Building trust through digital-first citizen experiences

Elevating customer interactions in alignment with M-23-22

By

Leanne Link

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Whether referred to as “customer experience” or “citizen experience,” making sure people are satisfied with their digital interactions is a clear priority for the U.S. federal government. In September 2023, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), released the “Delivering a Digital First Public Experience” memorandum (OMB M-23-22). This document offers a policy framework for federal agencies as they continue to optimize online services and experiences. It also reflects growing citizen expectations for their digital interactions with the government.

From a citizen’s perspective, digital experience is an area where the government has significant room for improvement. Only 8% of Americans say the U.S. government is responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans, according to Pew Research. And a McKinsey study found that the public sector is ranked lowest of 10 industries for customer satisfaction. Undoubtedly contributing to this dissatisfaction is the fact that private sector companies have set the digital bar so high. From online banking to one-click purchasing, frictionless digital interactions have become the norm for many citizens — and in many cases an expectation versus a “nice-to-have.”

Unlike in many sectors, however, the consequences of a poor customer experience in the public sector can have ramifications beyond lost sales and revenue. The breadth of impact is significant: U.S. federal websites receive about 2 billion visits per month or almost 80 million hours of digital interactions with citizens. A suboptimal digital experience can mean that constituents don’t get access to critical support and services that affect their health and well-being. The U.S. government estimates that $140 billion in potential benefits go unused each year because of “outdated or complicated processes.”

Sharing data across agencies for streamlined interactions

Imagine you just got married, want to change your name, and are moving out of the state. You quickly need to educate yourself on the processes of legally changing your name as well as updating your government IDs. Where do you start? Which agency does what? What forms do you need for which? Do you need to take a day off work to wait in queues?

From the citizen perspective, an ideal experience would be searching online for information, then receiving relevant and personalized answers. Then, as you move from information gathering to action, you fill out the necessary forms once from only one location.

This connected experience requires agencies to have visibility into their own data as well as the ability to share relevant data with other agencies as needed — and all in a secure manner. As noted in OMB M-23-22, “Agencies should improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data sharing and support processes among agencies and with State and local governments to improve customer experience and service delivery.”

Sharing data between agencies and departments doesn’t necessarily require an agency to give up control of that data, especially when dealing with sensitive and personal information. Technical capabilities built into the Elasticsearch® platform, such as Cross-Cluster Search and Role Based Access Control, enable data of all types to be securely searched and accessed from its original location without needing to move it to a central repository (these capabilities help power CISA’s Continuous Diagnostics and Monitoring dashboard.)

Connecting citizens to the information they need

The ability to search for and find answers online quickly is a foundational digital expectation today.

As M-23-22 states: “We’re requiring the use of an on-site search function (like Search.gov) for Federal websites and developing better search engine optimization (SEO) best practices so the public can find the information they’re looking for more quickly and reliably.”

Whether people are searching for public records related to their personal affairs or for government records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), they interact with repositories containing millions of records. Their search experience can be vastly improved with applications of natural language processing and vector search that interpret context beyond keywords and deliver relevant results. This also enhances the speed and performance of searches.

Ensuring operational excellence

As government services and information move online, IT teams need to ensure that sites, apps, and systems operate smoothly — without outages, slowdowns, bugs, or cyber breaches.

In complicated IT environments spread across private and public clouds, on-prem, and the edge, full-scale visibility into all systems, apps, and infrastructure is critical. Without widespread visibility, it’s difficult to identify the source of an issue. Research by the Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) group indicates that operations and development teams spend 50% of their time determining the root cause of problems.

Observability solutions can help build operational excellence and operational resilience by pinpointing issues and automating resolution — ultimately reducing mean time to response and lessening potential impact on customer experience.

Integrating generative AI — thoughtfully and securely

When combined with search capabilities, as well as your agency’s data, generative AI has the potential to surface more relevant, personalized, and context-aware information in response to customers’ queries. Generative AI chatbots embedded on a website can also provide real-time responses tailored to citizen needs — reducing time spent with customer service staff, whether in person or over the phone. Because of generative AI’s ability to surface accurate and actionable answers, citizens can benefit from the right information at the right time. This potentially increases the likelihood that they will be connected to the next steps that will make a difference in their lives.

For government agencies, ensuring data privacy is a top priority when considering leveraging generative AI. Many government leaders are approaching generative AI cautiously and with an eye toward future regulations. For agencies thinking about longer-term customer experience benefits of generative AI, an actionable first step is making sure all your data is accessible, interoperable, and not limited by silos. The ability to see across all your data is a key prerequisite in getting value out of generative AI.

Looking toward the future of government CX

A positive digital experience can better connect citizens with essential services, both increasing awareness of their existence as well as ensuring the right people can benefit from them at the right time. Continued, repetitive positive digital touchpoints are cornerstones of citizen satisfaction – and, ultimately, increased trust in government. 

To learn more about how Elastic® can help government agencies use data to elevate citizen experiences:

The release and timing of any features or functionality described in this post remain at Elastic's sole discretion. Any features or functionality not currently available may not be delivered on time or at all.

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