Today’s citizens want service to be accessible anytime, anyplace and through their preferred communication channel. They expect channels of communication not to operate independently, but to be integrated across all platforms so that all conversations, information and context will flow to create a unified experience. For federal agencies, meeting those citizen expectations can be a tall order, but it is critical to find ways to integrate digital channels—web portals, email, and social media accounts—into a citizen engagement strategy to begin to meet some of those expectations.
As agencies look to implement and fine-tune their use of digital channels, they need to make sure the digital presence mirrors or is in tune with the processes of offline channels. Before agencies rush to create and utilize Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social media accounts, they should keep in mind that citizens still prefer picking up the phone to talk to a person. According to a recent Forrester Research report “using postal mail or a phone to interact with agencies was much more popular than Facebook, mobile apps or Twitter, with the latter only hovering at about two percent.” Digital is buzzy, but it is only one part of an integrated citizen engagement strategy.
As with any other channel for citizen engagement—postal mail, contact center or in person—agencies must collect and examine data surrounding citizen touch points to make informed decisions about their channels. In general, matching channel to use case is good practice.
For example, are citizens frequently calling an agency for information that could readily be posted online, such as hours of operation, mailing address and so forth? Or, if that information is already on a website, is it readily accessible or easy to navigate to?
Using a descriptor, such as “Application to Renew a Passport,” says a lot more to the public than calling a form “DS-82 OMB.” It signifies not only the name of the form, but that the agency is putting the people first, by actually considering how the information is being received by citizens. These references need to be standardized across all channels so that someone calling in asking to “renew a passport” gets pointed to the “renew a passport” section on the website, rather than form “DS-82 OMB.”
Agencies must remember that sometimes digital channels aren’t the best fit for certain communication. When examining data from existing touch points, agencies can also look at where traditional channels are currently serving individuals in ways that digital channels simply cannot. Are there complex or personal issues that citizens will have difficulty typing into a web form? After all, only two percent of citizens are using Twitter to engage with agencies—it’s not easy to tell a whole story in 140 characters.
Those issues should be clearly directed to a call center or in-person facility. But if the person has begun their communication with the agency online, they expect all of that background to carry over to the in-person interaction. No one wants to tell his or her story more than once. If agencies implement digital channels without integrating them into a larger omnichannel engagement strategy, they risk losing the good will they’ve built up by showing an understanding and appreciation for the complexity of the issue.
A Gartner report titled, ‘Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure’ found that 77 percent of citizens use more than one channel when seeking service. Many organizations are delivering a multi-channel service experience, but that does not mean they are delivering an omnichannel experience. The consensus among analysts is that the real challenge facing the service organizations is providing a consistent experience across all channels. The only way to attain this seamlessness and consistency is to address the citizen experience in total, examining all the touch points together as part of a journey. By focusing on citizens and their journey to complete a task, the interaction with an organization can feel a lot more personal and be more effective.
Channel integration, then, is about much more than implementing the latest digital communication channels for citizens to use when contacting agencies. It is about meeting the citizen where they “live.” True integration comes about when agencies consider the citizen journey as a whole—deeply examining data from all touchpoints, deriving insight from that data and making smart decisions about which channels might best serve citizens in the best way. It is only after true integration occurs that agencies can begin to transform, the subject of my next article.
Abby Herriman is senior vice president of delivery and innovation at HighPoint Global.
