It’s finally here. That time of year when seemingly half of the federal workforce flees the city for a well-deserved vacation. It’s a magical time for those of us who stay behind: Less traffic shortens our commutes, the Starbuck’s and food truck lines are shorter, and fewer people at meetings means more decisions get made.Read… Read more »
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program had a problem: it was paying out way too much in unearned benefits to program participants. This was happening because participants weren’t reporting their income often enough. As participants’ incomes went up, their SSI eligibility went down – but they continued receiving SSI benefits basedRead… Read more »
Federal customer experience (CX) professionals are trying to wage a conventional war against bad CX. But they usually don’t have the budget, personnel, or authorities they need to win big, decisive battles. That’s why federal CX pros should consider changing their approach and use some proven CX guerrilla tactics instead. To make the most ofRead… Read more »
A few weeks ago, I advised federal agencies to build better digital customer experiences. I enjoyed the wave of hate mail that post generated, so I’d like to return to the topic of digital customer experience (CX) again this week. Even the US Digital Service (USDS) thinks federal agencies need better digital CX. Last year,Read… Read more »
Chief Customer Officers (CCO) are becoming commonplace in the private sector, with more than 2,000 of these C-level execs in the US alone. Should federal agencies follow suit? The answer is unequivocally yes. As the only senior exec whose primary goal is to represent the interests of the customer, a CCO can help a federalRead… Read more »
Think about the last time you went through airport security. Or applied for federal benefits. Or paid your taxes. How did those experiences make you feel? What specific emotions did they invoke in you? Did you feel comforted, hopeful, and valued – or insulted, frustrated, and nervous? Questions like these are the most important thingsRead… Read more »
Naysayers love to complain that real customer experience (CX) improvement is only for the private sector because government is subject to unique and insurmountable pressures. Don’t believe them. Many major corporations must overcome the same hurdles, and some federal agencies are finding ways to break out, too. Use this list of comebacks to subdue governmentRead… Read more »
Mandates for better federal customer experience (CX) have been piling up for more than 20 years. The trend began way back in 1993, when Executive Order #12862 required federal agencies to create basic CX standards. The strongest and most recent mandate is last year’s “customer service” cross-agency priority goal, which requires federal agencies to provide theRead… Read more »
Internal customer surveys are a good way to find out how support services are functioning, and they can yield valuable insights that promote innovation, help retain talent, increase job satisfaction and encourage continuous improvement. They can also increase the overall performance of the government, because an organization that cares about its employees’ opinions and acts… Read more »
Chris Dorobek’s March 18, 2015 program, “The Lowdown on Digital Services,” didn’t focus on innovation, but his guests’ ideas were all about it. Martha Doris, Rick Parrish, and Hannah Moss described Federal Government efforts to improve customer experience. Their comments about value as the point of a good customer experience are what innovation is supposedRead… Read more »