Aiming to generate good customer experience across Federal agencies is far from a new concept, but the implementation of analytical and artificial intelligence-based tools across the Federal government is allowing for a much-needed revamp of how the government delivers services.
During a Federal News Network online seminar on March 19, a panel of Federal and industry customer experience professionals keyed on how emerging technologies can help bring better customer experience across the Federal government. That imperative is detailed in the 2021 White House Executive Order (EO) 14058 that demands changes from agencies for service delivery procedures and systems dating back to 1993.
Courtney Kay-Decker, the deputy chief taxpayer experience officer at the IRS, said her team was able to establish a strategic plan that included a long list of customer experience projects in 2021 – including revamping customer interaction systems and processes.
“You should be able to get to us how you want to, when you want to and get something resolved quickly, without a whole bunch of rigmarole,” Kay-Decker said. “[The IRS] wants that outcome for all its channels. It’s the phones, it’s our chat bots, it’s improvements to our website, our paperless processes – all those sorts of things.”
Much of the public’s interaction with government has become digital, but a certain level of “analog interactions” will always exist, she explained. For the IRS, a persistent minority of taxpayers will file paper returns, a process that requires an outsized level of agency employee effort.
Under its strategic plan, the IRS has instituted measures such as a document upload tool. The tool ensures “any piece of paper that comes into the door is going to be imaged to get it more quickly into the system,” Kay-Decker said, adding that the tool will speed things for both employees and for the 20 percent of taxpayers that file manually.
“The systems will take care of lots of the hard stuff up front,” Kay-Decker said. “Ideally, we communicate in a way that helps the taxpayers when they’re filling out their forms, whether it is on a mobile device, whether it is through software, or pencil and paper.”
Like at the IRS, the customer experience challenge at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is providing designated high-impact customer service both digitally and through non-digital formats. Non-digital services for TSA includes agents trying to verify passengers with “Pre-Check status” for expedited screening when it doesn’t appear on their boarding passes.
“There’s an entire triage that we have,” explained Niki French, customer service branch manager at TSA. “It used to be on paper. And that is a terrible experience for agents.”
TSA eased the paper burden on busy airport screening officers — who deal with close to two million people per day — by consolidating data sources into a cloud-based platform. French explained that this process makes for speedier answers when officers reach TSA call centers.
“Security is our mission. But there’s no reason that we can’t be professional and respectful as we’re delivering those services,” French said.
