Government Customer Service Update—Webinar Recap
OMB’s Lisa Danzig, who co-leads the Cross Agency Priority (CAP) Customer Service Goal with Carolyn Colvin, from the Social Security Administration, shared a status update on the CAP goal work they’ve done since we last spoke with her, earlier this year.
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Background
When the public comes to the federal government for information and services, they should receive an optimal customer experience. The Customer Service CAP goal spells out specific strategies to help us achieve this. They are:
- Focus on the frontline
- Feedback and transparency
- Standards, practices and tools
- Improve top customer interactions
Progress
The past 18 months focused on the first two strategies.
Focus on the frontline: A Federal Customer Service Awards program was established, to recognize individuals and teams who provide outstanding customer service directly to the American people, and to identify and share innovative practices across agencies. Award recipients will be announced by early 2016.
Feedback and transparency: The FeedbackUSA pilot was launched in August 2015. This partnership between U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and other agencies allows citizens to provide quick transactional feedback to federal agencies via a kiosk. Pilot programs included passports and social security cards.
Up Next
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The next 16 months will focus on the second two strategies.
Standards, practices and tools: OMB has identified leaders from 15 high-impact customer-facing programs, who gather together on a regular basis to discuss issues, share best practices and provide feedback to CAP goal leadership. A “Principles & Practices” subgroup (led by Rachel Flagg, GSA) is developing a customer service toolkit, which includes practical guidance and resources to help agencies improve the experience they deliver to customers.
Improve top customer interactions: Moving forward, the CAP Goal team will focus on improving top customer transactions with federal programs. First priority will be those agencies that provide significant services to citizens, businesses and other customers.
Final Thought
Lisa says ”There is no greater need now than to develop a more holistic approach across government to support high-volume transactions that have the broadest impact on our citizens. We’ve set a good foundation and have a great plan moving forward.”
View the webinar to hear Lisa’s full presentation.
Keep up with all that’s happening in government customer experience by joining the CX-COP (U.S. government (.gov, .mil, etc.) email address required), and viewing our playlist of on-demand training videos.
