Governments and public health care services are trying to keep up with a zillion demands, needing to move at warp speed while dealing with some epic worries –like soaring customer service expectations, budgets tighter than skinny jeans, teams stretched thinner than a cartoon plotline, and workers who could really use a break (they’re basically living in a sitcom).
In all seriousness, the organizations that provide public services are made up of people who take to heart their responsibility for protecting and improving the lives of the people they serve. They know that a delayed benefit creates stress for a family facing hardships. Lengthy call center wait times may cause people to hang up and give up. Complicated processes are frustrating. After all, they are citizens, too.
The consumer culture influence
When given the option, most people will choose to help themselves. The frustration with fast and easy access to public services is real. There’s a perception that customer experience efforts are driven by the organization, for the organization. People expect digital services to match the caliber of private organizations.
What’s more, reaching Gen Zers, Millennials, Baby Boomers and the Silents isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach. The breakdown of how the different groups find and interact with government information is vast. Each generation has its respective lense influencing its perspectives on public services.
A recent KPMG survey revealed that 46% of Gen Z and 37% of millennials said government agencies were adequately using technology to improve their interactions with the public. In contrast, 23% of Gen X and 25% of baby boomers felt similarly.
Customer experience isn’t a new concept for governments and public health care around the world. But there’s new momentum toward delivering better, more efficient citizen-centric services.
To fulfill the promise to serve and help every citizen live a safe, happy and fulfilling life, each generation's expectations must be met. When a citizen’s experience utilizing services — whether a constituent, business or another agency — meets or exceeds expectations, it can boost trust, improve morale among the civil services, diminish negative perceptions and lower costs for government agencies.
Turn mundane into mission-accomplished with AI
There’s a growing movement in government and public health care to view customer experience as a powerful tool for achieving mission outcomes, increasing employee engagement and building trust with citizens. How well a department, agency or organization delivers services reflects how well it accomplishes its mission.
“The new era of public service will be marked by the automation of citizen services and mundane routine tasks,” said Jennifer Robinson, Global Government Strategic Advisor at SAS. “Data and AI, specifically the use of generative AI in the public sector, will revolutionize government and public health operations.”
According to KPMG’s Future of Healthcare report, the industry is undergoing convergence and advancement with a unique focus on digitalization. Patients anticipate something different in how they choose, manage and experience care. They desire ease of control and the same level of immediacy and customization that they experience in other service sectors.
Programs and processes can be complex, even for government employees and health care providers. AI and generative AI can automate complex tasks and unlock previously hidden insights across organizations, improving citizen services, outcomes and program efficiency.
Recent research by The Alan Turing Institute found that AI could help automate around 84% of repetitive transactions across 200 government services, such as recording, sorting, filing or verification tasks. New capabilities allow the government and public health care to focus on their mission priorities, reducing burnout and allowing them to do more with less.
AI could help automate around 84% of repetitive transactions across 200 government services.
There’s great potential to transform, improve delivery speed and operate more effectively. What was once considered out of reach is now possible with data and new technologies like AI and generative AI in the public sector.
The future of public service
Technologies like AI and generative AI and new generational expectations about public service work, coupled with an organization’s mission, will change traditional “public service.”
Soon, government and public health will close digital gaps by automating and connecting data, processes and employees and deploying AI-enabled platforms for intelligent operations.
AI and generative AI will be used to communicate timely information to citizens, reducing the lag time to retrieve information from an organization’s data. The ability to get the right answers at the right time for decision making and citizen engagement will be readily available, enabling organizations to be more responsive. It may challenge past notices about lifelong agency employment to a more flexible, rewarding career.
Ready to make strides toward citizen-centric services, better outcomes and more productive civil servants? Explore six considerations. Check out the e-book, Public service of the future, to learn how data, AI and generative AI in the public sector are catalysts for positive transformation.
