More responsive government via a single view

Sharing data across departments will help governments boost efficiency while also improving public satisfaction and confidence.

The public sector is taking a page out of the business book as it jumps into digital transformation to drive customer engagement. Increasingly, government agencies across the globe have a common goal — to drive operational efficiencies that ultimately lead to organising customer data into a single view that delivers insights for enhanced customer service. This is beneficial to government and citizens alike as it increases efficiencies and lowers costs.

Efforts are underway in several state, federal and local governments to move towards digital platforms that allow for more efficient support services. The integration of data across internal departments will enable the public sector to create a master customer database and easily identity citizen profiles in a single view. This modernisation process is challenging IT departments to structure public services and applications centred on data rather than processes.

To effectively provide transactional services to citizens, governments need to rely on good data quality. Enriched data delivers a holistic perspective of each citizen’s unique history, behaviour and preferences. With the right data quality and engagement solutions, a clean, enriched and ultimately complete view of the customer can radically change the public sector’s ability to understand its citizens and improve each engagement.

When government adopts a single customer view, it gives citizens the choice of being able to share their information across agencies — for example, when they update their address with Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support or the Australian Tax Office. A single view makes it hassle-free for each citizen to interact with different government agencies, while it is also an added advantage for the government.

Because local councils play a strong role in the community’s perception of government, it is important they meet changing customer expectations and consistently keep citizens up to date about the latest information and services. Some examples include municipal rates, parking permits and licensing. Yet most local government agencies still require a lot of time and resources to process and complete transactions. This ranges from interacting with a citizen at a counter, speaking on the phone, providing information and conducting business. Similarly, it is taxing and time-consuming for the citizens.

Aggregating all of this information into a single view is the solution that best will serve the citizen and government alike, foster collaboration and lead directly to better citizen engagement, satisfaction and trust.