Leadership in Customer Service: New Expectations, New Experiences

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For the fifth consecutive year, Canada ranked first out of the 22 countries surveyed in customer service maturity in eGovernment, followed by the United States, Denmark, Singapore and Australia, according to the results of Accenture’s six annual global report on government service delivery.

“Leadership in Customer Service: New Expectations, New Experiences,” is a departure from previous reports. The 2005 study goes beyond measuring the extent to which governments offer services online to investigating their leadership in delivering true customer service—the value they bring to their citizens through multiple channels.

The study comprised two major components. The first was a leadership assessment of the overall service maturity of 22 national governments in North America, Europe and Asia based on the breadth and depth of the eGovernment services they offer, as well as leadership assessments along several key categories. In total, the researchers investigated 177 national government services across 12 major service sectors that were representative of what citizens and businesses require from their government most frequently, and were traditionally offered over the counter, by phone or in paper format. The research was conducted Jan. 3-17, 2005.

For the second component, Accenture surveyed 9,000 adults in the same 22 countries to uncover their perceptions and customer experiences interacting with their government online, in person or via phone. A representative sample of 400 adults aged 18 and over was surveyed in each country, except in the United States, where 600 were surveyed. Polls were conducted via the telephone, using random-digit dialing. The citizen survey was conducted for Accenture by an independent market research company, from Jan. 4-18, 2005. The margin of error for the total survey universe of 9,000 at the 95 percent confidence interval level is +/- 1.03 percent.

The 2005 study found that, despite having invested billions of dollars moving services and information resources online, governments around the world are still struggling to meet citizens’ growing expectations for better customer service. Canada is the only country with an overall customer service maturity score of more than 50 percent.

To measure overall service maturity, an indicator of how well governments are delivering customer service, Accenture focused on four key aspects of service delivery: a citizen-centered perspective, cohesive multi-channel services, fluid cross-government services, and proactive communications and education. The study found that while eGovernment offerings across the board are well-advanced, with an average service maturity breadth of 91 percent, all countries have room for improvement to realize the broader goal of leadership in customer service. In fact the overall average customer service maturity score—which measures four key aspects of service delivery, including how well governments are delivering service across multiple channels—was just 39 percent. Only Canada has an overall customer service maturity score of more than 50 percent.

The citizen survey found that while most citizens prefer a number of different methods of communicating with governments, they continue to rely on more traditional, offline channels. Despite the relative Internet savvy and familiarity with online government in some countries, the telephone continues to be the predominant means citizens use to communicate with government. Over the past 12 months, 57 percent of respondents had used the telephone to interact with government, as opposed to only 22 percent who had used the Internet. Yet despite its popularity, the telephone is consistently ranked as the least easy form of communication across all countries surveyed.

The 2005 study revealed that all countries experienced a drop from previous years’ overall eGovernment maturity scores. While Canada ranked number one in overall maturity ratings this year, 70 percent of the respondents claimed that the government had forgotten at least some details of their previous transactions.

The 2005 study revealed that all countries experienced a drop from previous years’ overall eGovernment maturity scores, which measured the level to which a government has developed an online presence and were solely based on the Accenture researchers’ evaluations of countries’ eGovernment programs.

Countries that fared worse this year tended to be those with an emphasis on solely the eGovernment aspects of their service delivery programs. A look at eGovernment programs across the globe shows that continued incremental improvements in this area are unlikely to yield significant boosts to maturity. To advance now, governments must focus on a much broader vision.

The study also found that while most citizens are eager to embrace a new generation of services, governments’ are falling short on their ability to deliver them. For example, a majority of citizens (55 percent) believe government is being effective when it acts as a single, seamless entity that can remember all of the details of a citizen’s previous contact.

However, an average of only 24 percent of citizens across all countries reported the government actually being able to do so. For Canada, which ranked number one in overall maturity ratings this year, 70 percent of the respondents claimed that the government had forgotten at least some details of their previous transactions. In the United Kingdom, which scored highest in this category, only 38 percent said the government remembered all details of a previous contact.

Governments need to reform their current eGovernment programs to support a broader vision of leadership in customer service. Canada needs to move quickly to leverage its gains and achievements to date, and accelerate the implementation of the next wave of seamless, multi-jurisdictional service offerings.

Governments that embrace the four facets of leadership in customer service will be well on their way to delivering the outcomes their stakeholders desire and to achieving high performance through greater public-sector value. These four facets are:

• Building a citizen-centered culture.
• Building cohesive multi-channel service.
• Building cross-government service.
• Building proactive communication and education capabilities.

The report provides an action plan for government executives to understand what is needed to make a start toward this new vision of leadership, pulling together many of the elements that Accenture believes will help governments achieve high performance.