needs to focus less on quantity of digital tools and channels for engagement, and more on quality, especially to improve return on investment.

GovLoop’s findings reflected that in addition to the right technologies, employees needed more time, expertise and people to improve CX processes. When asked what specific

tools or resources were lacking, the top answers were “time to focus on improvement” (55 percent); “adequate CX technologies” (50 percent); “personnel to support customer services” (47 percent); and “data about what constituents want from services” (39 percent) (See Figure 7).

Government has done its part in going digital. The problem is agencies don’t need more digital channels for CX, they need better digital channels. Instead, money spent on holistic solutions empowering frontline personnel – who play major roles in the emotional satisfaction of customers – is money better spent than on separate technology solutions for every problem.

FIGURE 7: What tools or resources do you lack that prevent you from creating better customer experiences within your role?

TIME TO FOCUS ON IMPROVEMENT INSTEAD OF DAY-TO-DAY TASKS 55%

ADEQUATE TECHNOLOGIES TO FACILITATE BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES 50%

PERSONNEL TO SUPPORT CUSTOMER SERVICES 47%

DATA ABOUT WHAT OUR CONSTITUENTS WANT FROM SERVICES 39%

EXPERTISE REGARDING HOW TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES 37%

SUPPORT FROM LEADERSHIP 30%

CH AL L E NGE #3: ABSEN CE O F M E TRICS While the majority of government employees think improving customer experience at their agencies is important, many say they haven’t seen measurable benefits from the investments they’ve already made.

When asked if their organizations measured the impact customer experience has on internal or external operations, only 26 percent of survey respondents answered with a definitive “yes” (Figure 8).

Despite agencies already trying to modernize their current customer management relationship systems, it’s difficult to make the case for such costly investments when you can’t measure the impact of CX. And even when organizations do develop business cases for customer experience, many fail to ground

their investment plans in financial or customer measures with clear linkage to value generation. This makes it especially tricky for leaders in government to make the case for CX, given their already-tight budgets.

When asked what prevents their organization’s leadership from providing better tools and resources to create robust customer experiences, 38 percent of respondents cited lack of understanding regarding the importance of customer experience (Figure 9).

FIGURE 8: Does your organization measure the impact that CX has on internal or external operations?

YES 26% SOMETIMES 34% NO 20% I’M NOT SURE 20%

What prevents your organization’s leadership from providing better tools and resources to create robust cusomer experiences?

FIGURE 9:

This doesn’t mean that leaders don’t understand the importance of CX. But without more identifiable values and outcomes, leaders can’t make the case for investing lean budgets and time into this area.

Making a Business Case for Customer Experience in Government

LACK OF UNDERSTANDING REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE 38% LACK OF PERSONNEL 17% LACK OF BUDGET 16% OUTDATED IT SYSTEMS 7% OTHER 22%

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How Government Can Overcome CX Challenges So how does government overcome these numerous challenges to enhancing customer experience?

How can employees make a better case for CX? Government needs to look past single solutions that promise faster processing times or increased productivity. Instead, agencies must holistically rethink their entire organizational culture, including strategies and solutions, for transformative CX change.

A common mistake agencies make is prioritizing more obvious metrics like productivity, cost savings or volume of requests. These metrics may seem easier to track and make a better business case for enhancing CX. This is evident in GovLoop’s community of public employees who also showed that they value quantity over quality interactions with citizens. When asked what metrics were used to measure return on investment in customer experience tools and resources, the top answer was volume of requests and complaints from constituents (71 percent) (Figure 10).

But CX metrics should focus on customer satisfaction outcomes and addressing user needs.

“It begins with having a clearly defined vision or a common message,” Thompson said. “If you want to reduce effort and improve productivity, you may have to look at your setup and how services are configured.

In a service environment, it’s often processing productivity versus outcome. But rather than getting off the phone as quickly as possible to process more calls, an individual could spend

the extra five minutes with someone and resolve the issue. What is the outcome you’re trying to achieve rather than on-time, on-budget?”

Once organizations have created customer-focused goals, leaders need to be prepared to invest in CX for the long haul if they seek to really make improvements. “What you’re really talking about in achieving a new set of standards is organizational change,” Thompson said. “It’s about the long-term adoption view versus the implementation of a standalone solution.”

One way for agencies to start improving metrics is by measuring individual interactions with citizens, rather than cumulative productivity output. For example, if a citizen contacts a call center, agencies should measure the citizen effort made to resolve their issue. Was the issue addressed with one simple call? Or did the citizen have to call back repeatedly to finally get his or her request addressed? These factors can make all the difference with customer outcomes and save agencies time and costs.

“Service centers are historically viewed as necessary cost-control centers,” Thompson said. “But they’re actually strategic front doors. Your contact centers, voice channels and web channels are the customer front door.

But people are not looking at it as an opportunity to change the conversation and take the extra time. They feel like service centers are just for cutting costs. But this is one of the most overlooked areas to reduce overall cost and effort.”

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FIGURE 10: What metrics do you use to measure return on investment in customer experience tools and resources?

VOLUME OF REQUESTS AND/OR COMPLAINTS FROM CONSTITUENTS 71%

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SCORES 56%

USE OF OUR ORGANIZATION’S SERVICES AMONG CONSTITUENTS 48%

EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY 43%

OTHER 9%

“It begins with having a clearly defined vision or a common message.

If you want to reduce effort and improve productivity, you may have to look at your setup and how services are configured.”

JODI THOMPSON

Senior Principal Strategic Business Consultant for Genesys

To get agencies started on employing their service centers more strategically, creating a vision and investing in holistic solutions that empower employees, Thompson recommended these steps: SEEK PRIVATE-SECTOR HELP TO ACHIEVE THAT STRATEGIC VISION.

APPLY A CX MATURITY MODEL.

Many private-sector entities already have sophisticated metrics in place for measuring CX outcomes. Partnering with industry can help agencies get a better grasp of their current state and envision desired outcomes.

Organizations like Genesys provide strategic business consulting services, including CX assessments, education, workshops or assistance creating financial business case ROIs.

THE PHASES OF A CX MATURITY MODEL INCLUDE:

A customer experience maturity model can help agencies establish where they are and where they want to go.

Genesys’ CX maturity model has four phases that help agencies identify where to start and how to establish a proper metrics system.

1. Random, where CX is only an outcome of randomness 2. Consistent, where CX matters but treats all your customers the same

REDUCE INBOUND VOLUME

BY CREATING SELF-SERVICES.

CREATE STAFF CAPACITY WITH PROACTIVE NOTIFICATIONS.

Help citizens meet their needs on their own while lightening workloads on personnel. Automated voice channels can help citizens identify appropriate services and address issues without unnecessarily consuming staff time.

Too often, agency personnel are simply reacting to a citizen’s request. Instead, agencies should invest in solutions that keep relevant information readily available to staff so they can quickly or even automatically reach out to citizens to address a concern, such as status updates.

For example, an automated voice system can identify who is calling, anticipate what they want and offer relevant options for quickly getting the right information or completing a transaction.

This helps offload the effort on the part of citizens, saves time for employees and reduces costs for the agency.

3. Defined, where CX is important and measured, but the connection between your customers and the channel of their choice is limited 4. Differentiated, where CX is a competitive differentiator and your agency has a refined approach to optimizing each customer’s relationship

Solutions like Genesys’ Proactive Communications provide timely, personalized communications across a variety of channels. Instead of making citizens come to the agency for information and updates, agencies can reach customers at the right time on their preferred channel. More specifically, agencies can keep citizens better informed by sending timely and personalized alerts, notifications, confirmations and even reminders over preferred channels like texts or phone calls.

With the right strategic vision, agencies can better make the case to invest in CX. By developing a strategic vision, investing in their employees and using holistic solutions, government can save time and costs all while better serving the public.

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The City of Avondale Enhances CX With Interactive Voice Response The city of Avondale, Ariz., is one example of government making the case for investing in customer experience. Confronted with consistently increasing call volumes, Avondale was struggling to maintain a high level of customer service for its constituents.

The city did not want to eliminate calling as an option for citizens, however, or neglect that service in favor of other digital portals. Instead, the city wanted to maintain and improve its calling service with an interactive voice response (IVR) platform solution.

Its ideal service would address growing call volumes, improve access to family assistance resources and reduce utility disconnects. As a result, city officials sought out a platformas-a-service solution to meet its voice and call-handling needs. The solution needed to be flexible enough to handle a heavy call load but robust enough to deliver on current and future needs.

Using Genesys cloud-based inbound and outbound IVR solutions helped the city build a consolidated IVR platform in less than 90 days. The platform was designed to support a range of services and enable more self-service resolutions.

Since the platform was implemented, a Family Assistance inbound IVR helps manage and prioritize constituent call loads in the Neighborhood and Family Services Department.

Additionally, the Utilities Disconnect Notification outbound

IVR provides status updates and allows callers to make immediate payments or set up payment plans that avoid service disconnects. The city’s customer service staff also built an outbound IVR service to provide garbage pick-up reminders that ensure citizens and businesses know when pick-ups will occur around holidays.

Finally, to ensure that the IVR line doesn’t dissuade other forms of citizen communication with the city, the Genesys platform syncs with other portals to create real-time updates across all touchpoints. That means citizens can access the city’s government by whatever means they find most comfortable, and still get the same, reliable information.

“The key is to ensure you aren’t creating yet another process,” Thompson said. “Genesys enables agencies and departments to say how they want to design their experience, and then gives them the tools to do it. We will connect everything.

We’ll leverage your current investments, like your customer relationship management system of record. But we are the system of engagement that goes from one touchpoint to another across all these channels.”

Avondale’s efforts increased citizen satisfaction and reduced the strain on call centers, allowing employees to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. This saved the city time, money and effort, making a compelling case for future customer experience investments.

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Conclusion Government understands the importance of good customer experiences.

Enhancing CX improves functionality, services and, most importantly, relationships with citizens. But with obstacles like budget constraints, lack of the right resources and an absence of metrics, improving CX will be a difficult feat for many agencies. Additionally, competing budget priorities make the business case for CX even more challenging for leaders to justify.

By leveraging the right strategic vision, applying a CX maturity model to establish a starting place and gather metrics, providing more self-services and using more proactive, holistic solutions, however, government employees at all levels can make a compelling business case for CX. By partnering with CX leaders like Genesys, government can work toward becoming a top competitor in customer experience and better do its job serving the public.

ABOUT GENESYS

ABOUT GOVLOOP

Genesys® powers 25 billion of the world’s best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel, every day. Over 10,000 companies in 100+ countries trust our #1 customer experience platform to drive great business outcomes and create lasting relationships. Combining the best of technology and human ingenuity, we build solutions that mirror natural communication and work the way you think. Our industry-leading solutions foster true omnichannel engagement, performing equally well across all channels, on-premise and in the cloud. Experience communication as it should be: fluid, instinctive and profoundly empowering.

GovLoop’s mission is to “connect government to improve government.” We aim to inspire public-sector professionals by serving as the knowledge network for government. GovLoop connects more than 250,000 members, fostering crossgovernment collaboration, solving common problems and advancing government careers. GovLoop is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.

For more information about this report, please reach out to info@govloop.com. govloop.com | @govloop

To learn more, visit genesys.com/government.

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1152 15th St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 407-7421 | F: (202) 407-7501 www.govloop.com @govloop

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