Customer Experience in County Government

Today’s Information Technology (IT) professionals are caught too often in reactive stances among leadership, the customer, vendors, and service delivery. How nice would it be to focus on the customer and help them achieve their mission while being proactive in the process!

Undoubtedly, the past couples of years have been challenging across all industries and have forced the embracement of technology solutions likely unknown to most and often thought of as a last resort platform, especially in the government space. Today, these tools are indispensable in reaching and supporting our customers. Yet, imagine if there was time to vet solutions rather than just grabbing the first option presented.

Therein lies, in my opinion, the key to great customer experiences, thinking ahead of the current, here and now and looking toward the what if the future holds. In my capacity, I work with a team of professionals that serve a vibrant, thriving community supported by thirty-eight County departments to include public safety to human services, parks and recreation to fleet and facility services. Indeed, the customer expectations are high, as they should be, and the opportunities to be ahead of the technology gambit are significant.

A successful customer experience with technology and those providing the technology are greater now more than ever. It is beyond measuring the number of calls we take, the number of tickets we close, how many applications or servers we have put into production or how many access points are available. Of course, all these things are important in our core service delivery, but none of them measure the customer experience, how well did we do in giving the customer what they wanted?

A successful customer experience with technology and those providing the technology are greater now more than ever

I am confident there are organizations, public and private that measure the customer experience, i.e. CX as we all know about such measures, but bringing those down to the state and local government levels holds significant potential for leaders in this area. Do the enterprise solutions we have now meet the needs of the department? Are we helping the departments achieve their mission or stated outcomes for the given fiscal or calendar year?

A good deal of discussion has been had on IT being more than a cost unit but rather a business partner and having a seat at the table. Re-thinking IT beyond having a seat at the table, is critical to continue to integrate our services and capabilities with every department, down to the individual, while providing such within an environment that encourages the departments to respond positively and honestly when we ask for their experience with IT. With this in mind, we have consolidated to a single point of intake for our County departments through our Technology Service Center. This allows the customer to have one place to go to request assistance for anything related to technology from how to use a mouse to I need a solution for managing shelter staffing during disasters.

We push this concept through marketing, emails, technology alerts and other forms of communication. The single point of entry allows the departments to no longer wonder who they should go to for answers or support and while the mindset is new, with internal mechanics still being refined, it has opened new opportunities to embrace a new experience model and continue to develop IT professionals from entry level call taking to Tier II and III IT engineers and architects ultimately tying the customer and their Service Delivery Manger together to ensure successful collaboration regarding implementation and execution of the desired technology application, service or solution.