Fireside Chat: Citizen Services – Pursuit of Happiness?

In 2020, government services not only ranked dead last on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) – Uncle Sam beat all segments to the bottom by more than 10 percent. Surprised…I bet not. The Federal government has never embraced customer experience excellence. COVID-19 underscored just how dangerous this indifference can be – considering citizens were left waiting for critical benefits for weeks and months due to outdated systems or trying desperately to find accurate information on testing protocols and locations. The new Customer Experience (CX) EO puts a spotlight on fixing these issues from benefit access to passport renewal – is it enough?

Citizen service goes to the economy’s strength; it goes to voter satisfaction, and, more importantly, it goes to trust in our government – perhaps the most important value of all. The new EO specifically calls out 17 Federal agencies to improve customer service experiences in 36 areas, including plans to create a one-stop-shop platform for government services on the USA.gov website.

What can we learn from Amazon, Google, and Uber – and should we consider public-private partnerships to improve the failing status quo? How do we help government listen to the customer as it steps into the 21st century to improve user experience?