Creating superlative customer experiences has always been the foundation for the success of a business. “Customer is King” has been a mantra that has only increased in value today and technology has helped meet the challenge of enhancing a customer’s experience manifold. In an EY study conducted in India, “74% of the respondents indicated that the importance of customer experience management is growing within their company.”
While its importance is unquestionable in the corporate sector, does CXM (where the Citizen is the customer) have relevance for governments and in the public sector? Before that, let us explore what Customer Experience Management really means.
Customer Experience Management
Customer Experience Management is often mistaken as being synonymous with CRM (Customer Relationship Management), but it isn’t quite the same. CXM is more concerned with the right messaging to customers, and the technology used to achieve this is quite different from CRM systems. A CXM works in tandem with internal processes, communications, help desk support, service centers and other systems to create a unique and seamless experience. A customer’s experience is thus enhanced through every step of their journey and delivered seamlessly through the web, mobile, traditional marketing and social channels.
The Relevance of CXM in Governments and Public Sector
Governments aren’t given enough credit for their role in modernization but the fact remains that they are surging ahead with the times to the extent that bureaucracy allows. A commitment towards providing better services to their citizens and improving their experience in accessing these services has led many governments to seek out CXM systems.
A 2011 order issued from the White House emphasizes this commitment. The Executive Order 13571, Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service states its goal to include “increasingly popular lower-cost, self-service options accessed by the Internet or mobile phone and improved processes that deliver services faster and more responsively, reducing the overall need for customer inquiries and complaints.” From Immigration services, college applications, consolidating information for veterans and much more, technology is used in the best possible way to deliver an enhanced customer experience.
Governments across the globe have since modernized their websites and other interfaces and made services more accessible. The public sector is providing effective digital experiences for citizens through applications for services like paying taxes, applying for benefits and a host of other services.
A Deloitte study on the economic benefits of digitising customer transaction services for Australian federal and state government departments brought out the benefits of this. It pointed out that “digitising customer transactions can unlock a range of productivity and efficiency benefits for government. Because digital transactions are generally faster, more convenient and mobile, they are fast becoming the preferred channel for citizens to access government services.”
Enabling an effective Customer Experience Management, or Citizen Experience Management in the context of government services, is key to this transformation. Streamlining the process, ensuring that every touch point in the citizen’s experience with the applications and services is smooth, getting the right information to citizens in the way they want it and at the right time – these are tasks that efficient CXMs bring to the table in the public sector.
Read: Digital Transformation: Don’t overthink it – Get Started!
CXM and Kerala – a model case study
India has caught up fast as well. The government is working towards e-governance and digitization with renewed zeal. In fact, the state of Kerala is a forerunner in this effort and its e-district initiative is an apt case in point. e-District is a State Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan. This concept aims to automate work flow, digitize backend processes and integrate them towards process redesign. The goal of these efforts is to enable a streamlined delivery of services through the State’s Akshaya Centres and make these services easily accessible to citizens of the state.
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The Akshaya Centres in themselves are a noteworthy achievement. “Akshaya” is a network of IT entrepreneurs who work in tandem with the government’s goal to achieve the efficient application of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) to citizen services. The State has around 2300 such citizen-service centers that are working on many initiatives including e-offices, government payment gateways, mobile service delivery gateways and many more. The Government of Kerala recently released its Information Technology Policy 2017, which emphasizes the State’s commitment to “establish Kerala as a Knowledge Powered Digital Society by 2020 through application of Digital Technologies in the areas of Digital Citizenship, Digital Lifestyle and Digital Commerce …”
This focus is being echoed through other states as well and it sure looks like there will be many more good things to come right here in India thanks to the application of an effective Customer Experience Management model. I would love to hear more on how these initiatives have helped you and your business.
