Watch the entire discussion here.
Federal agencies are facing higher expectations from the public when it comes to the benefits and services they provide.
Evan Davis, executive managing director for strategic growth at Maximus, says meeting those expectations requires agencies to rethink their approach to customer experience.
“The future of service delivery, of interacting with constituents — that future is going to be cheaper, and it’s going to be faster and easier to understand, and it’s going to be a lot more predictive,” Davis said.
Moving toward predictive services
Predictive services can reduce the burden on customers. That’s especially true, considering that in many cases, individuals are contacting agencies under some form of stress.
“They’re calling in because they need to, because they’ve been forced to or triggered to by a piece of correspondence. They feel like they’re afraid not to reach out and contact the government about a key item,” Davis said.
The topics that customers are asking about are complex, often couched in specific legal or policy language. Because agencies are more familiar with these processes than the average caller, Davis said, “it really behooves agencies to take the point of reducing that burden.”
“Being aware of customer stories — what they’ve done in the past, what it looked like, and what came next for them — empowers agencies to then say, ‘I’ve got a pretty good idea of where you are, now that you’ve reached out. And not only what you’ve been dealing with, up until now, but what’s likely to come next for you.’ And if you can get ahead of what’s likely to come next, then you are hitting on one of those rare silver bullets in the service delivery world, where you can both begin to dramatically cut down on costs and increase efficiency while still delivering better customer experience,” he said.
Meeting customers where they are
One of the biggest pain points — for both customers and agencies — is repeat calls or messages to get help.
“It’s an incredibly frustrating experience for customers, particularly when there are extended wait times to get through to an agency, or you’re struggling to figure out how to contact them on the web. Having to do that multiple times a day is only going to lead to additional cost,” Davis said.
To ensure seamless service delivery, agencies should reframe how they present information to customers.
“When someone is under stress and in need of a large body of information, they really need to understand the three or four steps that are coming up next. Is it really the case that having somebody sit down and describe those next three or four steps is the best possible path? Or would it be better to say, ‘How about I write you up a form that describes everything you need, and then I can send you a text that links to it? I can send it to your email,’” Davis said. “As more and more tools are built up to handle those specific situations, then you can begin offering up those tools to those callers. ‘I understand now you have to fill out this complex form. We’ve got a wizard for you to walk you through those exact steps.’ Maybe it’s a YouTube video on how to complete the next pieces of the journey.”
Building a ‘digital front door’
Many agencies are embracing a “digital front-door” concept for online services, making it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for on an agency’s primary website.
“It’s the idea that no matter what you’re dealing with, either with a particular agency or with a particular subagency, or even potentially across agencies, that having one spot to go to start,” Davis said.
A digital front door gives customers more self-service options, and reduces the need for them to seek assistance over the phone or in person. Davis said these options are about meeting customers where they are, and interacting with them in their preferred means of communication.
“Let’s rely on what more and more of the overwhelming majority of the government’s customers and citizens have with them, and that’s digital access, particularly on mobile devices and tablets,” he said.
These digital-first services also allow agencies to send proactive notifications to customers, letting them know where they are in the process, and how long they should expect to wait for the next step. Davis said these notifications reduce anxiety for customers and decrease the need for follow-up calls.
“As soon as you’ve submitted a form, for example, as soon as it’s been received by an agency, we’re going to send you a notification. ‘Yes, we’ve received it. Yes, it’s going to take six to eight weeks. You can check on here anytime you want, and I’ll send you a push notification or a text notification every Monday at noon and let you know how it’s going,’” he said.
Ensuring consistency across channels
In a digital-first world, Davis stressed that agencies must provide an omnichannel experience — ensuring that customers have the same quality of service over the phone, in person, or online. Part of delivering on that omnichannel experience is delivering consistent information across all of those channels.
“One of the biggest risks that agencies run into is being inconsistent, because legislation changes and policy changes and circumstances change, and so new language gets introduced. And for a great number of agencies, there is no central hub of that knowledge,” Davis said.
Artificial intelligence tools can help agencies provide consistent, reliable information across all their platforms.
“One of the appropriate uses of AI in this service delivery space is the ability to look at the many different sources that an agency might have and help determine where the conflicts are and help quickly assist an agency in coming to grips with developing that universal knowledge system.”
These AI tools can also help advise customers on the best way to get help from an agency, based on the task they’re looking to complete.
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