The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began its customer experience (CX) transformation journey about a decade ago, and a top agency official said on Wednesday that the VA has now reached a critical “acceleration point” in that process.
Barbara Morton, the deputy chief veterans experience officer at the VA’s Veterans Experience Office (VEO), explained that this acceleration point comes thanks to the successful revamp of the VA.gov website and the rollout of the VA: Health & Benefits mobile app.
“For me, where we are today is really about acceleration,” Morton said during the Adobe Government Forum on May 1. “The VA customer experience transformation, we began that journey back in 2014, 2015, and the digital component was a key cornerstone of that.”
The VA first began its journey by revamping its digital front door, the VA.gov website, to make it more user-friendly. Prior to the redesign, Morton said the website featured a photo of the White House and an announcement about the president’s budget, noting, “Who cares about that except for us in government?”
“We really went through that transformation digitally starting in around 2017, 2018, and we’ve now sort of graduated to an incredible mobile app that is receiving a 4.8 out of five-star rating by veterans, by users,” she said.
“We received those ratings not because we’re special at VA, although I kind of think we are, it’s because we’re designing with and for and around the customers,” Morton added. “So, really just a testament to coming so far, and now we’re, I think, in an acceleration point.”
Notably, the VA: Health & Benefits mobile app recently surpassed two million downloads. The platform provides access to essential services with a user-friendly design, with nearly a million monthly users sending over 300,000 secure messages and refilling more than 250,000 prescriptions monthly.
However, the VA has veterans of all ages, all of whom have varying needs when it comes to technology. Therefore, Morton said the VA has keyed in on human-centered design throughout this CX journey and meeting veterans “where they are.”
“One of our key strategies has been focusing on human-centered design, and having that be sort of our guiding and foundational principle – whether it’s a digital tool that is rolled out or whether it’s a tangible, old-fashioned paper tool,” she said. “We really want to make sure that we’re testing it and understanding what makes most sense for those that we’re serving.”
“So, really involving them in co-design throughout the process has been a key part of our strategy,” Morton stressed.
With the mobile app in particular, Morton said the VA is “continuously refining that” and recently deployed updates to help veterans who are visually impaired. For example, one significant feature assists blind Veterans to read their claims decision letters.
“The opportunity is for us, collective us, to be the change that we want to see in government,” Morton concluded. “Good government to me really centers on the person, the people that we all serve, and I think we can be customer experience advocates from any seat that we take.”
