RxCX: Customer Experience as a prescription for improving government performance

Rx CX: Customer Experience as
a prescription for improving
government performance

Copyright © 2017 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. 2Rx CX: Customer Experience as a prescription for improving government performance
Ever wonder why elevator lobbies have mirrors?
The story goes that people in a New York multistory were so unhappy with the experience of
having to wait for the elevator that they threatened to move out of the building. When an
engineering solution to increase elevator capacity was deemed economically prohibitive,
management turned to psychology.
Know thy customer
Customers were unhappy because they were
bored while waiting. The clear solution? Give
them something to do.
So mirrors were added to the elevator
boarding areas, providing a convenient and
low cost distraction.
The complaints about waiting disappeared and
mirrors continue to be a common feature
outside elevators even today.

Focusing on customer
experience can widen
the range of
solutions available to
tackle any given
problem, often at a far
lower cost

There have been swathes of initiatives, but limited meaningful
progress
There has been no shortage of government initiatives aimed at improving customer
service. But the gap persists between what actual customers believe they receive
and what government agencies believe they deliver. Consumer surveys indicate
that satisfaction with government services is at an eight-year low.
Source: Digital Gov, "Government Customer Service policies & requirements: 1993 to present"

What explains this
dissonance?
The answer may lie in
understanding the distinction
between customer experience
and customer service.
The two aren’t synonymous —
customer service is one
component of customer
experience (CX).

Moving an organization
beyond incrementally
improving customer service
to transforming customer
experience likely entails
a change in mindset
and an organizational
strategy that puts the
customer at the center

Traditionally, CX has been
positioned as creating
moments of delight
But…
In the face of budget cuts
in priority areas, this may
seem superfluous…

Government may be skeptical, but the data seems to tell a different
story...
Between 2007 and 2015, a portfolio
of CX leaders outperformed the
broader market, generating a total
return 35 points higher than the S&P
500 index and 90 points higher than
a portfolio of the laggards
According to a study by Watermark
Consulting that compared the cumulative
market performance of a portfolio of leading
CX companies to CX “laggards.”

CX
Customer-centered tools and techniques
can be used to advance a specific mission
outcome

Government agencies should consider acting on 3 fronts to
harness the potential of CX
Understand your customer
Tie CX to a mission outcome
Create a unified vision
for change

To move the needle on CX and
organizational performance…

Until recently, CX approaches have generally been limited to improving customers’
interactions with agencies that have a “retail” function, such as mail delivery or the issuance
of licenses. However, when rooted in a deep understanding of customers, CX can be a
prescription for change.
1. Place the customer at the heart of any transformation initiative
Example: USDA— A customer-centric approach can help reduce costs incurred due to errors
or improper payments.
The issue: The National School Lunch Program that provides low-cost or free meals to 30 million
children each day faced the issue of improper payments. Schools weren’t being accurately compensated
for discounted meals, creating errors in district and federal accounts. A 2015 USDA study found that the
improper payment rate in the lunch program was 15.8 percent—$1.9 billion in overpayments and
underpayments.
The solution: In partnership with the Innovation Lab at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
(OPM), the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) applied human-centered design (HCD) to discover the root
cause of the errors. What was suspected to be a software glitch, turned out to be a customer problem with
most errors being the result of an overly complex application process. The team used customer insights
gleaned from observation and interviews with parents to design and prototype a simplified application.
The impact: FNS officials anticipate the simplified application will reduce improper payments by 10
percent, or $600 million.

An agency’s ability to effectively execute its mission is often linked to its ability to deliver
an effective customer experience to businesses, citizens and its own employees.
2. Tap into the CX toolset to advance agency mission outcomes
Example: The US Transportation Security
Administration’s (TSA) “PreCheck” program
PreCheck allows passengers who pass a background check to
speed through airport security lines.
Travelers voluntarily provide data, which when combined
with other layers of security, allows TSA to direct more
screening resources to higher-risk passengers and deliver on
its mission of protecting the nation's transportation systems.
The program has been expanded across 160 airports across
the United States.

Just as the customer's experience often reaches beyond the narrow transaction, an effective
agency response is likely to reach beyond existing organizational boundaries
3. Allow CX initiatives to transcend organizational silos
Have a horizontal view across the entire agency
Ensure that the customer experience is consistent across touchpoints that may span multiple
business units
Establish CX councils that include representatives from every part of the
organization that touches the customer
Councils including digital and technology specialists, program managers, human resources,
and corporate communications, among others can make coordinated changes across business
units that are able to best meet the needs of their customers
Create a chief customer officer role
A number of agencies including the General Services Administration (GSA), the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the Export-Import Bank, and Federal Student Aid have done so

Contacts
Greg Pellegrino
Principal
Deloitte Consulting LLP
+1 571 882 7600
gpellegrino@deloitte.com
Nishita Henry
Principal
+ 1 703 623 6823
nishitahenry@deloitte.com
Kirsty Hosea
Senior Manager
+1 571 858 1279
khosea@deloitte.com
Check out the study here: http://dupress.deloitte.com/dup-us-en/industry/public-sector/
improving-customer-experience-government-performance.html
Lindsay Musser Hough
Principal
+1 717 695 5367
lhough@deloitte.com
William D. Eggers
Executive Director, Deloitte Center
for Government Insights
Deloitte Services LP
+1 571 882 6585
weggers@deloitte.com
Cathryn Marcuse
Strategic Marketing Manager, Deloitte
Center for Government Insights
Deloitte Services LP
+1 571 882 8075
camarcuse@deloitte.com

Disclaimer
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Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.
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Copyright © 2017 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

RxCX: Customer Experience as a prescription for improving government performance

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