Customer Experience (CX) continues to be a priority for federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Loren DeJonge Schulman would agree it is not going to fall off any agency’s radar anytime soon. At the 2023 Service to the Citizen Awards ceremony, recognizing federal CX personnel and teams for “excellence in delivering services that impact the public’s lives and rebuild trust in government,” she described improvements to CX as “the love language of democracy.” Those at the forefront of expressing this love language, leaders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Energy (DoE), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and industry leaders recently connected for a Federal Executive Forum discussing CX and the CX journey of their respective agencies.
Dana Chisnell, Executive Director Customer Experience, Department of Homeland Security
Each year, the DHS has approximately a billion touchpoints with the general public, including travelers and businesses, importers and exporters, law enforcement agents, and people applying for citizenship and visas. Despite just recently formalizing their CX office, during the Federal Executive Forum, Dana Chisnell said they have already accomplished a great deal. The biggest accomplishment so far has been burden reduction. Chisnell said the OMB estimated that DHS typically puts over 190 million burden hours on people accessing their services. Last year, a team of about 100 at DHS surpassed their 20 million reduction goal to reduce the burden hours on citizens by 21.5 million hours. This year, they hope to reduce an additional 10 million burden hours.
Chisnell emphasized the importance of being proactive in CX, using call center data to identify and address recurring issues. For instance, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) used data to enhance self-service options on their website, giving people more control over their biometric appointments, address changes, and tracking case statuses. In addition to further reducing burden hours, Chisnell said DHS also will be prioritizing enhanced accessibility of digital services and training and coaching to enhance skills and elevate the quality of services. The ultimate vision is to create a human-centered agency, emphasizing positive outcomes and qualitative experiences.
Todd Brinson, Deputy Chief Information Officer CX, Energy Department
“It’s going to sound rudimentary, but it’s a huge first step simply acknowledging the importance of CX in the department, understanding the ties that it has to everything that we do and simply including this as one of the five goals in the DoE OSTI Strategic Plan that was just released in October,” Todd Brinson explained during the Federal Executive Forum. Although the DoE’s CX initiatives are in their early stages, the agency is fully committed and focusing on three vital components: discovery, engagement, and delivery. With the recent shift away from on-prem, the aim for its recent initiatives is to serve Cloud customers better. The DoE is considering new service strategies, incorporating touchpoints and consistent messaging to ensure the best possible CX. Brinson emphasized the goal of building a mutual understanding of roles and trust between the service provider and customers, enabling collaborative optimization plans for applications and infrastructure.
Stephen Sopko, Managing Client Partner CX, Digital Transformation & AI, Verizon
While federal agencies offer a wide range of ways to communicate, Stephen Sopko has found that 80 to 90 percent of people still use voice over other communications channels. Whether they prefer voice communications because of security concerns, old habits, or ease, during the Federal Executive Forum, Sopko emphasized the need to address voice-centric customer interactions in the government sector. Several agencies have begun implementing conversational Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems using AI technology, with a focus on improving service delivery. The conversational IVR approach has continued to gain wide adoption over time due to its ability to mimic a real conversation with a human. While its impact is just beginning to be seen, its aim is to provide a more engaging conversational experience and reduce long hold times.
Beyond IVR, Sopko recommended that agencies should be focused on simplicity, streamlining, and speeding up interactions once constituents connect with contact centers. As the telecommunications industry continues to evolve with the emergence of 5G and Network as-a-Service, Sopko anticipates a shift in how people interact with government in the next two to five years. “We hear a lot about empathy, but it’s usually around business rules. We need to see that move into business data.” He followed up with an example of someone needing to make multiple payments over different periods. Without needing to know why, AI will identify the need and make it happen automatically, ultimately enhancing the customer experience with a future outlook on more empathetic, data-driven interactions.
John Boerstler, Chief Experience Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
Over the eight years that the VA has been on its CX journey, John Boerstler noted many highlights, beginning with the development of journey maps in 2015. With the implementation of the net promoter scale, the VA has seen its trust scores increase from 55 percent in 2016 to 79 percent in [year]. During the Federal Executive Forum, Boerstler said it’s “tremendous in terms of where we’ve been and where we’re going,” but they aren’t finished. “We want to be at 90 percent because our Veterans deserve nothing less than an A.” To accomplish this, the VA has created approximately 70 different journey maps for each business line and implemented 175 surveys to consistently measure the veteran experience across touchpoints.
The VA’s focus now includes improving the customer acquisition funnel, targeting the newer generations of veterans—Millennials and Gen Z—with a range of self-service options via mobile apps. Boerstler and his team’s goal is to optimize the onboarding process for veterans as they transition from military service into the VA system, working toward a more total, omni-channel experience that leverages the capabilities of AI, chatbots, and virtual agents. Boerstler envisions a future where the VA speaks with one voice, fostering lateral collaboration across the organization to deliver a comprehensive and integrated experience for both employees and Veterans. Learn more by watching the “CX in Government” Federal Executive Forum here